Ardena develops experimental drugs on behalf of biotech and pharma companies. The company harmonized its IT infrastructure and invested in its security. This was needed after the acquisition of a Spanish sector peer in 2021 .
The Ghent-based growth company is a Contract Development & Manufacturing Organization, or CDMO for short, with a focus on the pharmaceutical industry. Thanks to Ardena's specialized knowledge and facilities, companies do not have to invest in expensive infrastructure themselves. Ardena assists them with research, development, production and regulation of new drugs for clinical trials. This speeds up the process, and ensures that patients are helped more quickly.
Integration of Spanish division
Ardena is experiencing impressive growth, in part due to several strategic acquisitions. "Our company now has five branches," says Sander Modderkolk, IT operations manager. "Due to our international expansion, the need for harmonization across all sites grew. After the acquisition in 2021 of a company in Pamplona, we were looking for a partner to assist us in integrating the Spanish IT organization into the larger Ardena whole. Specifically, it was about migrating and linking the domain so that the Spanish team could mail through the company account."
"After the initial collaboration, Rank1 won the confidence to assist us in the integration and harmonization of the other subdivisions as well. That way, Ardena's internal team could focus on day-to-day operations."
Efficiency thanks to IT harmonization
The network and infrastructure were unified step by step. All divisions now use the same technologies. This allows the IT team to support them more efficiently, without the need for significant investments in expanding the team.
Microsoft 365 collaboration tools found their way into all branches. It reinforced Ardena's brand identity both internally and externally. The cloud architecture was expanded and improved. This simplifies the management of applications used in all branches.
Security lock down after cyber attack
Especially when Ardena was in the crosshairs of hackers, Rank1 proved its added value as a partner, stresses Sander Modderkolk. "A branch was crippled by an attack. The network was destroyed and had to be restored. Rank1 proved incredibly flexible at the time. The team was immediately on the doorstep to help and worked through the weekends, even until three-four in the morning. Often in such cases, it takes companies six months to get back on their feet. Thanks to Rank1, we were back in full operation in five weeks."
Together, Ardena and Rank1 took a close look at the company's integral security and fixed the lock. "Today, Rank1, together with a second IT partner, provides security monitoring," says Modderkolk. "Data is crucial for us. It's about our customers' data and we protect it at all costs. Our security is state of the art."
Flexible, pragmatic and reliable
"You can sum it up as one big improvement effort, courtesy of Rank1," summarizes Sander Modderkolk. "Today they support us on all fronts, from infrastructure to security."
Raf De Backer of Rank1: "The collaboration with Ardena indeed spans the four pillars in which we operate: public cloud services, networks and their security, local infrastructure and digital collaboration between employees. Our network and security engineers, Microsoft 365 experts, system engineers and system administrators were involved in this collaboration. It is a good illustration of our all-round competence."
Sander Modderkolk adds: "The expertise of the Rank1 consultants aligns nicely with that of our internal IT team. Our people focus on the day-to-day operations. Rank1 complements with their know-how in specific domains, for additional projects. This takes away a lot of stress and work for us. They have proven themselves to be a solid supplier that is well-versed in training, certifications and the guidance of their consultants. Flexible, pragmatic and reliable, even during the most difficult times."
Ardena in figures
Ardena has 500 employees in five European production facilities. Headquartered in Ghent, there are also sites in the Netherlands, Sweden and Spain. The Belgian company has customers worldwide, from start-ups to established names such as Galapagos. Ardena is a CDMO - a contract development & manufacturing organization.