Virtual working to cut complexity – from audit to distribution

In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, many pharma businesses are re-evaluating their supply chains. There is an accelerating trend towards increasing the number of localized depots over a larger global footprint. It’s a sound strategy for boosting resilience, but it also increases the complexity of managing storage and distribution.

At the same time, many of us are returning to the office, having worked remotely for a year or more. Over that time, most organizations – World Courier included – evolved remarkably effective virtual workflows for operations that would have been considered inextricably ‘in person’ activities pre-pandemic.

While in-person interaction is on the rise, it would be a mistake to simply revert to the old ways of doing things. As many of our global storage clients are already finding, there are benefits to retaining at least some of the virtual working lessons learnt over the past year – particularly in the context of an increase in a regional depots model.

Used appropriately, remote workflows can help reduce complexity, improve cost efficiency, and nurture collaboration. Here, we look at where working virtually can remain beneficial for global pharma storage management, now and in the future.

Reducing travel

The headline efficiency saving for virtual audits is cutting travel. As the world moved online, World Courier began offering virtual depot tours by video call, supplemented by detailed photographs and sitemaps.

Using these technologies, our clients can rigorously assess our depots wherever they are in the world. Aside from saving on travel expenses, clients are able to cut audit times – which could be invaluable when faced with a tight turnaround.

They can also conduct multiple audits in parallel, perhaps taking two or three tours a day for better side-by-side comparisons. And tours can be attended by team members from anywhere in the world, providing extra sets of eyes, while enabling the consistency of having the same people audit every depot.

Connecting disparate teams

One of the great advantages of working remotely is the ability to better pull geographically disparate teams together. Just as virtual tours can be attended by team members anywhere, staff can take part in remote audit meetings – hosted via video conferencing – wherever they are.

This can benefit teams that continue to work somewhat remotely. But it also opens audit meetings to a larger pool of stakeholders, potentially bringing additional information, unexpected angles of enquiry, and a greater diversity of perspectives.

And as with virtual tours, remote audit meetings make it possible to send the same people every time, ensuring consistency between evaluations.

Regulations and guidelines need to be followed though to ensure compliance is met at all times and regulatory expectations are met.

Allowing for greater scrutiny

In the standard format, auditors usually review documents such as SOPs and reports on site as hard-copy or e-version documents.

In a virtual audit meeting, this presentation is viewed via screenshare, which can make documents easier to read, and includes short summaries of key processes and links to the SOPs. At World Courier, we have augmented this by sharing the files themselves using a password protected Box.com folder, accessible to auditors for the allocated audit period.

Clients can therefore review in their own time, and request additional documents if required, affording the opportunity for a more detailed assessment.

Consolidating vendors

One strategy many of our clients are following to overcome potential disconnects is consolidating vendors – utilizing multiple depots from a single vendor, where possible.

This approach offers two advantages. First, it can reduce the number of audits required. In our case, all 14 World Courier clinical and commercial depots are completely standardized, following the same exacting SOPs. One or two inspections are usually considered enough to assess the whole network.

Second, consolidating vendors may also consolidate inventory management and tracking systems, making it easier to obtain visibility of stock levels and locations.

Integrating systems