"They listened carefully, guided us to the right decisions at the right time, and allowed us to stay focused on our priorities while they handled the heavy lifting." - Christoph Puetz, Director of Information Technology, Outlook Therapeutics
ABOUT THE CLIENT
Outlook Therapeutics
Outlook Therapeutics is a late stage biopharma listed on NASDAQ under OTLK. The company is developing ONS 5010, an investigational ophthalmic formulation of bevacizumab for retinal diseases including wet age related macular degeneration, diabetic macular edema, and branch retinal vein occlusion.
As Outlook moved toward potential approval and launch readiness, IT and finance leadership needed an ERP environment matched to a public ophthalmology biotech approaching commercial scale. IT leadership owned the selection decision and the implementation oversight. The internal team’s attention was correctly placed on the clinical and regulatory work that determined the path to launch.
THE CHALLENGE
ERP selection at a late stage public biotech is not just a platform choice
ERP selection at a late stage public biotech is rarely about the platform alone. It is about the partner who will run the implementation alongside an internal team whose calendar belongs to launch preparation. The wrong partner asks for hours the team does not have and forces selection decisions made on incomplete information. The right partner gathers context, names the trade offs, and recommends the path forward.
Outlook leadership needed a partner who understood late stage biotech, who could guide an ERP selection that would hold up under public company scrutiny, and who could then own the implementation work without absorbing internal capacity that needed to remain on launch readiness. Clinical and regulatory work could not slow for ERP work.
What was breaking down
- Internal team capacity was committed to clinical and regulatory milestones tied to potential approval and launch
- ERP selection decisions needed to hold up under public company scrutiny but could not absorb weeks of internal analysis
- A public ophthalmology biotech approaching launch carries controls expectations that generic configurations do not address
- Configuration choices made for a clinical stage operating profile would need to be reworked at launch if not designed for commercial scale
- Heavy lifting on the implementation side could not be carried by the internal team alongside launch preparation
What was at stake
- A premature platform commitment would force expensive rework once commercial operations launched
- Weak controls posture at launch would undermine the credibility of public reporting at the moment credibility mattered most
- Internal team capacity diverted to ERP heavy lifting would directly slow launch preparation
- A generalist partner without late stage biotech context would force the internal team to provide the operating context the partner should have brought
- The transition from clinical stage to commercial operations would force a parallel ERP rebuild if the initial configuration did not anticipate it
WHY ARCHER INSIGHTS
A partner who listens first and lifts heavy second
Outlook needed a partner who would start with listening rather than with a recommendation, who understood public company expectations and late stage biotech operating realities, and who could then carry the implementation work without pulling the internal team off launch priorities.
Archer Insights was selected based on its exclusive focus on life sciences companies and its track record of guiding ERP selection and delivering implementations at late stage and public biotechs. The selection approach started with operating context, public company expectations, launch readiness pressures, and the IT team’s real bandwidth before any platform recommendation surfaced.
THE SOLUTION
Selection guidance plus implementation, with heavy lifting on the partner side
Archer Insights engaged as a guide through ERP selection and then as the implementation partner once the decision landed on NetSuite. The selection process started with listening. The implementation that followed kept the internal team focused on launch priorities while Archer owned the build and stabilization work.
Archer selection and implementation flow
01 Selection
Listening, trade off framing, recommendation
Right platform chosen against operating context and team bandwidth
02 Build
Configuration, validation, iteration
Implementation owned by Archer with the IT director in close coordination
03 Controls
Approval routing, role design, audit trails
Public company controls posture configured from Day 01
04 Migration
Source extraction, mapping, reconciliation
Data migrated and validated against source records
05 Cut over
Cut over plan, support, post go live tuning
Stabilization with internal team enabled rather than pulled off priorities
Heavy lifting stayed on the partner side. The internal team kept its calendar where it belonged.
WHAT ARCHER BUILT
01 ERP selection guided by listening
The selection process started with operating context, public company expectations, launch readiness pressures, and the IT team’s real bandwidth. Trade offs were named explicitly. The platform recommendation surfaced only after the operating profile and the partner fit had been mapped. The final decision rested with Outlook leadership.
