How to Find the Right CRO to Support Your Data Management Needs

There are more than 2,800 CRO’s according to IBISWorld and choosing the right partner can be a difficult choice for clinical trial sponsors looking for the right data management resources. Current and upcoming pipeline projects are critical, and it’s hard to just trust anyone.

If you are in the hunt for a trustworthy and knowledge-driven service partner to guide you through the grind of your upcoming data management projects, there are a few things to keep in mind.

Make sure they’re third party recognized

The best CROs in data management find opportunities to have their story told, and the pharmaceutical industry has no shortage of recognition opportunities. Whether employee-nominated or sought out by nominating committees, the data CRO with the most impactful work, happy employees, and satisfied customers will generally stand out.

At MMS, we have been lucky enough to be presented with the following recognition in the last year:

• Best Data-Focused Pharmaceutical CRO, USA, in the GHP Global Excellence Awards 2023
• Voted the Best CRO in the Script Awards
• Top Workplace consecutively in 2022 and 2023
• Great Place to Work, India (Nov’22-Nov’23) and UK (Mar’23-Mar’24)

And, in this ever-growing pharmaceutical industry, our fresh perspectives to teamwork – as evidenced in our data management experts – pave way for innovative ways to excel. Data management professionals at MMS have an aim to make every impossible possible, and whether it is a new requirement or a new clinical study, every task is handled in its own unique way for the best results.

Inquire about processes and customer satisfaction

When is the last time you asked a data management partner, or a CRO in general, what their Net Promoter Score (NPS) is? If you’re unfamiliar with NPS, its an industry agnostic calculation that measures the answers that clients give to one question: “How likely are you to recommend this company to a friend or colleague?”

While we can’t disclose the exact number of MMS’ NPS score, it is well above the industry average and higher than the likes of Apple – often seen as the gold standard for NPS scores in the tech world.

Within our data management function, some reasons for this are clear, including:

• Strong collaboration: Not only is the study lead involved to provide the Sponsor with a better solution, but Senior Management also collaborates with the Lead Data Manager, with the sole aim of meeting Sponsor objectives.
• Customer focus: With laser sharp focus on achieving excellent customer satisfaction, every data management team member gives 100 percent with the guiding mission to positively improve lives worldwide.
• Cost consciousness and communication: Our highly-experienced, engaged data management teams contribute wholeheartedly towards driving down costs, and our solid teamwork helps streamline communication; thus, minimizing friction to proactively prevent potential delays. This leads to higher quality outputs.
• Diverse expertise: We allow Sponsors to choose the tools that they are most comfortable with. This mindset has provided MMS with diverse expertise across many data management tools and databases, including Medidata Rave, Medrio, Zelta by Merative (formerly IBM Clinical Development), Oracle RDC, Informed, IRT, Datacise, and more.
• Deep commitment: Our data management teams get involved in every activity, from protocol review to database lock. Complex tasks, including eCRF and Edit Check Specifications (ECS) design, are undertaken while keeping the clinical site personnel in mind and ensuring clinical study protocol requirements are executed in the most efficient way.

Do they keep strict adherence to timelines?

This can seem like a juvenile question for a CRO, but getting proof is essential to ensuring that every clinical study stays on track. MMS data managers have a rule that no timeline or deliverable requested by a client is missed.

To date, we have stayed true to that rule.  

Special attention is given during the UAT phase to execute the database efficiently and with high quality. With a core focus on achieving data accuracy and integrity, data management experts at MMS give priority emphasis to UAT to reduce risk of errors in the live database.

This attention serves data managers in avoiding multiple post-production changes (PPC) that helps preserve the Sponsor’s budget and prevents multiple document updates. Data management clients love the complete transparency of this operating system, and the concise and unique Data Management Plan (DMP) and eCCG documents that MMS data managers create are revered by clients.

Database Lock continues to remain the core forte of MMS data management experts.

Check on their partner relationships

Every CRO, whether they like to admit it or not, have partner and vendor relationships that they rely on. And, its worth talking to them as a reference for your data management project.

In the data management function at MMS, we deal with multiple third-party vendors who help support pharmacokinetics (PK), pharmacodynamics (PD), safety labs, device specialists, and echocardiogram (ECG). These relationships are mutually beneficial for MMS and for its Sponsors, as we bring the best minds to every project for the good of the clinical trial participant.

The right partners also understand how to assist in resolving queries on-time, every time, as well as being present to help Sponsors decipher any rising issues as per their requirements.    

Finding the right CRO to support data management needs, is not an exact science. It takes determination, trust by experience, and a shared value set. It takes a finding a data management vendor with a commitment towards the highest standards of data quality, a continued sense of urgency, and an ever-focused dedication towards the success of your study. We believe it takes MMS.

If you’re interested in talking with a data management expert, Please click here  to connect with the right resource to respond.

Authored by: Shreya Mondal, Senior Clinical Data Manager.