UCB Case: Recommendations on Advancing Data Analytics at UCB to Capability Maturity
This memo recommends that UCB effectively utilizes big data analytics to create patient-centered solutions by ensuring that they empower the employees while prioritizing enterprise focus.
Implementation will take place within 180 days of approval. Improved sales, reliability, profitability, and reduced costs will result from defining company objectives, better communication, and teamwork.
Background
While UCB has adopted big data analytics for its employees, its profitability will be determined by how much they utilize the data. Therefore, each department of the company has to have access to certain data to enable them to collaborate effectively in improving pharmaceutical care. However, each project by employees or departments cannot be approved because of financing, and therefore, the company has to ensure that they choose and implement the most profitable and realistic projects that align with its goals. As UCB empowers its employees in the use of data analytics, it will be faced with the challenge of choosing the most profitable projects to implement, which shows that there is a need for strategic methods to help ensure the projects implemented are feasible.
Recommendation
- Clearly defining the company objectives: This will be done by ensuring that every employee understands the main goals of the company so that they align their projects with them.
- Communication: UCB will ensure the free flow of information across all departments and employees to ensure there is no duplication of projects
- Collaboration/Teamwork: UCB will encourage employees to work as teams because this will enable them to come up with collective thinking, which will guarantee more profitable and feasible projects.
Basis for recommendation
- Clearly defining the company objectives: According to research, 95% of organizations that clearly set their goals are likely to be more goal-oriented than those that do not. This shows that defining goals helps employees to understand their roles and align their duties to them. Therefore, when employees know UCB company goals, they shall use the data to create real projects.
- Communication: Four in every five employees believe that international communication increases goal orientation and innovation in an organization. Therefore, UCB should ensure free communication in their company using different modes such as emails, user interfaces, and other applications allowing data sharing to allow employees to engage in innovative ideas. Therefore, UCB should provide communication interfaces allowing employees to share their data results.
- Teamwork/Collaboration: Teamwork in an organization offers different perspectives and feedback, improving diversity in the organization. UCB will have to divide employees into groups of 10-15 people based on their preferences, departments, and interests in innovative projects. This will allow group members to brainstorm ideas together, which will help to bring more feasible ideas than individual thinking.
Next Steps
Integrating technology with the pharmaceutical field is complex and needs support from all stakeholders, including employees, management, and shareholders. In this project, the first key milestone will be done in the first month and will include conducting seminars to discuss with employees the company goals and how they can integrate data analytics to achieve set goals. The management will also have to integrate their systems with the latest communication systems such as screen clouds, google slides, and Google data studio and train employees to use them in the second month. Finally, in the third month, they will divide employees into groups based on their departments, interests, and age to work together during their free time. Employees will also be free to switch groups because the main aim is to ensure that they work together as a team. If this plan does not work, the company can reverse the changes by disbanding the groups and using the installed communication systems for normal business operations.