2024 Year in Review
We ended 2024 feeling great about what we’ve achieved together and are really looking forward to our Bright future.
We continued to be purposeful and thoughtful about how we run and grow our business. Not only did we plan for uncertainty and live our values, but we also set up the business for scalability. Below, I’ve highlighted a few of our 2024 efforts.
- Maintaining and sharing our culture
At Bright, culture is everything. If you were to ask me what keeps me up at night, I am happy to report that it isn’t new business, cash flow, employee recruitment challenges, or our ability to solve problems; instead, I say our biggest challenge is “scaling the magic.” We’ve had an incredible 16-year run, and I want the next 16 years to be just as special. Hiring talent based on attitude and aptitude and picking the right clients that can make magic with us (see #3 below!) are two of the biggest components of our continued success and maintaining our culture.
- Growing!
Talent. We’ve hired, cared for, and retained topnotch talent at Bright. How did we do it? By both encouraging and providing opportunities for employee development and providing routine feedback (the team knows my lines…”feedback is a gift!” “this went great; this could be even better!”). We have also championed individual- and team-based trainings and certifications to support best-in-class consulting and tapped into external medical experts to provide education on relevant therapeutic spaces and devices. Further, we’ve rounded out our team by hiring talented and seasoned business leaders to model the behaviors that set us apart and provide career mentorship to our newest promising talent, all of which support employee growth, retention, and scaling the business.
Business. Our relationships, repeat clients, referrals, and business development efforts have expanded our client list not just by total count, but also by geography: Many of our clients, partnerships, and study sites now span internationally. We’re also thrilled to continue our strong partnership with our beloved Belgian CRO partner, Archer Research.
Another opportunity for Bright growth has been expanding our service offerings. Specifically, we have added several standalone statistics and data management projects to our portfolio. That said, full-study management projects continue to be our mainstay.
Physical space. To accommodate our growth, we’ve expanded our office into an entire floor of the beautiful, vintage Baker Building in downtown Minneapolis. The office is gorgeous, fun, and inviting, serving not only as a teambuilding and recruitment tool but also a landing pad for visiting partners and clients from the MedTech industry.
We are fully committed to downtown Minneapolis and see the post-pandemic vibrancy emerging. Come check out our expanded space and the hopping city lunchtime scene! We love visitors.
- Finding the right clients; it’s good for business to be choosey
During the pandemic slowdown, we had time to thoughtfully define our target client base. An alignment of personality and values between service provider and client is just as important to us as a clearly defined project. We want to work with clients who appreciate our style and expertise, view us as a true partner in their journey, and understand the importance of a properly run clinical trial in their company’s overall success. Curious to know what else we look for in a client? Check out our website for more.
- Continuing to enhance our business practice
To support our growth and scalability, we’ve continued to invest internally. Last year you may have read that we launched Veeva as our internal CTMS and eTMF; so far, we’ve had wonderful results. Our 2025 software initiative will focus on the quality system and training to ensure our methods accommodate our growing team. We’re also investing in back-office software upgrades.
We appreciate the opportunities to collaborate with external advisors, external auditors, and of course, our client auditors as we strive for continuous improvement not only for best-in-class clinical research and consulting practices but also best business practices.
- Celebrating our client successes
Bright’s energized team is authentically excited about our clients’ successes and celebrates right along with them. Why? Because not only are our clients’ successes our successes, but they ultimately result in physicians and patients having new or improved treatment options. Helping bring these options to the market is our passion, and we know we do incredibly meaningful work. Our fellow “magic-making” clients really see and feel this passion, too.
In closing, it’s been another incredible year for Bright. I am looking forward to continuing our evolution, always better and brighter, and meeting more people and companies doing inspiring work.
Wishing you and yours much success and a magical 2025!
