Interview: Bernard Seiser, Vice-President of Digital, Data and IT, AOP Health

Why It Matters

The transformation modernizes AOP’s IT backbone, reducing operational silos and speeding drug development, which is critical for rare‑disease patients and positions the company competitively in the life‑sciences market.

Key Takeaways

• Seiser joined AOP Health in Sep 2024, bringing pharma IT expertise
• Migrated Navision ERP to Microsoft Dynamics, modernizing core finance systems
• Built a Microsoft Fabric data lakehouse for unified analytics
• Implemented Veeva Vault platform to streamline clinical and commercial workflows
• Aims for 80‑90% core apps integrated by 2028, enabling AI

Pulse Analysis

Digital transformation has become a strategic imperative for life‑science companies, driven by the need to harness massive data streams and accelerate drug pipelines. Executives with cross‑industry IT experience, like Bernard Seiser, are increasingly tasked with bridging technology and business goals. Seiser’s background at Bayer, Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca equips him to design a holistic roadmap that aligns IT infrastructure with AOP Health’s rare‑disease focus, ensuring compliance while fostering innovation.

At AOP, the first wave of change centers on modernizing core systems. The legacy Navision ERP was migrated to Microsoft Dynamics, providing a scalable finance backbone, while a Microsoft Fabric‑based data lakehouse consolidates research, clinical and commercial data for real‑time analytics. Parallelly, the company has adopted Veeva Vault, a cloud platform that unifies clinical, quality and commercial processes, eliminating silos and shortening time‑to‑market. These initiatives are slated for 80‑90% core‑application coverage by 2028, laying a stable foundation for advanced analytics.

Looking ahead, AOP plans to layer generative AI tools such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Microsoft Copilot onto its new infrastructure, but only after rigorous validation to meet strict regulatory standards. By 2030, the integrated IT landscape should enable faster decision‑making, improved patient access, and a competitive edge in the niche rare‑disease market. The company’s disciplined, phased approach illustrates how life‑science firms can balance innovation with compliance, turning digital investments into tangible health outcomes.