123 Next >> When my daughters were younger, we must have watched The Wizard of Oz together a hundred times. We never failed to be disappointed when despite all the bold words of the wizard, a look behind the curtain revealed something much less than impressive. Is the same true as we look at eClinical--bold claims, lots of talk, but little substance in reality when you drill deeper? In this article, I examine some of the success stories showing how eClinical is defining new processes and ways of working: creating a yellow brick road and not simply paving the cow path. Industry technology trends As is the pharmaceutical industry, the supporting technology vendor space is undergoing huge changes. The market is consolidating with vendors extending the breadth of their offerings through acquisition or organic growth. We are observing acceleration in the pace and scale of this consolidation including the large-scale acquisition that brought RTSM (randomization and trial supply management), EDC (electronic data capture), and safety offerings to be added to one corporation's CTMS (clinical trial management system) solution. In another example, an EDC provider has been building RTSM functionality within their EDC solution, while acquiring a CTMS product to broaden their suite, essentially blending internal growth and acquisition strategies. The likely outcome is a marketplace dominated by a number of large suite providers. Each provider is working to make their collection of applications into a coherent and compelling product suite, but also ensuring their framework standards enable the inclusion of other third-party systems within their environment.