Global pharma sector stares at lack of talent, specific skills: Report

New Delhi, Nov 17 Lack of specific skills and talents has been found to be the biggest obstacle for pharmaceutical companies in their digital transformation journey, according to a new report.

Large and medium-sized companies see a lack of specific skills and talents as more of a concern than smaller ones, according to a report by GlobalData.

The rapid pace of technological advancement has outstripped the ability of traditional training programs to keep up, creating a significant skills gap. Without the necessary expertise, companies may struggle to integrate new systems, leading to stalled initiatives.

"Shortage of talents that have specific digital skills continues to be a pressing issue for pharmaceutical companies that first experienced digital skills scarcity shortly after the arrival of COVID-19,” said Urte Jakimaviciute, Senior Director of Market Research and Strategic Intelligence at GlobalData.

Despite the growing demand for tech-savvy specialists, there is a limited supply of individuals possessing necessary expertise, and there is no quick solution for this, Jakimaviciute added.

Larger corporations may have a wider scale of operations or a higher number of systems to digitalise, which requires more human resources to complete the process.

As such, the absence of skills may make them unable to fully leverage the technologies that they invest in for digital transformation, said Jakimaviciute.

According to the report, while the labour market has been heated up by the race for recruiting talents, large enterprises, which demand a higher number of employees and tend to have a more global presence, may struggle more to deal with tech-savvy workforce constraints.

On the other hand, small companies may prioritize rapid innovation over very specialised roles and also often outsource more to access very specialised skills, it added. The ongoing advancements in technologies also mean that skills can become easily outdated, making it critical for companies to continuously invest in talent acquisition and upskilling.

Source: IANS