It was a new twist to a narrative from a healthcare company with conversations less about drug-making and more about digital transformation. It should have been expected, coming as it did from French healthcare major Sanofi, which was in the spotlight last year for its new artificial-intelligence app, plai that banks on a large pool of data across Sanofi to provide timely insights and aid decision-making process.
Though the meet with journalists organised on Wednesday, July 17th, by Sanofi at its new and tony Global Capacity Centre (GCC) in the IT suburb of Hyderabad, was more about the expansion plans for the centre, the senior officials from the company, underlined how it was really about adding new digital competencies.
Leading the conversations from Sanofi were Madeleine Roach, executive vice-president, business operations, Sanofi and Emmanuel Frenehard, the company’s chief digital officer. Both, aided by Mrinal Duggal, head of the GCC and Rodolfo Hrosz, managing director, Sanofi India, headquartered out of Mumbai.
Frenehard spoke of the new capabilities, particularly around leveraging the power of AI. In response to a question from this writer on how this GCC was different from a back office set up by a global pharma company, Frenehard had this to say: “Back offices are usually for transactional support but this is about new solutions that come with a certain level of creativity.” Giving examples, he said, it could around efforts to improve yields of a product, or about the readiness with solutions to check deviations (even for instance due to change in temperature) to also help in process improvements. Therefore, the emphasis was not “transactional” abilities but “transformative” capabilities and, as Roach helpfully added: “building a talent pool for the future” and for Sanofi, which she sees as a tech-powered science company. She also referred to efforts towards digitisation as a clear goal with clear KPIs within the company.
On the investments made, a note shared by the company said, there were plans to invest in all €400 million (Rs 3600 crore) over the next six years, with €100 million (Rs 900 crore) by 2025. “Over the next two years, this GCC will expand to host up to 2600 employees (currently 1,000), making it the largest of Sanofi’s four global hubs.” Sanofi’s four Global Capacity Centres are strategic Hubs across the Globe (Budapest, Hungary; Bogota, Colombia; Kaula Lumpur, Malaysia; and Hyderabad, India) that give the company a competitive edge in delivering best-in-class enterprise solutions. “These hubs are key ‘nervecenters’ that enable centralization and modernization and allow for scaling-up opportunities across Sanofi’s value chain, offering a wide array of services ranging from commercial, manufacturing & supply to R&D and digital.”
Established in 2019, the Hyderabad hub has grown from being a medical hub to “now providing several best-in-class services to Sanofi’s global functions and affiliates across the world. This future-forward global hub for talent in Hyderabad, is a state-of-the-art workplace designed to be environmentally sustainable and foster diversity and inclusivity,” the press release from the company added. Sharing details of the profile of the talent hired thus far at the GCC, Mrinal Duggal said, bulk of them (about 50 per cent) were either PhDs or masters in pharma, about 10 per cent were completely fresh hires from college and about 20 per cent were tech employees hired from engineering colleges. The range of work experience within the GCC was between 1 year and 25 years and the average talent age was about 35 years.
Asked about the journey of Sanofi in India thus far and the road ahead, Frenehard said, the company was “resetting the footprint in India and stepping up its value accretive activities” with the GCC playing a crucial role in this journey.