Alexion: Digital Co-Innovation Accelerating the Application of Analytics

Alexion Pharmaceutical Inc. (Alexion), founded in 1992, was a biotechnology company that focused on therapeutics for rare diseases. As the company grew, it sought to scale operations to serve a growing number of patients and their families worldwide. The search began for an innovative, forward-thinking, strategic information technology leader to spearhead the effort. In 2015, George Llado was hired as senior vice-president and chief information officer. Llado realized that big data and analytics could play a unique transformational role in identifying customers to accelerate sales growth and realize the mission to save lives. He wondered if analytics enabled through cloud computing, a new kind of data platform, and betting on technology start-ups could accelerate patient identification. When he joined Alexion, Llado faced a unique set of related challenges, including (a) applying analytics in a highly regulated industry, (b) rapidly creating a new type of integrated data platform, (c) managing dysfunctional vendor relationships, and (d) balancing the role of data and analytics in relation to the traditional sales force approach in pharmaceutical firms.

This case is suitable for use in several business courses, including (but not limited to) graduate-level courses in data analytics, innovation and disruption, and introduction to information systems. By working through the case and assignment questions, students will have the opportunity to do the following:<ul><li>Explore digital transformation applying co-innovation, data, and analytics.</li><li>Understand a chief information officer’s role in strategy formulation and execution.</li><li>Analyze the decision and identify the complexities of buying versus building.</li><li>Analyze the decision of hiring versus not hiring.</li><li>Analyze the decision to use small, relatively unknown companies instead of the big players.</li></ul>

• co-innovation, analytics