In a highly regulated space such as the pharmaceutical industry, the process of digital transformation has been slower than in other sectors. However, the Swiss pharmaceutical giant Novartis AG has been focused on changing this narrative in recent years as it embraced digital and data.

“We are trying to reimagine medicine through user data and technology,” said Loic Giraud (pictured, center), business analytics COE head at Novartis. “We’re trying to optimize the backbone of our day-to-day processes. Through the cloud we can make use of data to innovate, operate and engage.”

Giraud spoke with Rebecca Knight (@knightrm), host of theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s mobile livestreaming studio, during the Accenture Executive Summit at the AWS re:Invent event in Las Vegas. He was joined by Fang Deng (pictured, right), big data and advanced analytics program lead at Novartis, and Vikas Sindwani (pictured, left), principal director of applied intelligence at Accenture. They discussed how Novartis is reimagining new products for patients using digital technologies and a growing industry acceptance of the cloud. (* Disclosure below.)

Leveraging massive data pool

Novartis has developed a new platform — Nerve Live — which is designed to leverage the firm’s massive data pool. Faster and more thorough analysis of data, using artificial intelligence and machine learning, will help the company research and develop new drug therapies.

“We’re trying to reimagine our products for the patient,” Deng said. “Our objective is to leverage new technologies, concentrate on data in the cloud, and build a new platform for Novartis users.”

The pharmaceutical company is also embracing the cloud. Earlier this month, Novartis announced that it would work with Amazon Web Services Inc. to overhaul its manufacturing and business operations.

“Companies like healthcare, media, metals and mining were behind the curve in cloud-adoption rates because of their respective concerns around compliance and security of data,” Sindwani explained. “That trend is slowly shifting as companies are becoming more open. They’ve seen how the public cloud has matured.”

Watch the complete video interview below, and be sure to check out more of SiliconANGLE’s and theCUBE’s coverage of the Accenture Executive Summit during the AWS re:Invent event. (* Disclosure: Accenture LLP sponsored this segment of theCUBE. Neither Accenture nor other sponsors have editorial control over content on theCUBE or SiliconANGLE.)

Photo: SiliconANGLE