Merck & Company Drives New Product Development for Better Customer Outcomes

The second annual ARC Industrial Digital Transformation Top 25 report continues to highlight companies that are succeeding at integrating digital technology into all areas of business, fundamentally changing the way they operate and deliver value to customers. This year’s Top 25 companies include many who made the list last year, together with some new companies. Positions were reshuffled due to the changing business dynamics and weighting components of the analysis: financial indicators, transformation indicators, and collective community intelligence. Merck & Company drives new product development for better customer outcomes and the company ranks #17 in this year’s report.

The last few years have been particularly challenging ones for industrial growth. We’ve been cornered from all sides: pandemics, political unrest, climate change, and macroeconomic uncertainty. The world as we knew it a few years ago has capsized and the boundaries of the new normal are constantly shifting and realigning. Digital transformation is now an imperative and digital transformation leaders can be found across many different industries, sharing common traits and visions, helping organizations overcome complex challenges to innovate and stay agile. Several key trends were identified in this report: importance of sustainability, actively seeking to scale solutions in multiple dimensions, benefits of focus and prioritization, empowering the operational front line, recognition that culture change is required, and active outreach to others.

ARC Advisory Group defines digital transformation as: “The integration of digital technology into all areas of business, fundamentally changing the way companies operate and deliver value to customers. The organization is typically charged to innovate and improve across multiple dimensions such as: digital/disruptive technologies, culture and leadership, operational agility, workforce engagement, customer experience, environmental, social and governance, and competitive performance.”

This is the seventeenth in a series of blogs in the digital transformation space.

Merck & Company 

Merck’s three key business sectors across 140 countries - healthcare, life science, and performance materials - develop strategies to drive new product developments for the benefit of patients and customers. The company identifies innovation projects with the goal of moving beyond their current portfolio, from initial idea all the way to functioning business model. Merck has been focusing on using artificial intelligence, cloud, Big Data, IoT, and 3D printing to digitally transform its operations and to improve the performance of its laboratories. 

In addition to its process-oriented digital transformation elements, Merck is also working on stealth digital strategies, or open standards. These efforts include working with standards organizations for easier integration into the company’s manufacturing and laboratory activities. A strong proponent of standards, Merck believes that by deploying, engaging, and adopting more standards it will drive productivity into the organization. 

Culturally, the company has an Innovation Committee (IC) that oversees the implementation of innovation projects both between and beyond its business sectors. It ensures that the decision-making process for selecting innovation projects is transparent and consistent. 

Road Ahead

Digital transformation is a continuous journey and ARC will continue its research in all areas related to digital transformation. We want to learn more about what is working – and what isn’t – as companies pursue their unique digital transformation activities. A lot is happening both on the supplier and user sides, and we would like to know about the pitfalls and success stories. The  ARC Industrial Digital Transformation Top 25 report will be published on an annual basis. With this being our second year, your feedback is very important to us as we will continue to investigate new approaches and measures to adjust our methodology, identify successful digital transformation initiatives, and help the industry as a whole digitally transform. We are on this journey together!

Learn more about ARC’s Digital Transformation Council

Learn more about ARC In-depth Research at Market Analysis

Learn more about ARC Strategic Services at Advisory Services for Industry Leaders