Time as a Strategic Asset

‍

Most discussions about AI begin with productivity:

…..”How many hours can we save?”

…..”How many tasks can we automate?”

…..”How many people can we redeploy?”

These are perfectly legitimate questions. They also lead to the assumptions that underpin many AI business cases.

‍

However, they overlook the largest potential source of value.

‍

The greatest economic impact from AI often comes not from reducing cost, but from compressing time.

‍

Why Acceleration Matters More Than Automation

In drug development, time is one of the most valuable assets an organisation possesses. 

Every week spent searching for information, reconciling data, reviewing documents, waiting for decisions, or moving work between teams delays the next milestone.

Every delayed milestone pushes outcomes further into the future:

….. clinical decisions are delayed

….. regulatory submissions are deferred

….. product launches are late

….. revenue is pushed out

Most importantly, patients have to wait longer for access to medicines that could improve or even save their lives.

‍

Time as a Strategic Asset

Yet many AI investments continue to be evaluated primarily through an operational efficiency lens. We measure hours saved, processes automated and headcount redeployed.

These metrics are tangible and easy to measure. The challenge is that they measure activity rather than value.  

Let’s consider two hypothetical AI initiatives:

• One saves $500,000 annually through process efficiencies 
• The other accelerates a key development programme by three months

Which creates more value?

The answer will of course vary by product and organisation, but in many cases the second opportunity is worth significantly more than the first.

Why?

Because time is not merely a constraint, it is an asset.

‍

Like capital, talent and intellectual property, time can be invested wisely or wasted unnecessarily.  Every delay consumes value. Every accelerated milestone creates it.

This requires a fundamental shift in our mindset.

Instead of asking:

….."How much work can we automate?"

We should ask:

….."How much earlier can we reach the outcome that matters?"

‍

The Value of Acceleration

Imagine a product expected to generate $600 million in annual revenue. Every month that it reaches the market earlier represents approximately $50 million in revenue brought forward.

And that is not the only part of the equation.  Earlier launch may also add value by:

…..extending the effective commercial life of the asset

…..strengthening the competitive position

…..increasing market share

Suddenly the conversation looks very different. The question is no longer whether AI can save a few thousand hours of effort.  The question becomes whether AI can remove delays that are worth tens of millions of dollars.

‍

The fact is that not all time has equal value. A month saved in an administrative process may be useful, whereas a month saved before a regulatory submission or product launch can be transformational.

For example, the time from Last Patient Last Visit to Submission is a key opportunity: 

…..What if submissions could be built in real-time?

…..What if we could submit as soon as the science is done?

‍

Biometrics is only 4-5% of the total cost of a programme, but the value of accelerating time to submission is huge.

‍

The most valuable AI initiatives are rarely those that eliminate the most tasks. They are the ones that accelerate the outcomes that matter most. This is the principle of the Economics of Time.

‍

The Economics of Time

Organisations are conditioned to measure effort. We routinely count hours worked, tasks completed and processes automated.

The Economics of Time framework asks a different question. It asks:

…..“How quickly are we creating value?”

This is an important distinction. When we focus solely on labour savings, we risk undervaluing initiatives that accelerate critical decisions, development milestones, regulatory submissions and product launches. We are measuring activity rather than outcomes.

‍

The Economics of Time provides us with a different lens. Rather than focusing only on the cost of work, it examines the value of acceleration, and this leads us to explore two important questions:

…..”Where are delays destroying value?”

…..”Where can acceleration create disproportionate value?”

Viewed through this lens, AI becomes more than an automation tool. It becomes a mechanism for compressing timelines, accelerating decisions and bringing critical outcomes forward.

‍

When organisations begin to quantify the value of acceleration, they often discover that the biggest opportunities are hiding in plain sight.  After all, months are rarely lost in a single event, they are lost through countless small delays:

….. a review postponed

….. a decision deferred

….. a document returned

….. a handoff missed

Days become weeks, weeks become months.  Many of the most expensive months in drug development are lost one day at a time.

‍

So, the future winners in AI may not be the organisations that automate the most work, but the organisations that compress time most effectively.

‍

At Verisian, we are working on compressing time from Last Patient Last Visit to Regulatory Approval and enabling companies to “submit when the science is done”. 

If the Economics of Time is on your agenda, I’d enjoy the conversation.

‍

Carol Collins has over 30 years leadership experience in the global Life Sciences and Healthcare industry, with 20 years in clinical development. Throughout her career she has had a key focus on innovation and transformation to accelerate outcomes, create value  and bring life-saving medicines to patients. She is a strategic advisor to Verisian.

‍

‍