Tenthpin has positioned Bengaluru as both an innovation and delivery hub. What does this mean in practical terms, and what kind of innovation will emerge from the centre?
A good example is our Advanced Therapy Orchestration (ATO) solution, which we developed together with SAP and Roche. It is a cloud-based system designed to orchestrate highly complex supply chains for personalised and individualised treatments. In these therapies, material such as blood or tumour tissue is taken from a patient, processed at a manufacturing facility and then returned to the same patient. This requires extremely precise orchestration.
We have built T-top, our own cloud-based front end that sits on top of ATO and coordinates the therapy supply chain between healthcare providers, hospitals, manufacturers and other stakeholders. We are now adding AI capabilities, particularly for scheduling. Our AI team in Hyderabad and the ATO team in Pune are being brought together with the Bengaluru capabilities to build this expertise further.
Why is advanced-therapy supply-chain management particularly challenging?
These products are highly sensitive, have very short shelf lives and often require strict temperature conditions. A product may have a shelf life of only a few hours, so it has to reach the right patient, at the right location, at the right time and in the right condition.
Every supply chain is also different. In one case, the process may start with the patient; in another, with a donor or a gene bank. This makes implementation highly complex and product-specific. Our Bengaluru team will support clients in implementing T-top and adapting these solutions to their individual requirements.
What role will the Bengaluru team play in Tenthpin’s delivery activities?
The team will be involved across the entire transformation lifecycle. This starts with requirements gathering and determining whether standard tools can address a client's needs or whether enhancements are required. The team will then support deployment, transformation, change management, testing, data migration and cutover activities. We also provide application management services.
The important point is that these are not simply back-office activities. We have biotech PhDs and technology specialists working together, with people who understand the science behind cell and gene therapies as well as the technology. Our people in India are full-fledged consultants and are client-facing. That is why we describe Bengaluru as a Centre of Excellence rather than an offshore centre.
How is the emergence of advanced therapies changing the supply-chain models of pharmaceutical companies?
Many large pharmaceutical companies have processes that have remained largely unchanged for decades. Advanced therapies require them to rethink how their supply chains are designed, digitised and managed. Companies are now asking fundamental questions about whether they should build capabilities internally or use external providers for activities such as warehousing, transportation and last-mile delivery.
The sensitivity of these therapies can even make companies reconsider established outsourcing models. The supply chain has to become more integrated, compliant, digital and responsive because the product itself is much more sensitive and personalised.
Regulatory complexity is increasing as advanced therapies and AI develop. How do you see the regulatory environment evolving?
Collaboration between regulatory bodies is becoming more global, although significant local differences remain. Regulators are dealing with technologies and therapies that are very different from what they have traditionally assessed, including personalised cell therapies, gene therapies, radioligand therapies and AI.
This creates a need for greater expertise within regulatory organisations. For companies, navigating the growing complexity of global and local regulatory requirements is becoming increasingly challenging. Our role is largely to help life sciences companies navigate this regulatory environment and ensure that their systems and processes support compliance.
Tenthpin already works across markets such as Australia, Singapore, China and Japan. What is your ambition for APAC?
APAC is already a significant part of our business because many of our global clients operate across the region. We have delivered projects in Australia, Singapore and China, while Japan has become an important local market through our work with companies such as Takeda, Santen and Daiichi.
Our approach is to follow our clients. We do not establish a presence in every market simply because it is strategically attractive. We typically enter a country when we have an anchor client or a clear business requirement. South Korea, Singapore, Vietnam, Taiwan and Malaysia are among the markets we could prioritise, depending on client demand and the wider geopolitical environment.
How does this client-led approach shape Tenthpin’s global expansion strategy?
We are a privately owned company, so we have the flexibility to decide when and where to invest. If a major client asked us to establish a presence in a new market and provided a long-term business opportunity, we could move quickly. What we would not do is establish an office first and then wait for business to develop.
Our strategy is therefore entrepreneurial and client-led. We go where the market and our clients require us to be, while ensuring that we can maintain the quality and depth of expertise that differentiate Tenthpin.
How do you position Tenthpin against large global systems integrators?
We typically compete with large systems integrators, but we also partner with them. We work with companies such as Accenture, Infosys and PwC, among others.
We do not have the critical scale required to win every very large global RFP. If a company such as AstraZeneca launches a massive global SAP transformation, it may go to a large integrator with thousands of people. In those situations, the larger partner provides the scale while we provide the depth of life sciences and SAP expertise.
There are also areas where our expertise is highly differentiated. We have co-innovated certain SAP solutions with SAP itself, including capabilities around Intelligent Clinical Supply Management. In these areas, customers sometimes approach us directly without going through a traditional RFP. Our combination of SAP transformation and deep life sciences expertise remains relatively rare.
Are acquisitions part of Tenthpin's growth strategy?
Yes. We are looking at acquisitions across different regions because we want to expand our geographical footprint, services and technology capabilities.
SAP remains our dominant technology and our main revenue generator, but we are also looking at technologies such as AWS, Google Cloud and Salesforce. SAP gives us substantial global coverage, but there are still gaps in the end-to-end technology landscape that we want to address.
I am fairly confident that 2027 will show the first acquisitions. The challenge is finding the right targets. Strong companies do not necessarily want to sell, so identifying the right acquisition opportunity is not straightforward.
Narayan Kulkarni
