SAP Business Network for Life Sciences
In the life sciences industry, every company is interconnected. Learn how SAP Business Network enables businesses to effectively collaborate and automate business processes across each point of the supply chain. Document downloaden
SAP Business Network
for Life Sciences
Bringing the life sciences ecosystem
together on a connected network
Building a strong supply chain in the life
sciences industry
In life sciences, a strong supply chain is essential
to meet business outcomes. Every life sciences
company depends on a complex ecosystem of
partners—from upstream suppliers and contract
manufacturers to downstream wholesalers and
retail pharmacies—to deliver high-quality products
and services.
Life sciences companies also depend on each
other to run efficiently and compliantly each day.
But there’s still an urgent need to break existing
silos and system barriers that inhibit closer
collaboration.
Keys to collaboration
True collaboration in the life sciences industry
is built on seamless information exchange,
automation, and shared visibility into business
outcomes. Yet most automated systems stop at
the company’s walls—creating silos that block
the flow of data and hinder the ability to extend
those processes across the wider value chain.
When companies are forced to rely on manual
processes to connect with their ecosystem, errors
and inefficiencies inevitably arise. These outdated
methods also create significant visibility gaps and
make it increasingly difficult to maintain compliance
with external policies and regulations.
Life sciences companies must find a way to
overcome obstacles such as:
• Breakpoints in business processes
• Inefficient manual communication methods
• One-to-one transactions with limited visibility
State of collaboration in the life
sciences industry*
About 88%
of surveyed firms rely extensively
on legacy methods (e-mail, fax,
and phone) to transmit and
receive documents
Over half (53%)
of surveyed firms prioritize
cost-efficiency at the expense of
resiliency, often compromising their
ability to respond to disruptions
About 61%
link poor collaboration to
heightened business risks
*Source: IDC InfoBrief, sponsored by SAP, “Accelerating Supply Chain
Collaboration Maturity with a Business Network,” #US53179225, April 2025.
for Life Sciences
Bringing the life sciences ecosystem
together on a connected network
Building a strong supply chain in the life
sciences industry
In life sciences, a strong supply chain is essential
to meet business outcomes. Every life sciences
company depends on a complex ecosystem of
partners—from upstream suppliers and contract
manufacturers to downstream wholesalers and
retail pharmacies—to deliver high-quality products
and services.
Life sciences companies also depend on each
other to run efficiently and compliantly each day.
But there’s still an urgent need to break existing
silos and system barriers that inhibit closer
collaboration.
Keys to collaboration
True collaboration in the life sciences industry
is built on seamless information exchange,
automation, and shared visibility into business
outcomes. Yet most automated systems stop at
the company’s walls—creating silos that block
the flow of data and hinder the ability to extend
those processes across the wider value chain.
When companies are forced to rely on manual
processes to connect with their ecosystem, errors
and inefficiencies inevitably arise. These outdated
methods also create significant visibility gaps and
make it increasingly difficult to maintain compliance
with external policies and regulations.
Life sciences companies must find a way to
overcome obstacles such as:
• Breakpoints in business processes
• Inefficient manual communication methods
• One-to-one transactions with limited visibility
State of collaboration in the life
sciences industry*
About 88%
of surveyed firms rely extensively
on legacy methods (e-mail, fax,
and phone) to transmit and
receive documents
Over half (53%)
of surveyed firms prioritize
cost-efficiency at the expense of
resiliency, often compromising their
ability to respond to disruptions
About 61%
link poor collaboration to
heightened business risks
*Source: IDC InfoBrief, sponsored by SAP, “Accelerating Supply Chain
Collaboration Maturity with a Business Network,” #US53179225, April 2025.
88148enUS (25/11) © 2025 SAP SE or an SAP affiliate company. All rights reserved. See Legal Notice on www.sap.com/legal-notice for use terms, disclaimers, disclosures, or restrictions related to this material.
SAP Business Network for Life Sciences
Collaborate and automate across each point
of your supply chain
As a recognized market leader with a significant
footprint in the life sciences value chain,
SAP offers SAP Business Network as a single
trading partner network that spans a wide
variety of business processes, and our coverage
continues to expand. We can help you extend
your critical business processes across your
suppliers through integration with your back-end
systems—both SAP and third-party—expanding
the value of your existing ERP landscape.
The benefits of unifying from end to end
Life sciences companies can strengthen each
link in their value chain through connected,
digital collaboration. By maintaining constant
communication with API and drug substance
suppliers, they can enhance planning and
forecasting to enable timely manufacturing.
Open collaboration with contract manufacturing
partners streamlines packaging and labeling
processes, helping ensure that products reach
clinical sites and patients efficiently.
Digital exchange of quality certificates, with
secure signatures and requests for assessment
questionnaires, support regulatory compliance.
In addition, end-to-end material traceability
enables companies to track critical components
across their complex supply chains to meet
customer expectations.
Finally, smooth collaboration in clinical trials
allows research, manufacturing, and packaging
partners to share study data consistently, more
securely, and automatically. This improves
accuracy, speed, and compliance from product
development through delivery.
SAP Business Network helps life sciences
companies gain visibility into procurement,
supply chain, logistics, and asset management
processes so that you can:
• Respond more quickly to changing circumstances
• Avoid or withstand disruption
• Operate more efficiently
• Comply with internal and external policies
and regulations
SAP Business Network for Life Sciences
Build stronger supply chains so that you can deliver
on your customer promise.
Learn more
SAP Business Network for Life Sciences
Collaborate and automate across each point
of your supply chain
As a recognized market leader with a significant
footprint in the life sciences value chain,
SAP offers SAP Business Network as a single
trading partner network that spans a wide
variety of business processes, and our coverage
continues to expand. We can help you extend
your critical business processes across your
suppliers through integration with your back-end
systems—both SAP and third-party—expanding
the value of your existing ERP landscape.
The benefits of unifying from end to end
Life sciences companies can strengthen each
link in their value chain through connected,
digital collaboration. By maintaining constant
communication with API and drug substance
suppliers, they can enhance planning and
forecasting to enable timely manufacturing.
Open collaboration with contract manufacturing
partners streamlines packaging and labeling
processes, helping ensure that products reach
clinical sites and patients efficiently.
Digital exchange of quality certificates, with
secure signatures and requests for assessment
questionnaires, support regulatory compliance.
In addition, end-to-end material traceability
enables companies to track critical components
across their complex supply chains to meet
customer expectations.
Finally, smooth collaboration in clinical trials
allows research, manufacturing, and packaging
partners to share study data consistently, more
securely, and automatically. This improves
accuracy, speed, and compliance from product
development through delivery.
SAP Business Network helps life sciences
companies gain visibility into procurement,
supply chain, logistics, and asset management
processes so that you can:
• Respond more quickly to changing circumstances
• Avoid or withstand disruption
• Operate more efficiently
• Comply with internal and external policies
and regulations
SAP Business Network for Life Sciences
Build stronger supply chains so that you can deliver
on your customer promise.
Learn more