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Customer stories

Parexel-logoParexel

Clinical research giant leads collaboration and innovation to new horizons by shifting OpenText Content Management to OpenText Cloud

Parexel-logo

About Parexel

Parexel is the second-largest clinical research organization in the world. It has helped develop approximately 95% of the 200 top-selling biopharmaceuticals on the market today.
Scientist analyzing lab sample
  • Employees:
    21,000
  • Facilities:
    84+
  • Founded:
    1982

Summary

Challenges

  • Current implementation of their content management system couldn’t meet evolving needs.
  • Sought a way to manage growing data volumes, simplify collaboration, and comply with strict security standards.

Solution

  • Modernized content management on a brand-new platform.
  • Embraced greater agility and innovation in the cloud.
  • Enlisted professional services to migrate 7TB of mission-critical data.

Results

  • collaboration icon Enabled seamless internal and external collaboration
  • secure document icon Supported solid information governance and security
  • rocket icon Prepared the business for future innovation

Challenges

  • The existing implementation of the organization’s content management platform lacked modern functionality
  • The company needed a way to meet increased demand for data access and simplify collaboration with external partners
  • Strict information governance and security standards were difficult to meet with the current setup

Some of the world’s best-known and most innovative biopharma and biotech firms trust Parexel to support their clinical development services. The clinical research organization (CRO) handles everything from clinical trial recruitment to drug approvals and commercialization, helping clients develop transformative treatments faster and at lower cost.

Parexel’s approach to clinical development has proven highly successful, propelling decades of successful growth. For nearly 20 years, the organization has counted on OpenText™ Content Management as its core data management platform. OpenText Content Management is the central source of truth for information including standard operating procedures (SOPs): step-by-step instructions for managing every aspect of a clinical trial, patient information, clinical trial results, training materials, client contracts, and much more.

This data is growing constantly. It needs to be properly secured, traceable for audit purposes and readily available to tens of thousands of users, inside and outside of the organization. Meeting all these requirements was proving increasingly challenging.

Ravi Singh, executive director at Parexel, explained: “OpenText Content Management is the cornerstone of our operations. The DNA of our business is stored on the platform, and we trust it to keep our data secure, accurate, and auditable; however, the way our people work with information is changing. We are also evolving into business models that require much greater collaboration with external parties. Our existing implementation simply wasn’t set up to support these new requirements.”

Clinical researchers discussing test results

Working with OpenText Professional Services means we have a partner with deep knowledge of our environment, a proven ability to build trust with our stakeholders, and the expertise to deliver a migration of this scale and complexity.

Ravi Singh
Executive Director, Parexel

Solution

To embrace modern enterprise content management best practices, Parexel is working with experts from OpenText™ Professional Services to evolve its approach—including next-generation content management solutions in OpenText Cloud.

Products deployed

Solution deployed

Modernizing content management

Parexel has centered its transformation on a move to the latest version of OpenText Content Management. Unifying content and processes, the OpenText platform provides access to information when and where it’s needed, supporting quicker and easier collaboration.

Parexel is integrating OpenText Content Management with core enterprise applications, including Salesforce, a learning management system (LMS), and multiple Microsoft SharePoint applications. The organization will also make use of API integrations to facilitate document delivery and data sharing with external partner systems.

Embracing agility and innovation in the cloud

Taking its modernization efforts one step further, Parexel chose to migrate OpenText Content Management from its on-premises platform to OpenText Cloud. The shift primes the organization to elevate the flexibility and scalability of its services, while providing a faster route to all-new capabilities, including AI.

As a first step on its journey to cloud, Parexel has taken the opportunity to establish more standardized and comprehensive data classification and retention policies. These will enable the organization to manage data more effectively throughout its lifecycle. To support this work, Parexel is considering introducing scalable, cost-effective, and compliant data archiving.

Guiding a smooth migration

The transition to the cloud is a huge project for Parexel, which includes migrating more than 7TB of mission critical data. To ensure the move goes off without a hitch, the organization has enlisted the support of OpenText Professional Services.

Singh noted, “For two decades, we have built up a vast store of data in OpenText and embedded some very complex processes. Taking all of that with us to the cloud is no easy task. Working with OpenText Professional Services means we have a partner with deep knowledge of our environment, a proven ability to build trust with our stakeholders, and the expertise to deliver a migration of this scale and complexity.”

Lab technician sitting at a microscope looking up at monitor

There's a trust at Parexel that if information is on OpenText it will be secure and easily accessible when it needs to be. We go through thousands of audits every year, and data stored in OpenText Content Management has never been in question.

Ravi Singh
Executive Director, Parexel

Results

Parexel is getting ready for its next chapter of cloud-powered content management. The move is expected to supercharge collaboration, efficiency, and compliance, all while laying the foundations for future innovation.

Transformed working practices

Deploying OpenText Content Management in the cloud will bring a significant step up in functionality for Parexel. Offering a sleek and simplified user experience, the solution is designed to support effortless information access and sharing for all users, no matter where they are or how they choose to use the platform. This helps teams at Parexel work more effectively and deliver better outcomes for clients and patients alike.

Singh commented, “With Content Management, our vision is to bring all teams, everywhere, together on a single platform. Whether users are inside or outside the organization, working from an office, at home on their laptop, or in the field on a mobile device, we will be able to give them access to the information they need.”

Kept vital data secure

Investing in an up-to-date content management platform allows Parexel to take advantage of the latest advancements in information governance, ensuring that critical data remains properly managed and secured throughout its lifecycle.

Crucially, the OpenText Cloud is governed by GxP (good practice) guidelines, making it easier for Parexel to meet requirements set by industry regulators, particularly those around protecting data integrity, accuracy, and security.

Singh said, “There's a trust at Parexel that if information is on OpenText it will be secure and easily accessible when it needs to be. We go through thousands of audits every year, and data stored in OpenText Content Management has never been in question. We know we can trust this platform—and that trust has been critical to getting buy-in and building momentum for our next evolution to the cloud.”

Prepared for a future-ready business

For Parexel, a modern, cloud-based data infrastructure will be a launchpad for ever-more innovative capabilities, including AI, automation, and predictive analytics solutions. This aligns with a broader strategic drive to invest in AI for clinical development, unlocking greater productivity and fresh insights across the board.

As it prepares to enter a new era of content management together with OpenText, Parexel is poised to continue innovating and improving patient outcomes—keeping it at the forefront of clinical research and development.

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