The 2022 Top Consultants: Kamal Biswas

Kamal has over 25 years of hands-on experience in the pharmaceutical industry, management consulting and software product management. As President & COO, he manages Xybion P&L.

Before Xybion, Kamal was in the founding team of Infosys Life Sciences business and helped build and grow Life Sciences consulting business globally. As a management consulting Partner, he helped various Life Sciences companies with their growth strategy, margin preservation, accelerating innovation and improving compliance. His focus has been business transformation, digital innovation, market acquisition and shared services transformation.

Before Infosys Consulting, Kamal worked for a decade in pharmaceutical manufacturing operations, technical R&D, and new product launches. He has worked with many pharmaceutical majors including Ciba Geigy, Novartis, Pfizer, GSK, Aventis, J&J, and BMS, either as an employee or as a consultant.

Kamal is the author of "Pharma's Prescription: How the Right Technologies Can Save Pharmaceutical Business," published by Elsevier. He holds a master's degree in Technology, is a certified ISO9000 auditor, and is a trained Design Thinker.

Kamal is a strategist and evangelist of pharmaceutical business transformation through nontraditional methods and frequently speaks at industry councils. Kamal has been a member of the boards of several industry forums and educational institutions.

What has motivated you to excel over the course of your career?

I have worked in the life sciences space for over 25 years. Starting with the pharmaceutical industry, then with the consulting companies to help pharmaceutical industries, and then software to improve the life sciences industry. All along my motivation was to create an impact on society through my daily work. My daily work can help a pharma company speed up their drug development innovation or my work can help a healthcare provider do their job better.

What has been the biggest factor in your success so far?

People leadership. With all the digital innovation, automation drives, and robotics are being implemented for good reasons, people still remain at the center of all innovation. Helping people do better, training them, motivating them, and aligning them to achieve common goals is my primary success factor. I'm a people person and constantly focus on personal improvement and driving teamwork.

What do you enjoy most about your career in the consulting industry?

Two important factors that help both the clients and consultants as that satisfy all–

1. am I able to find and solve clients' business problems
2. or, am I able to help my client bring in new capabilities

My focus is to get a "yes" for the work I do, or what my team does and what our clients want to do. This becomes very meaningful to all involved.

What is your proudest achievement to date?

Sharing my life experience with thousands of readers of my book published by Elsevier– "Pharma's Prescription: How the Right Technology Can Save the Pharmaceutical Business." I get delighted when I get an email from a student asking about my opinion about a case study they are working on, and they used a technique from my book. I'm very delighted to share my real-life experience through this book and help others to benefit from it.

What's the best advice you've ever been given?

Be a people leader. At the core, we all are the same. Do not differentiate them based on their outlook, experience, education, work they do– or anything in that matter. Deep inside we all are the same.

What does this recognition mean to you?

Recognition to me is the ability to connect with more people. This expands my horizon to interact, share, motivate and learn from as many people as possible.