~ 3 min read
Marlborough’s senior leadership, expert practitioners, and proven methods make complex transformations succeed: strengthening performance, reducing risk, and accelerating value.
In this case, our transformation leadership was critical in shifting fragmented, country-level IS teams, systems & services into a globally aligned, value-adding capability.
Posted Mar 18, 2025
Siloed systems & data (60+ countries)
Lack of value adding Digital/ Innovation
Weak cross-country collaboration
Lack of business agility
Escalating risks (inc. Regulatory, Cyber)
Resistance to change
Appointed by CIO to reset Affiliate IS
Injected energy, pace, rigorous challenge & proven leadership
Balanced global priorities with local customer facing realities, building trust and ownership
Multi Million cost savings $
Step up in service stability, supplier performance & customer satisfaction
Greater collaboration & innovation at the customer interface
Lasting uplift in capability & performance
A global pharma company ($11Bn revenue p.a.) needed to modernise its Affiliate IS (country IS) services and systems, spanning 60+ locally operated organisations across EMEA, Canada, South Africa, and Australia. Historically autonomous, these country IS teams had fragmented systems, inconsistent ways of working, siloed data, and a bias toward local priorities over global alignment. Growing pressure to operate more effectively at a global level, while cutting costs, improving customer satisfaction, and reducing compliance risks, required a decisive shift to a more strategic, value-adding, and globally aligned IS capability.
Key challenges included:
Marlborough was appointed and empowered by the CIO to provide hands-on leadership, fully aligned to the CIO’s vision of transforming Affiliate IS into a more strategic, value-adding capability. We shaped and delivered the transformation, with strong local, regional, and global engagement.
We defined and set up 7 parallel workstreams, each with strong regional & global involvement spanning;
Our approach involved injecting energy and pace to align diverse teams to a shared vision and using our experience to positively challenge decision making, whilst helping to develop teams and identify permanent leaders.
Reset Affiliate organisation structures and clarified roles, ownership, and accountability.
Influenced a one team approach and more customer focused mindset.
Balanced global priorities with local needs, ensuring buy-in regionally and locally.
Shifted Local IS from an operational “commodity” focus to that of a strategic, value-adding partner.
Led the decommissioning of non-compliant and duplicate systems through injecting an innovative approach and clear criteria for decision making.
Delivered net £1.3M savings in application costs year 1.
Standardised and aligned 150+ applications and data to global governance and compliance requirements.
Significantly reduced operational risk.
Enabled a smoother path for subsequent global SAP rollout.
Ensured BAU stability and continuity through transformation.
Improved service delivery, raising customer satisfaction scores.
Strengthened cyber security through a risk-based playbook aligned with global standards.
Enhanced supplier performance and resilience of critical IS services.
Strengthened resilience and compliance, reducing business and regulatory risk.
Developed Affiliate IS leadership and teams through workshops, injection of leading best practices, coaching and knowledge transfer.
Standardised roles and ways of working, improving cross-affiliate collaboration.
Created forums to capture, share and scale locally-led innovations.
Marlborough worked as a true delivery partner: combining hands-on leadership, sharing good practice, and always doing our best for our client. We successfully delivered programme objectives with a significant ROI and excellent client feedback throughout. The programme delivered/ enabled;
Compliance & Risk Control
Improved visibility of risks and tighter controls reduced regulatory exposure.
Recognised as a role model for other global initiatives by internal stakeholders.
Cost Savings & Efficiency
£1.3M cost savings p.a. from local application decommissioning, simplification and replacement with corporate solutions.
Reduced duplication and complexity across 150+ systems, which significantly increased organisational agility and alignment to global strategies.
Freed resources for reinvestment in business-critical initiatives and value adding Digital/Tech.
Service Stability & Global Recognition
IS service stability improved and recognised via enhanced Customer Satisfaction scores.
Strengthened supplier performance and accountability.
Global recognition: EMEA-led approach adopted in Asia-Pac and global functions.
Capability & Strategic Positioning
Marlborough injected rigorous challenge, applying proven practices, models, and methods to raise standards and accelerate delivery.
Cross-affiliate innovation delivered measurable improvements at the customer interface, complementing internal efficiency gains.
Enhanced team capability with talent uplift and internal promotions.
"This work continues to highlight the value that Marlborough always provides through its strategic and transformation services! Well done again to the team!!."
Global CIO, Corporate & Commercial