Could you please give a brief explanation of what pharmaceutical forecasting is?
At first look, pharmaceutical forecasting may seem quite specialized and specialized, but it is actually a business-critical activity that involves a wide range of stakeholders and supports a variety of important business choices.
To offer the appropriate information at the appropriate time and in the appropriate manner for each of these decisions, a particular forecasting approach is required. The information is then presented in a way that enables people to make the best decisions, which is a difficult but crucial procedure.
Generally speaking, a pharmaceutical forecast must model both a disease and a healthcare system, and the key to successfully accomplishing this is making good use of the data at hand to accurately reflect this complexity.
There is a ton of data involved, but in order for the data to be useful, it is crucial to take into account how it is used, integrated, and disseminated. Any firm must always make decisions based on accurate information and insights, and bringing these various components together is a difficult task.
You can see that it is a wide subject rather than a niche one that encompasses a variety of business domains, each of which needs its own unique insights to support sound strategic and operational decision-making.
Can you elaborate on J+D Forecasting’s history in the pharmaceutical industry?
When J+D Forecasting was established, we believed that a strong prediction was clearly needed to support a more evidence-based approach to decision-making. It was accurate to state that no businesses existed that were entirely focused on this. We, therefore, made the decision to assemble a group of specialists that could assist in enhancing client forecasting procedures and addressing the numerous pain points that they were disclosing to us.
In the past, forecasting was viewed as a time-consuming procedure that ultimately did not support the choice, which tended to rely more on intuition than on facts. We were wrong to think that it was an intellectual process.
As a result, we started looking for better methods to accomplish things right away. We wanted to do rid of the tedious tasks so that our clients could focus on and share their projections.
In the past, ownership was managed by divisions like Business Insights or even Finance operations rather than by specialized Forecasting teams. Therefore, we had to concentrate on things like process optimization, upskilling, and atomization. We created forecast models that were easy to use, reflected the decisions they were supporting, and contained best practice forecasting concepts.
What sets forecasting for the pharmaceutical industry apart from those of other industries like FMCG?
Because it requires simulating a sickness and a complicated supply chain, two factors that vary greatly, pharmaceutical forecasting is much more complicated than forecasting in most other industries. No two diseases or nations behave the same, hence it is frequently necessary to model alternative treatments for the same ailment.
A patient-based approach will be used in the majority of pharmaceutical predictions rather than sales data, partly because it helps to better comprehend the relationship between market movements and their causes. This demands a lot of data and is more difficult to model.
Pharmaceutical market forecasting demands a high level of expertise, and this is made more difficult by the fact that building a model that is too complex makes it difficult to make wise choices. We have made major investments to make our models user-friendly. Our models are extremely user-friendly but still have the sophistication to simulate any ailment in any market when it comes to forecasting for the pharmaceutical business.
How, particularly in the wake of the COVID-19 epidemic, has the discipline of pharmacological forecasting evolved in recent years?
Over the past few years, there has been a major evolution in the field of pharmaceutical forecasting. Forecasting did not previously receive the same degree of funding as other business-critical operations. However, as the pharmaceutical industry has grown more established, attention has switched to increasingly uncommon and specialty illnesses, which are more complex and difficult to predict.
Each patient with these disorders has a substantially greater value, which reduces the margin for mistakes. As a result, in order to ensure that their forecasts are producing the required accuracy, businesses have had to invest more in both their forecasts and the data that powers them.
The digitalization of forecasting has been the other significant change. In the past, forecasts were made using Excel-based models and distributed via email to stakeholders, with PowerPoint being the preferred delivery format. This resulted in a disconnected procedure that required costly resources, was time-consuming, and was prone to errors.
However, over the past few years, the market has transitioned toward cloud-based, digitally driven solutions that enable improved cooperation and quicker prediction delivery. As working from home becomes the norm, the COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated this change.
Drug development will accelerate if pharmaceutical companies begin utilizing technology in other areas of their operations. Companies are now utilizing cutting-edge technology like artificial intelligence (AI) in clinical trials and data analysis, which will increase the ability to identify the correct chemicals with the right profiles for diseases.
How has J+D Forecasting managed to remain on top of these developments?
J+D Forecasting has made significant investments to introduce technology to the forecasting industry. We have been aggressive in incorporating significant technological advancements into our solutions to streamline each phase and create a smooth end-to-end process because forecasting can be an immensely time- and resource-intensive activity.
One advantage of being a specialized forecasting company is that we are able to quickly adopt technology to handle the difficulties that our clients confront and comprehend. Though technology by itself does not add value, everything we market is supported by our comprehensive understanding of pharmaceutical forecasting and the forecasting process. We are constantly asking:
How does this benefit our customers? What problems are we trying to solve?
We have preserved Excel as the forecasting tool because we are aware that it is still our clients’ preferred modeling software, which is an illustration of this expert-driven innovation. We use Power BI and MS Teams to make it operate at the core of a cloud-based forecasting process in order to offer value.
What are the main services and product categories offered by J+D Forecasting?
The company’s main offering is FC365, a cloud-based forecasting service. By streamlining the process, delivering automation, and integration, and fostering improved cooperation throughout an organization, cloud-based technology significantly increases forecasting efficiency.
We have used the Microsoft 365 technology stack to build a platform within FC365 that solves several forecasting problems. This platform’s modular design enables easy integration with our assortment of Excel add-ins (FC+), enabling modeling of any disease to be completed in a fraction of the time and in accordance with best practice forecasting methods.
