The challenges are noteworthy, with healthcare systems worldwide becoming increasingly unsustainable in the face of rising demands and needs. The global population aged over-65 years old is expected to grow by 40% between 2020 and 2030; in Europe, already 37% of people aged 65+ suffer from at least two chronic diseases. Meanwhile, the World Health Organization estimates a 10 million potential shortfall of health workers worldwide by 2030 and chronic conditions already account for approximately 80% of healthcare expenditure.

If we look at the situation in Italy, where the intersection of the lowest birth rate in Europe and the highest dependency rate paints a stark picture of demographic shifts. The repercussions of this reality are not confined to demographics alone; they reverberate through our GDP and have profound implications for healthcare funding.

In this context, policymakers are called to innovate care models, leveraging digital health to cost-effectively enhance access, quality, equity and sustainability of care. Regulators are also called to define how to safely leverage the vast amount of health data generated to improve current and future care.

The challenges we face in healthcare demand innovative solutions that go beyond conventional approaches.

Reimagining Pharma to Continue Value Generation

Amidst these challenges, the pharmaceutical industry also stands at a crossroads, requiring a reimagining of its role and strategies. The vulnerability posed by the patent cliff and the need to enhance customer experiences, demands for strategic innovation. It is in this context that digital health emerges as a fundamental strategic enabler. Beyond the conventional realm of medicines, the integration of digital innovations becomes imperative to enhance the value of the drug itself, the experiences of Healthcare Professionals (HCPs), patients and caregivers, and allowing all stakeholders to become a partner of healthcare systems throughout the ever-evolving digital health transformation.

Digital health technologies can enhance awareness, access to a timely and accurate diagnosis and referral, as well monitoring, follow-up and continuous care capabilities – shortening, personalizing and improving the care journey.

The Digital Health & Digital Medicine Opportunity

The broad realm of digital health and digital medicine presents an opportunity for transformative change. Governments, recognizing the need for innovation, are paving the way with enabling platforms. The integration of large telemedicine platforms and technological infrastructure supporting interoperability sets the stage for a new era. The true potential lies in seamlessly integrating this system-level infrastructure with safe and accurate software able to generate a demonstrable positive impact on patient’s health. Indeed, within the broad realm of digital health technologies, software certified as medical devices backed by sound clinical evidence are particularly promising.

Safe and effective Digital Medical Devices, both around the pill and stand-alone, are set to drive new value, positioning, and enable digitally enhanced experiences for both HCPs and patients.

Challenges in Adoption, Value & Growth

However, the journey is not without its challenges. Adoption of digital interventions, value generation, and sustainable growth present formidable hurdles. Cultural shifts are needed for widespread adoption, and market dynamics require careful navigation. The landscape of medical devices, despite growing evidence, requires strategic and multifaceted approaches for successful systemic integration.

Success lies not just in digital innovation per se, but in digitally enhancing the standard of care. For all.

Our Digital Health & Innovation “Gateway”

As we navigate this transformative journey, from building engagement and empowering activation; to optimizing treatment dosage through digital means; to enhancing continuous and personalized care, the role of pharma extends beyond traditional medicine, and we partner to help scale opportunities, impact and value.

Our digital health & innovation strategy supports from co-ideation to commercialization, addressing unmet needs, enabling cultural shifts, driving adoption and creating enduring value.

This article is part of the Innovation as Strategy series.

We as leaders of life sciences organizations must ensure that our workforce possesses the necessary skills to navigate this evolving space and create working environments that enable our employees to meet the needs of our ever-changing industry. Though not a simple task, by identifying such skills and mindset, incorporating them into our organizations, and adapting as needed, we can foster innovation internally and allow for it to extend to our clients and the communities we serve.

Digital Literacy, Augmented Working and Capabilities that go Beyond AI

Mentioned by Forbes as one of The Top 10 In-Demand Skills for 2030, more than half of jobs will require digital literacy, and professionals that adapt well to advancements in technology and incorporate them into their daily tasks to create value, will be in high demand. And as AI and automation continuously develop across the life sciences industry, “augmented working“, which involves leveraging AI to eliminate repetitive tasks to enable individuals to concentrate on complex and innovative aspects of their roles, is set to become an indispensable skillset. In fact, as AI systems become more complex and sophisticated, thus will human intelligence. And while AI has an unprecedented range of activities, it can only be maximized with human creativity. Therefore, individuals with the ability to come up with new ideas and solutions and aren’t afraid to question the status quo will be instrumental to drive value.

With the increasing amount of information available to us, critical thinking skills, or the ability to identify valuable data and objectively analyze issues and situations, could be one of the most relevant capacities for leaders as they continue to sort through biases and fake news.

