Pharmaceutical enterprises and Clinical Research Organizations (CROs) are transforming their traditional engagement models to align with evolving business needs. Cost, scale, and operational efficiency are no longer the primary factors in sourcing decisions as pharmaceutical companies seek advanced support from CROs. The growing emphasis on patient centricity, cloud-based platform solutions, agile systems, advanced analytics for real-world evidence, and digital support for faster compliance is compelling CROs to reevaluate their value propositions. The service provider landscape is also changing with the emergence of IT/BPOs and startups offering differentiated solutions. To compete in this rapidly evolving ecosystem and meet pharmaceutical requirements, CROs are investing in artificial intelligence enabled solutions, analytics, and automation. In this report, we examine these changes in detail exploring the use of digital elements and tracking CROs’ technical investments. We also assess the evolving pharma-CRO engagement models.
