Despite the speed sponsors showed in adopting specific pandemic-related solutions, such as decentralized trial approaches, a new global study reveals they still face significant hurdles and long timelines when introducing broader electronic system innovations.

Implementation of new electronic solutions takes an average of 69 months from planning to enterprisewide implementation, according to a new survey report from the Tufts Center for the Study of Drug Development (CSDD).

CSDD assessed the length of time companies took on each step of the typical innovation cycle — planning/initiation, evaluation, adoption decision and full implementation — and identified issues that can contribute to slow adoption times.

The 621 respondents to the survey reported the planning and initiation stage, which takes an average of 14 months, is significantly slowed by weak support from senior management, difficulty reaching cross-functional agreement, limited encouragement to initiate and a lack of regulatory transparency. Mid-size companies took the longest on average (17.1 months), while small and large companies were faster at 11.7 and 12 months, respectively.

The 15.7-month evaluation stage, CSDD found, was marked by difficulty comparing providers, limited cross-functional coordination, poor pilot program designs and, again, limited incentive to initiate. Mid-size companies again took the longest (19.1 months on average), whereas large companies took 14.6 months and small companies took 12.1 months.

A quarter of the innovation adoption process is tied up in deciding whether to move forward with a full implementation, the study found, taking sponsors 16.9 months on average overall, with mid-size sponsors the slowest once again (19.3 months). Large companies also moved slowly through this step (16.6 months), while smaller companies were faster (12.9 months).

The longest phase of adoption, by far, is full implementation, which took sponsors almost two years to complete. Here, large and mid-size companies saw similar times (23.4 and 23.7 months, respectively), while smaller companies moved a bit faster (20.7 months). Companies named weak senior management support, a lack of continuity in adoption investment, weak change management planning and a lack of alignment on incentives as the key sources of delays and inefficiencies.

Access the full CSDD report here: https://bit.ly/3RjRFpO.

The CenterWatch Monthly will provide a more in-depth analysis of this topic in its August 2022 issue. For information, go to https://bit.ly/3nRVBAA.