Fostering the Right Culture

It’s also vital to encourage a culture of lifelong learning, curiosity, and self-improvement. In this context, individuals should proactively seek new skills and stay updated on trends, particularly in the context of digital transformation processes. This approach aligns with the evolving nature of work and ensures that individuals remain adaptable in the face of constant change.

There is an increasing relevance in terms of sustainable working practices which brings into focus not only our impact on the environment, but also strategies for prioritizing employee well-being. It’s really about creating a healthy working environment to ensure that our people feel good where they are and that they can express their full potential.

Often times, companies are solely focused on the skills that their teams must acquire and often look past the key elements of change management and people management that must be assumed at an organizational level. In order to be truly successful in this space, we must bring our people along for the journey, considering how we can empower them to take us where we need to go. Whether through agile working, ongoing personal growth, or fostering an innovative culture, we can enable individuals to reach this potential.

Smart Working and Emotional Intelligence

Smart working extends beyond having the flexibility to work from wherever we find ourselves, representing a transformative approach which forces us to focus on why and what we need to achieve. It requires us to be 100% clear about the best way to tackle an objective and allows us the flexibility and responsibility of determining whether it will be maximized as a team in-person at the office or individually somewhere else. In any case, we will have to find a way to stay connected to our teams and colleagues.

For some years now, our personal and professional lives have steadily become more blended, necessitating a holistic approach to employee well-being. Further accelerated by the pandemic, successful managers require strong emotional intelligence more now than ever. Thus, it is a pivotal competency for leaders to enable workforces from a professional standpoint while also considering their personal challenges and their lives outside of work. A “work-self” and “personal-self” simply do not exist, and we must see individuals as a whole, eliminating this separation and encouraging personal growth that can flow into both spheres.

Within Healthware, we recognize and expect every member of our team to be changemakers, working together to build future health. Therefore, we strive to be there with them as they navigate the future of work. 

This article is part of the Innovation as Strategy series.

In recent years, the integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) into the pharma landscape has been nothing short of transformative, with the industry testing and implementing AI in a few key areas:

Drug Discovery: Improved initial assessment of drug compounds, predicting their success rates based on biological factors and advanced next-generation sequencing.

Pre-Clinical: Deeper comprehension of the impacts and outcomes associated with a particular drug.

Clinical: Optimized efficiency, inventory management, and service quality of clinical trials.

Manufacturing: Improved operations, efficiency, and production costs.

Commercial: Improved experience and communication between patients
and doctors.

Pharmacovigilance: Early identification of adverse drug reactions, higher data integrity and faster response times.

With today’s current possibilities, there is still so much more on the horizon for precision engagement, especially when combining it with the new and revolutionary Generative Pre-trained Transformers Artificial Intelligence (GPT AI).

So, what is precision engagement?

Precision engagement is a data-driven approach developed for marketing and sales needs. It uses customer insights to deliver personalized experiences. In the pharma industry, precision engagement can be used to present patients, healthcare professionals (HCPs), and other stakeholders with relevant information and support at the right time.

Is getting the customer’s attention the sole purpose of precision engagement?

No, in fact, it can be leveraged to spread the right information via an improved user experience, resulting in a better journey for both patients and caregivers.

• Offering the physician support from a virtual assistant during the differential diagnosis process where they have access to a more extensive knowledge and experience base. This can make a difference in all cases, but particularly with rare diseases.
• Allowing for people with health conditions (and their caregivers) to become more aware of the disorders they face, thus streamlining the patient journey and reducing the risk associated with following incorrect treatments.

What needs to be done before implementing AI in precision engagement?

First, it’s worth noting that this will not be a small change. Instead, it will be a transformational process that affects various functions of the organization, triggering considerations related to data privacy and security, regulatory compliance, and change management.

However, in keeping with the nature of this short article, I will highlight a couple of the most relevant activities:

Data Aggregation Strategy and Analysis AI-powered systems gather data from diverse sources. Some of them could be internal (CRM data and physicians profiling, etc.) but others must be external such as: electronic health records, prescription data, medical literature, social media, and more

Clustering and segmentation Once the data is aggregated, AI algorithms are employed to cluster the physicians or the patients into meaningful segments or groups. Multivariate clustering helps in identifying similarities and differences among physicians and patients, simplifying the process of tailoring engagement strategies to specific groups

Data governance A commitment to data governance is the foundation for delivering precise, incremental, secure, and compliant engagement experiences.

How is AI being used in precision engagement?

Pharmaceutical companies have a fundamental requirement to establish and cultivate relationships with various external stakeholders, such as:

• Company <> Healthcare Providers (HCPs)
• HCPs <> HCPs
• HCPs <> Patients
• Company <> Institutions

The customer journey, once a linear path from attraction to conversion, has evolved into a dynamic and multifaceted experience. This transformation is driven by the integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) at various stages of the customer journey.