02 NetSuite configuration matched to a late stage operating profile
Once NetSuite was selected, Archer ran the implementation against a configuration matched to a public ophthalmology biotech approaching commercial scale rather than against a generic clinical stage template. The configuration anticipated the transition from clinical to commercial operations rather than requiring rework at launch.
03 Public company controls posture from Day 01
Approval routing, role design, and audit trail setup were configured for a NASDAQ listed reporter from Day 01. Delegation of authority, segregation of duties, and the record level audit history that auditors expect were in place before go live rather than added during a remediation phase after.
04 Integrations and data migration owned end to end
Source extraction, mapping, and reconciliation against the legacy environment were owned on the partner side. The validation step that confirmed the new environment matched the source records was structured so that Outlook teams reviewed and approved against the work Archer had already done rather than performing it themselves.
05 Cut over and stabilization without internal capacity pull
The cut over plan, go live support, and post go live tuning stayed on the partner side. Outlook IT and finance were engaged for operational readiness and team enablement rather than for the heavy lifting itself. The launch focused calendar remained where it belonged through the transition into the new platform.
MODULES DEPLOYED
| Module | What it does | Impact at Outlook |
|---|---|---|
| NetSuite financials | Core financial management, COA, segment structure | Configuration matched to a late stage biotech approaching launch |
| Approval routing | DOA across master data and transactions | Public company controls posture from Day 01 |
| Role based security | Segregation of duties at the permission level | Audit ready posture with least privilege access |
| Procure to Pay | Vendor management, PO and bill approvals, payments | Procurement environment ready for commercial scale |
| Reporting | Saved searches and consolidated reports | One source of truth for management and audit |
| Data migration | Source extraction, mapping, reconciliation | Owned end to end on the partner side |
OUTCOMES
What changed after go live
Operational results
- ERP selection guided through listening and trade off framing rather than through a default platform recommendation
- NetSuite configuration matched to a late stage ophthalmology biotech rather than to a generic clinical stage template
- Data migration, integrations, and stabilization owned end to end on the partner side
- Public company controls posture in place from Day 01 rather than added in a post go live remediation phase
- Internal team capacity preserved for clinical and regulatory work through the implementation
Finance and control results
- Approval routing and audit trails configured for a NASDAQ listed reporter from the first transaction
- Cut over and stabilization completed without pulling internal time off launch priorities
- Outlook moves toward launch with an ERP environment configured to support commercial operations rather than requiring rework
- The IT director and broader Outlook team retained their calendar through the implementation period
- Right partner, right time: one engagement across selection, build, and stabilization rather than three handoffs
THE ARCHER EDGE
Listening before recommending
Late stage biotechs do not lose because the ERP was wrong. They lose because the team that should have been preparing for launch was instead configuring the ERP. The decision that matters at this stage is not platform versus platform. It is partner who carries the work versus partner who asks the internal team to carry it.
Archer Insights starts with listening rather than with a recommendation. The trade offs that surface during selection are the same trade offs that show up during build and stabilization. A partner who names them upfront is the partner who carries the implications later.
The Outlook engagement covered selection, build, and stabilization under one partnership. The continuity matters. The configuration that emerged at go live was the configuration the selection conversation had pointed toward, not a separate rebuild after a handoff.
Talk to Archer about ERP selection and launch readiness
If your late stage biotech is preparing for launch and needs an ERP partner who can guide selection and carry the implementation without pulling internal capacity off clinical and regulatory priorities, Archer Insights can show you what that engagement looks like at your stage.
Talk to Archer about ERP selection and launch readiness
ABOUT ARCHER INSIGHTS
Archer Insights, LLC is a NetSuite Alliance Partner serving life sciences and healthcare organizations. The firm is an Inc. 5000 company and a 5 time consecutive NetSuite Alliance Partner Spotlight Award winner (2022 through 2026), recognized for biotech and biopharma specialization. Engagements cover new NetSuite implementations, enhancement services, proprietary software modules including the Archer AI Approval Module, and managed services.