Abraxis BioScience
Company: Abraxis BioScience, LLC, Los Angeles, CA
Company Description: Abraxis is a biotechnology company delivering progressive therapeutics & core technologies to patients & medical professionals for safer & more effective treatments for cancer & other illnesses. Its portfolio includes the first & only protein- based nanoparticle chemotherapeutic compound (ABRAXANE®) based on a proprietary tumor targeting system known as nab™ Technology platform.
Nomination Category: Information Technology Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Information Technology Executive of the Year
Nomination Title: Rick Click, Senior Vice President, Global IT/Chief Information Officer
Tell the story about what this nominee achieved since January 1 2008 (up to 500 words). Focus on specific accomplishments, and relate these accomplishments to past performance or industry norms. Be sure to mention obstacles overcome, innovations or discoveries made, and outcomes:
When Abraxis BioScience separated from APP Pharmaceuticals in late 2007, it
faced the challenge of splitting an integrated financials, sales and supply
chain infrastructure, in an aggressive timeframe dictated by the sale of its
sister company. Relying heavily on outsourced talent and a state-of-the-art
cloud computer model, Abraxis worked with SAP, Cognizant Technology Solutions,
T-Systems and Deloitte & Touch LLP/Deloitte Consulting LLP to complete a rapid
SAP ECC 6.0 and SAP CRM 2007 implementation.
In a complex regulatory environment, Abraxis CIO Rick Click needed to build IT
systems that would deliver fast, accurate insights into the business. There
was not time to build an IT organization. To hit the ground running, CIO and
team had to creatively leverage both internal and external resources, create
strong business partnerships and encourage effective communication across
global teams.
To rapidly achieve efficiency, scale and agility, Abraxis relied on a cloud
computer model – a flexible, hosted, utility-based platform. Click chose
global outsourcing firm Cognizant Technology Solutions to implement the rapid
ASAP methodology, blueprinting and business process reengineering; T-Systems,
an SAP Application Management Services Provider and one of only a few SAP
Global Hosting Partners, was chosen to provide the hosted platform; Deloitte
Consulting LLP provided training and change management services; and Deloitte
& Touche LLP helped establish a global Program Management Office (PMO), while
providing planning, structure, communication tools and procedures to support
and optimize the SAP implementation.
Rather than being locked into heavy capital expenditures, Click negotiated a
hosted delivery model that was cost-effective, both initially as well as long-
term, while providing the ability to flexibly add resources as needed. This is
due to the pay-as-you-go, utility pricing model in which Abraxis used only
what it needed and paid only for what it used. Instead of the typical,
dedicated infrastructure, this is a pure application and infrastructure
services model, affording Abraxis greater flexibility for growth. It is a
different way of delivering services, giving the company agility to handle the
unexpected and meet the demands of the future.
Through Click’s leadership, Abraxis successfully overcame the complexities of
getting multiple consulting partners to work together. The result was
remarkable: an unprecedented collaboration among consulting partners on a
global scale, and an SAP implementation that began in July 2008 that was live
in January 2009. Regulatory compliance in multiple countries was also achieved
in a very rapid timeframe. Abraxis is FDA GMP-compliant and is positioned to
pass its first Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) audit within its first year of operation
as a stand-alone company.
ERP, CRM, financials, sales and distribution, Vistex and some supply chain
capability went live in just 6 months – in an FDA GMP-compliant environment –
with the remaining supply chain functionality implemented just 3 months later.
An expert in business process outsourcing (BPO), Click has authored two books
on the subject: “Essentials of Business Process Outsourcing – 2005” and “BPO
the Next Competitive Revolution – 2004”. He affirms that he has never seen a
global outsourcing project of this magnitude go so smoothly.
List hyperlinks to any online news stories, press releases, or other documents that support the claims made in the section above. IMPORTANT: Begin each link with http://, and enclose each link in square brackets; for example, [http://www.youraddress.com]:
Provide a brief (up to 100 words) biography about the nominee:
Rick Click holds an MBA, a PMD from Harvard Graduate School of Business, and
is a PhD Candidate at Walden University. He served in the U.S. Army from 1987
to 1991 and is certified as a Six-Sigma black belt and in Change Acceleration
Process (CAP) methodology. In 2005, he was recognized by Computerworld as
a “Top 100 IT Professional (CIO) in America” and received the national
RealWare award in 2001 for “Best B2C portal”. He also was a keynote speaker at
the 2002 World Supply Chain Conference – Globalization, Forbes 2006 CIO
conference, and the 2007 World Healthcare Conference.