Case Study: Enterprise AI Strategy & Transformation Roadmap

Pharmaceuticals

Enterprise AI Strategy & Transformation Roadmap

The Challenge: Fragmented AI Investment with No Measurable Return

A global pharmaceutical company with operations across 30 countries had invested heavily in AI over three years, yet had little to show for it. Twelve separate AI pilots were running simultaneously across R&D, commercial, supply chain, and manufacturing — each siloed within its own business unit, built on different technology stacks, and governed (or not) by different teams. Vendor contracts were duplicated across divisions, and there was no shared data infrastructure to support cross-functional use cases. Despite cumulative AI spending exceeding $40M, the C-suite could not point to a single initiative that had reached meaningful scale. The board was demanding accountability, and the newly appointed Chief Digital Officer was tasked with turning the situation around within 18 months.

Our Solution: Structured AI Maturity Assessment and Prioritized Roadmap

Lydatum conducted a comprehensive AI maturity assessment across eight business units, benchmarking the organization against pharma-sector peers and global best practices. Our engagement covered three phases:

• AI Maturity Assessment: Using Lydatum's proprietary five-dimension framework — data readiness, model capability, organizational talent, governance, and technology infrastructure — we assessed 150+ stakeholders across 8 divisions through structured interviews, surveys, and architecture reviews. The output was a detailed maturity scorecard identifying critical gaps and quick wins.
• Use Case Identification and Prioritization: We facilitated 20 discovery workshops to surface over 60 AI opportunities across the value chain. Each was evaluated against four dimensions: business value, feasibility, time-to-value, and strategic alignment. Twelve high-priority initiatives were selected for the roadmap, spanning drug discovery acceleration, commercial forecasting, supply chain optimization, and pharmacovigilance automation.
• AI Roadmap and Operating Model: We delivered a three-year AI transformation roadmap with phased investment requirements, technology architecture recommendations, a talent acquisition plan, and a governance charter establishing an AI Center of Excellence. The roadmap included vendor consolidation recommendations that eliminated 14 redundant contracts.

The engagement involved close collaboration with the CDO, division presidents, and the board's digital transformation committee. Lydatum facilitated alignment sessions to secure executive buy-in and a funded investment case for Year 1 initiatives before the engagement concluded.

The Impact: A Unified AI Program with Measurable Momentum

Within six months of roadmap delivery, the organization had launched its AI Center of Excellence, consolidated its technology stack onto two approved platforms, and begun delivery of three prioritized initiatives on time and on budget.

The roadmap became the foundation for a $120M three-year AI investment program approved by the board. The AI Center of Excellence hired 40 data scientists and engineers within the first year, and the organization's AI maturity score improved by two levels on Lydatum's benchmark scale within 18 months — moving from reactive to strategically led.

Services Delivered: AI Maturity Assessment, AI Roadmap Development, AI Governance & Ethics, AI Program Implementation