Now is the time to embrace the new normal

It's an understatement to call sustainability a mega-trend’ says Jonny Foley, lead in Cognizant's Life Sciences and Healthcare business in Ireland.

What is your current role with Cognizant and responsibilities? (Please give any relevant background).

My name is Jonny Foley and I lead Cognizant's Life Sciences and Healthcare business in Ireland. My role combines developing new business with helping to grow the footprints of existing accounts. Many global Life Sciences companies have a strong foothold in operations and manufacturing here. Now that Zenith has merged with Cognizant and the TQS Integration merger is underway, we have the capacity to provide an end-to-end information and operational technology (IT OT) offering.

I oversee the value chain for pharma and medical manufacturing, starting from clinical research by the large R&D team within Cognizant’s Centre of Excellence (COE) through to the commercial side involving our horizontal Life Sciences and Healthcare service lines and market. Cognizant offers multiple solutions in both medical devices and pharma.

I have eight years of experience supporting organisations in fulfilling their key technology and business transformation priorities. Before joining Cognizant, I worked with Oracle leading various large transformation programmes.

What are your thoughts on digital transformation?

I see the present time as one of unprecedented opportunity. As patients and providers become more empowered and demanding, advancing technologies such as AI offer a unique opportunity to transform business value. With more comprehensive changes in the ecosystem – including progressing regulatory environments, balancing local and global needs and technology transformation – now is the time to embrace the new normal. I always aim to bring long-lasting value to our clients and partners and the current pace of innovation offers this opportunity.

According to our research, Life Science businesses that have accelerated their digital-first journey are better placed to survive and thrive in a world where time-to-everything matters more than any other strategic imperative. There are four guiding pillars that I believe will help companies through this transformation:

•IoT, AI, automation and analytics are central to augmenting processes.

•Digital is the direction for future growth.

•Augmented processes will drive significant business benefits.

•The power lies in data, not devices.

What are your thoughts on how sustainability can be addressed from an IT perspective?

It's an understatement to call sustainability a mega-trend – it’s no longer something that enterprises do out of pure goodwill; it now benefits the business. 54% of European enterprises have embedded sustainability into their business plan; by 2025 this will increase to 77% (according to Cognizant's Green Rush research report). In addition, 25% of these companies cite sustainability as essential to them.

While this may sound far-fetched, IT plays an essential role in sustainability. One way to use IT in addressing sustainability that leaps to mind is intelligent water management using IoT solutions. For example, in 2020 Cognizant and a global leader in pump manufacturing collaborated to unite technology with sustainability. By developing ‘intelligent water management’ that prevents, predicts and even reacts to different operational problems, Cognizant created a sustainable solution that combines IoT, data analytics, sensors, distant monitoring and proactive maintenance.

What big tech trends do you believe are changing the world?

Hybrid workplaces and the Metaverse. To be clear, though, the Metaverse is not one distinct concept. It means different things to different people, but no one company or application should end up controlling virtual space. ‘The Metaverse’ serves as a catch-all term for the various tools, applications and software used in engineering virtual and augmented reality, collectively known as ‘extended reality’ or XR – the spaces where people collaborate virtually and the infrastructure surrounding them.

One-dimensional approaches to remote collaboration won't cut it in a world of hybrid workplaces and reduced travel. Enter 'extended reality' technologies, which can enrich interactions even while employees are physically apart more than they are together. Businesses are increasingly offering flexible work-from-home options and cutting back on frequent travel for a wide range of health, safety and sustainability reasons. As such, it’s only natural to look to XR to shift remote collaboration from a flat, one-dimensional experience into a multi-dimensional one.

Cognizant are sponsoring The Business Post’s CIO & IT Leaders Summit on June 28th in Croke Park. Visit www.ciosummit.ie for full details and to book.