CMS for Pharma, Biotech, and Life Sciences industries

As you know, we consult with and advise many enterprises – large and small – across vertical industries. This experience has taught me that a Web Content Management System is not a vertical application. There are occasional exceptions (like media and perhaps higher education), but overall Web CMS is what we analysts call a "horizontal" business application. That means that just about any CMS can be potentially used by any type of business, depending on actual needs.

Through personal experience advising in strategy development or product selections, I’ve seen vendors take many creative approaches to enamor pharmaceutical and life sciences companies in particular. They try to speak the lingo, drop industry terminology such as “designed specifically for promotional materials,” “21 CFR Part 11 ready,” “built-in capabilities for regulatory review and submission,” “FDA ESG friendly,” “features for error-free eCTDs,” and so on. Then vendors nod their heads in seeming understanding when pharmas lament about arduous processes related to dealing with regulatory authorities.

The real story is that core web content management principles span across all industries. It is the same need for workflow, versioning, security, personalization, openness through APIs and standards, and so on. Really, there’s nothing special about a CMS for a pharma company versus a CMS for a retailer. Yes, the back-end integrations may vary, the features and modules implemented may differ, how the same CMS gets deployed could change, but the content management processes remain the same.

So it is very likely that the “special” FDA submission “feature” you’re seeing in the vendor sales demo is the same workflow engine (used for any other customer), only implemented and customized with labels to fit your language. That "fully defensible audit trail" is available to all licensees in any industry segment -- it's just that most of them turn it off to save storage costs.

For better or worse, the key exposures for any heavily-regulated or litigation-prone enterprise take place beyond your Web CMS -- either upstream in your medical or regulatory review and approval process, or out in your social media channels, or in some long-term archival system that works on top of your website, or in your collaboration tool, somewhere else.

I am not saying disregard any industry-specific experience your potential vendor may have. But do not disregard “general” CMS vendors and do understand how their systems could work based on your use cases (This is yet another example where you should ditch that check-box RFP approach). For those of you in the Pharma, Biotech, and Life Sciences industries, this is actually good news. It gives you more choices for the right fit.

This also means you don't have to overpay for features that are indeed quite standard. Carefully investigate any customization and integration you do in fact need, then talk to references in your industry sector to get a better feel on how the vendor may or may not culturally mesh with your company. Most importantly, iron out internal processes related to content before buying any actual software -- Web CMS included.


Our customers say...

"The Web CMS Research is worth every penny!"


Gil, Partner, Cancentric Solutions Inc.
iStudio Canada Inc.

Other Web Content & Experience Management posts

Whither Sitecore Now?

It seems time for an answer to the question: what is Sitecore, really, circa 2023?

TeamSite Marriage Counseling

Some TeamSite implementations linger on, like a really bad relationship you can't seem to end. Maybe it's time for a clear exit?