A Reference Architecture for Digitalization in the Pharmaceutical Industry

Abstract

Digital transformation (also called digitalization or, to a lesser extent, digitization) can enhance the customer experience, streamline operations, revolutionize existing business models, and disrupt entire industries. In this paper, we explore the opportunities for digital transformation in the pharmaceutical industry and develop a pharma-specific reference architecture for digitalization. We build on a model initially developed internally at Capgemini and show how it can be used to describe the use of several emerging digital transformation technologies: Internet of Things (IoT), Cognitive Computing (CC) and Augmented Reality (AR). Our analysis presents the architectural implications of each of these technologies for the pharma industry from the perspectives of four standard TOGAF domains (covering the technology, application, data and business architecture) and of four digitalization steps (Sense, Tag and Connect, Ingest, Analyze and Prepare, and Utilize). We also present an integrated view of the business capabilities all three technologies offer to organizations.