We have made significant investments to overcome the difficulties associated with using Excel as a standalone forecasting tool. Furthermore, we are aware that transferring the entire forecasting process to the Cloud may lead to issues with familiarity, adaptability, and usability. So, in order to provide a setting where forecasters may operate autonomously, using known tools, and improve efficiency, we also took this into consideration when designing FC365.
Adoption is a major issue when putting in place a new forecasting system because it requires dozens, if not hundreds, of stakeholders to pick up a new methodology. We are already one step ahead of our rivals since we use well-known, on-site Microsoft tools, which allows us to focus on forecasting skills rather than heavily educating stakeholders on new external technologies.
What benefits does FC365 provide over other business solutions?
The key benefit of FC365 is that it was created especially for forecasting in the pharmaceutical industry. The majority of other cloud-based solutions are general platforms made to accommodate all businesses and the various forecasting techniques used within each of those industries. Because of the intricacy of the pharmaceutical industry, these systems do not perform as well as FC365.
Other options are available, some of which are created especially for the pharmaceutical sector. These, however, are not Excel-based, and as a result, they do not function very well due to their lack of flexibility.
Because it provides the information required for the forecasting processes, FC365 is advantageous for clients. Excel is fundamentally versatile, allowing users to easily modify current models or create new models. Clients may easily build their reports by using the Power BI reporting capabilities instead of asking us to do it for them.
The platform installation by J+D Forecasting makes sure that the forecasting data stays within the client’s own IT environment, keeping it secure. Consequently, a significant obstacle to implementation success is removed.
What problems do pharmaceutical firms today confront, and how might J+D Forecasting help?
The difficulties that pharmaceutical firms must overcome are always shifting and not always the same; they greatly depend on the therapeutic field, the location, or the type of enterprise. Regulation, generic competition, the need to stock the pipeline with cutting-edge drugs, and other factors continue to put pressure on big pharma’s pricing. Due to the difficult economic climate, investors are looking more closely at innovative small biotech companies to see if they can deliver value.
Making sound judgments swiftly based on solid facts is increasingly important in light of these difficulties, which is why we began J+D forecasting in the first place. Technology allows us to automate much of the process and provide the necessary insights rapidly, but a solid model that supports sound forecasting techniques must be used as a foundation for the technology.
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One way we assist our clients is by helping them make better decisions, but as healthcare organizations try to save costs, our clients are also looking to employ technology to operate more efficiently.
In the past, forecasting required a lot of manual labor and resources, but this is quickly changing, and J+D has been quick to incorporate technology to simplify the procedure. Our FC365 platform, for instance, offers real-time updating, consolidation, and reporting, and our FC+ software enables even the most complex model to be constructed in a fraction of the time.
Why is providing training in pharmaceutical forecasting important? Does this lessen the demand for your services among clients?
Although it may lessen the client’s need to rely on us for their predictions, we would still be content with that. The J+D Forecasting professionals are there to assist and empower people to perform better forecasting.
They don’t need to come to us to develop a model if they purchase our software and receive the appropriate training to use it. This implies that since the clients are creating their own models, their forecasts will be more accurate.
Each company has its own perspectives and goals when it comes to forecasting, thus this activity shouldn’t be outsourced. But they must nevertheless make sure that their personnel is instructed in the best forecasting techniques. When you deliver a forecast, the value comes from the narrative, which is why clients need to know how to forecast correctly.
J+D Forecasting offers teams the tools they need to internalize their forecasting procedures, including simple-to-use models, knowledgeable training, and ongoing support. In order to give our clients the knowledge they need to make better forecasts, we also built the. Users of our goods and services can use TheHub, an online resource for forecasting software, training programs, and support materials, as a resource and toolset.
How will J+D Forecasting develop its solutions going forward?
J+D Forecasting will continue to make investments in our client’s requirements and demands. Our forecasting platform has been available for approximately three or four years, but we’re still developing it, and every new version adds capabilities and features to provide even more value.
In order to considerably assist clients, J+D Forecasting is also developing additional project management tools. The platform’s future focus will be on sophisticated analytics like sensitivity and goal seeker analysis.
FC365 will eventually begin integrating additional data sources so that customers may use AI to both explain and anticipate performance. The software will be able to educate users about their prior successes and then use that knowledge to inform their future actions.
Regarding David James
a reputable authority in the field of pharmaceutical forecasting, offering consultation and training to address international forecasting problems. David has guided J+D Forecasting to become one of the top suppliers of pharmaceutical forecasting solutions to some of the biggest companies in the market as co-founder and current CEO.
Concerning J+D Forecasting
We provide the answer to your forecasting needs, from custom pharmaceutical forecasting models and cutting-edge tools to interactive training and resources. In order to develop models that satisfy the requirements of both individuals and pharmaceutical firms, J+D collaborates with pharmaceutical forecasters, analysts, business insights managers, and marketing departments. We strike a compromise between market complexity and user-friendly, cutting-edge technology, supported by the greatest pharmaceutical forecasting methods.
Overview of Human Eye Anatomy
The needs of our customers are important to the services and solutions we develop, thus we design solutions with particular business needs in mind. J+D is aware of the various issues that both local and global forecasts face, which enables us to incorporate them into our solutions. We seek to inspire trust in pharmaceutical investment decisions by using our expertise, experience, and passion for innovation. This will enable us to help our clients shape the market.
