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Scandinavian Biopharma at Solna is developing the world’s first vaccine against ETEC, something that can save the lives of hundreds of thousands of children each year.
For their business, they need a first-class IT environment and gradually outsource their IT to Telia.
– My fear was that Telia was too big and therefore impersonal. But it has been the opposite: they function as our own IT department, says Peter Liss, CFO and IT manager.
Discover more benefits of IT as a service
Scandinavian Biopharma is a Swedish research-based biotechnology company developing the world’s first vaccine against ETEC bacteria, one of the leading causes of severe diarrhea in children under the age of five in low- and middle-income countries. An infection can negatively affect cognitive development and in many cases lead to death.
– The vaccine could reduce infant mortality and save hundreds of thousands of lives a year. We have completed clinical trials in the USA, Bangladesh, Sweden, and Benin with very promising results. In addition, we are completing child studies in Zambia at the same time as preparing a high-impact study with children in The Gambia. The goal is a finished vaccine by 2024, says Peter Liss.
ETEC is also the most common cause of “tourist diarrhea” among travelers, the military, and healthcare professionals visiting or working in developing countries in Asia, Africa, and South America, and a vaccine is also being developed for that. group.
Depending on an up-to-date IT environment
Scandinavian Biopharma was named a “Gazelle Company” by Dagens Industri in 2019. This means that the company is one of the fastest growing, profitable and financially sound in Sweden.
– We are in an expansionary phase and have doubled the number of employees in the last two years, and our sales have increased by 251 percent since 2015.
Peter Liss and his 25 or so employees sit in the Solna office north of Stockholm but have the whole world as their field of work.
– We are a world leader in our sector and we have a large global network. Every week we have digital conferences with Asia, Africa and the US, so we depend on an up-to-date and secure IT environment with flexible communication solutions that always work. It was crucial even before the pandemic, but it is even more important now.
Own IT department with around 20 experts
As the company grew, they sought out a new IT solution and chose Telia’s “IT as a service” department almost two years ago. The service is a subscription offering and means that a team of experts of about 20 people becomes the company’s external IT department, with support, 24-hour supervision of the company’s IT environment and responsibility for security.
– At first I was concerned that Telia is big and that we end up very low on her priority list. We were looking for a partner who could get to know us and our IT environment and provide fast, personal support.
But the concern was unjustified:
– The Telia team really feels like our own IT department, even if they are not with us. We have met and they have designed an IT solution that we continually evaluate and develop. We have a support to contact, if a computer problem arises, they solve it immediately.
Access to cutting-edge experience
Telia is responsible for operational issues, backups, cyber security, computers, and telephony.
– We had an older environment that was upgraded to Microsoft 365. We now use cloud services more and Telia has received training with staff, among other things, on how to share and store documents and work in groups digitally. We are also improving the security and accessibility of remote jobs.
Peter Liss sums up the collaboration with the fact that they have gained both the strength of the big company – Telia’s leading-edge expertise across the IT spectrum – and the benefits of a “department of your own”: personal and prompt support.
Work proactively safely
For Peter, as an IT manager, focus means security and worry-free:
– It is a great advantage to be able to delegate IT responsibility to a competent partner. They work proactively to eliminate all technology-related risks, so mistakes can be remedied before they create problems.
Now Peter Liss expects the IT environment to develop hand in hand with business.
– In addition to developing the ETEC vaccine, we also have a fast growing distribution business. We sell and distribute a wide range of specialty biologics. These activities fund the development of our vaccines along with grants from EU Horizon 2020, US PATH, and the US Army.
Discover more benefits of IT as a service
