Read the Conversation
Meeting highlights:
- Early Pioneer in Global Shared Services: Novo Nordisk was among the first pharma companies to establish a global shared center in India. Initially driven by cost efficiency, this initiative has grown to encompass more than 4400 employees in 17 functions around the entire value chain.
- Future Growth and Investment: India is transforming its role from a transactional support base to an integral market within Novo Nordisk’s global framework.
- Digitalization and Data Usage: Technology is central to Novo Nordisk's efficiency, achieving a 70% reduction in time for clinical reporting and regulatory processes. The company leverages data, AI, and process automation to drive innovation, improving the quality and speed of clinical and regulatory operations.
- India’s Specialized Talent Pool: Novo Nordisk attracts top talent by emphasizing its values, purpose, and culture, providing opportunities for professional growth and skill development, and delivering an exceptional employer experience.
- India as a Talent Exporter and Idea Incubator: India plays a dual role as both a talent exporter and an innovation hub, driving advancements in the pharma industry from India to the global stage.
- Journey to Value Creation: Novo Nordisk is firmly positioned to become a pivotal value creator for the company worldwide, leveraging India’s strengths to drive meaningful impact.
EF: What mission have you set for yourself, and what are your top priorities as the Global Solution Center for Novo Nordisk in India?
JD: The Global Business Services (GBS) Center for Novo Nordisk in India has made remarkable progress since its inception 17 years ago as a pioneer in adopting a shared services model in the pharmaceutical sector. The center's role has expanded over the years, initially by offshoring high-volume transactional activities such as IT operations and finance tasks to improve cost efficiency.
Today, the GBS Center supports nearly the entire Novo Nordisk value chain, encompassing functions such as global development, finance, supply chain, commercial operations, and HR. It now includes 17 headquarters functions, many of which have transitioned to overseeing processes & centralizing related activities for the organization.
The center employs approximately 4,400 people, with about 1,000 in development, 1,000 in IT (covering enterprise platforms, global IT security, data engineering, and supply chain IT), and another 1,000 in finance (supporting corporate procurement, accounts payable, financial planning, and analytics). The remaining workforce focuses on commercial operations, HR, supply chain, and other critical functions.
Growth has been steady, with over 700 new roles added last year, and plans to add around 350 more in the coming year, reflecting continued investment and trust from the Denmark headquarters. The focus is transitioning from transactional tasks to roles offering extensive global support.
The goal is to foster a balanced, collaborative dynamic across geographies, ensuring that all locations contribute meaningfully to Novo Nordisk’s global success.
EF: What makes Novo Nordisk such an attractive place to work? And what skill sets are required, given the evolving landscape of the pharmaceutical industry?
JD: When organizations like ours think about India today, the focus is no longer just on cost—but on skills and scale. As a company headquartered in a small country like Denmark and experiencing significant growth, we need access to a large pool of skilled professionals. India stands out, producing approx. 100,000 qualified medical doctors annually.
To attract talent, we emphasize Novo Nordisk’s 101-year history, purpose, and Danish culture, which resonate with the talent pool and position us as an employer of choice in India. Equally important is creating an exceptional employee experience through a positive workplace culture, career growth opportunities, and flexible working policies. We have adopted a hybrid model with a 50/50 balance between remote and in-office work, which aligns with employees’ preferences for work-life balance.
A few years ago, we analyzed employee feedback to identify what they value and areas for improvement. This led to impactful changes such as flexible working policies, enhanced maternity arrangements, mentoring for women during maternity transitions, and better healthcare benefits. For example, we established an on-site doctor’s clinic to address health concerns without disrupting employees’ schedules, especially in a city like Bangalore with long commutes.
We also launched a flexible benefits program to cater to our diverse workforce. Recognizing that needs vary across generations, we created a customizable benefits budget. Employees can allocate it toward priorities like gym memberships, eyeglasses, upgrading parental medical insurance, or sports equipment, making their benefits more personal and meaningful.
We aim to foster a culture where everyone feels valued, heard, and supported. The results speak for themselves. Applications for vacancies are at an all-time high, and former employees are returning due to our positive changes. Additionally, our attrition rate has improved significantly, dropping from 17% two years ago to just 6.1% as of November 2024, reflecting the success of our approach to talent attraction and retention.
EF: How are you leveraging the country’s capabilities to harness data as a valuable resource?
JD: Over the past decade, GCCs have focused on scaling up through headcount, but the future lies in leveraging the digital landscape to drive efficiency. In the pharmaceutical industry, even with strict regulations, we’ve introduced innovative solutions that have scaled globally.
For example, in clinical reporting, medical doctors and pharmacists manually authored and quality-checked documents for regulatory submission—a process taking up to 40 hours per document. In 2024, our innovation team partnered with a Bangalore startup to implement an automated quality-checking tool. After rigorous testing, the tool reduced approval time by 70%, cutting it to under one hour. This freed up resources for strategic tasks, accelerating medicine delivery without increasing costs. The tool has since been scaled globally for tasks like contract validation, ensuring accuracy without manual oversight.
Another innovation involves using AI in medical writing. Previously, teams of medical experts created internal documents, but AI is now enhancing and streamlining the process. Similarly, we’re piloting a new approach to medical slide production. By combining the expertise of a medical professional with AI and publicly available data, we’ve improved the efficiency and impact of slide creation for sharing product information with doctors worldwide.
These efforts highlight how we’re tapping into Bangalore’s vibrant startup ecosystem, developing solutions locally and scaling them globally. India’s 85,000 startups present enormous collaboration opportunities alongside partnerships with top tech universities. We have conducted hackathons with top universities in Bangalore, where students work on real-world challenges. These events are incredibly well-received, providing us with fresh ideas and inspiration, as well as potentially identifying future talent for our team.
EF: The "Pharmacy of the World" slogan feels limiting, given India's evolving role in global healthcare beyond pharmaceutical production. What would be a more fitting new name for the country?
JD: Historically, India has been known as the "Pharmacy of the World," primarily emphasizing its manufacturing prowess. However, with its young population and growing innovation ecosystem, India is increasingly becoming a global incubator for talent and ideas. This shift highlights the country not only as a talent exporter but also as a hub for cutting-edge innovation and entrepreneurship. Given this evolving landscape, terms like "Talent Exporter," "Innovation Incubator," or "Global Idea Hub" might better capture India's current and future role on the world stage.
EF: What do you hope to accomplish in the next five years? What personal goal would you most like to achieve?
JD: In the next few years, my goal is twofold. First, I aim to build an organization with a world-class culture where people are eager to join, feel valued, and are excited to stay. It should be an environment that embraces diversity and reflects India´s rich talent. While we are close to this, there is still work to be done.
The second goal is to position our organization as a pivotal value creator for Novo Nordisk. With India's growing skills, talent, and digital innovations, I see tremendous potential for us to contribute to the entire value chain. We are well on our way but still have some ground to cover before we reach this ambition in the next few years.
