The rapid and continual change happening in clinical research can make it very hard to maintain organizational knowledge. Clinical trial teams are faced with a constant influx of information and updates about best practices, data standards, new science, and novel technologies. This perfect storm of change is where NATIVE APPLICATIONS show their true value in mobilizing clinical research teams.
Defining the Native Application
Most platform technologies address broad processes and offer standard capabilities across those processes. Native applications are typically designed and built within the platform, taking advantage of these processes while also offering functionality specific to a collection of tasks or activities. These native applications, or modules, maintain the consistency of the broader platform while offering users very specific features and functions required to do their job.
Managing Change
As trial teams manage so many changes in the clinical trial arena, native applications represent known capabilities for sponsors and CROs. Simultaneously, they offer a great deal of flexibility. Teams can get up and running quickly or respond to mid-study changes by activating or deactivating various modules. As trials increase in size or complexity, this flexible functionality offers much needed scalability in a seamless and transparent model that enables research organizations to move swiftly and achieve their goals.
Benefits
For clinical trial sponsors and CROs, there are numerous benefits to employing technology platforms with native applications.
Ease of Implementation
Native applications offer a consistent streamlined user experience without requiring external integrations. If one module is updated, users don’t need to revisit the integration with other modules on the platform. Native applications inherently integrate through the common platform.
Since team members are using the same vocabulary and engaging in common user experiences across the platform, turning on additional modules is also much quicker. It requires less time and resources to ramp up because teams already have a foundational understanding of the solution.
Cost Transparency
Native applications also offer cost-effective solutions. Rather than evaluating, selecting and integrating with yet another technology vendor, the team can simply ‘turn on’ additional modules as needed. This approach supports more accurate and effective planning and budgeting by decreasing unknown or unexpected technology costs. Minimizing unexpected costs is particularly important to CROs as they bid on new trials and work within tight budgets.
Seamless Data Sharing
Native applications access common data sets to improve efficiencies and reduce risk of a failed integration or loss of information in an export. The same data in an EDC module is also available in the randomization module. The data is also available immediately. For example, as a data manager runs quality checks on the data, it is updated across the platform in real-time, reducing risks and costs of errors being proliferated throughout the trial.
The Best of Both Worlds: Core Native Capabilities with Best-in-Class Integrations
As the industry evolves, new solutions and features will be developed and required to meet the needs of increasingly complex and evolving study designs. It is impossible to identify a platform that can deliver best-in-class capabilities across the entire eClinical spectrum, particularly in this rapidly transforming environment. While native capabilities provide significant value, eClinical solutions will need to enable integrations to keep pace. Solutions that strike the optimal balance of investment in core native capabilities while also enabling integrations provide efficiency, flexibility, value, and the greatest potential to deliver overall success.
iMednet was developed as a platform technology built with native applications while enabling integrations to provide optimal flexibility to clinical research teams. Companies of any size can take advantage of native applications to manage changing requirements for clinical trials. In the fast-paced world of clinical trials, native applications deliver robust capabilities while enabling teams to manage their data more efficiently and their budgets more effectively.