HCP Attraction and Engagement Physicians often find themselves involved in repetitive tasks that may have limited clinical significance. Consequently, they are compelled to reorganize their schedules, reducing the time they have for ongoing education and caring for patients. Therefore, the initial but crucial step in engaging physicians is getting their attention.

This process is relatively straightforward when high-value medical-scientific content is readily available. However, in cases where such content is missing, it becomes necessary to grant access to a wide array of materials. Importantly, these materials do not need to originate solely from pharmaceutical companies but can also come from external sources.

Implementing content factory approaches with AI systems, using Natural Language Processing (NLP) and text mining techniques, allows us to analyze and comprehend the content of third-party sources, perform automatic and incremental tagging, suggest specific content to user clusters, and, finally, employ machine learning algorithms to profile physicians.

This iterative process yields several benefits, including:

1. Creating clusters of customers based on actual physician behavior.
2. Facilitating cost containment and expediting the content approval process in accordance with regulatory compliance.
3. Generating “data-driven” editorial plans.
4. Enhancing effectiveness of engagement, thereby increasing the likelihood of reaching and retaining the target audience.

Medical Information Chatbots: Since 2020, all market analyses have demonstrated that in the New Normal, healthcare professionals require engagement from Pharma Companies not solely through push strategies but also through pull approaches.

Both push and pull marketing have their merits, and companies often use a combination of these strategies in their marketing efforts to reach a diverse audience and cater to different stages of the customer journey.

The Medical Information Chatbot (HCP virtual assistant) is one of the tools that has been most impacted by the advent of GPT AIs. This artificial intelligence-powered conversational agent is designed specifically for the healthcare and medical domain. In the past, multiple virtual assistants were launched by companies but encountered limited success for two primary reasons:

1. The overall experience was good but not as seamless as the HCPs were expecting. This poor user experience hindered the adoption and employment of the tool, a common frustration experienced by users of voice assistants who repeat information multiple times before giving them up.

2. Regulatory limitations, especially in certain countries. In this highly regulated Industry, it has become necessary to address and manage issues related to

• Data Quality: quality and integrity are crucial for compliance.
• Interpretability: ensuring transparency in AI decision-making.
• Regulatory Acceptance: pharmaceutical companies need to ensure that AI-driven solutions are accepted and validated by regulatory agencies.

The use of GPT AIs has transformed the user experience, as these new tools have been designed to make human-machine interactions as natural and flexible as possible. In fact, when healthcare professionals interact with the virtual assistants, they can refine initial searches, expand their scope by incorporating new and relevant elements, conduct in-depth investigations into specific domains or explore new areas by comparing them with initial searches.

Compliance concerns have also been addressed, particularly concerning specific project areas. One approach has been restricting GPT AIs’ access to data sources from private knowledge bases.

Transforming Commercial and Medical Functions with Precision Engagement

AI is reshaping the pharmaceutical industry, from drug discovery to customer engagement. Precision engagement, powered by AI, drives personalized experiences, improves healthcare, and streamlines processes across the industry. As AI continues to evolve, its impact on pharma is expected to grow, delivering benefits to patients, healthcare professionals, and companies alike.

This article is part of the Innovation as Strategy series.

The traditional hierarchical model of healthcare has given way to a more dynamic and peer-to-peer approach, where HCPs engage in collaborative decision-making and scientific exchange.

Advances in medical science, evolving treatment modalities, and an explosion of healthcare information (which I referred to in my last article as an ‘infodemic’) have created a dynamic environment enabling healthcare providers to stay updated with the latest medical advancements, and enhance their overall professional development.

Digital solutions have emerged as indispensable tools for fostering peer-to-peer dynamics and have become catalysts for revolutionizing how HCPs interact and share knowledge in this dynamic environment. The following are examples of digital solutions Medical Affairs can play a pivotal role in facilitating and shaping:

Virtual and Hybrid Event Platforms

Medical Affairs teams can leverage hybrid platforms, like Frontiers Health, to bring together global experts, thought leaders, and practitioners to discuss the latest research, treatments, and medical advancements. Virtual events (in particular) provide a cost-effective and efficient way for professionals to share their knowledge, ask questions, and engage in meaningful discussions without the constraints of geographical boundaries. Moreover, the availability of on-demand recordings allows HCPs to access valuable content at their convenience, fostering continuous learning and peer-to-peer interactions beyond the live event. These platforms not only provide user-centric benefits to HCPs but help field forces better understand what the next conversation with their customers should be.

Peer-to-Peer Online Communities

The rise of online communities dedicated to various medical specialties has created a digital space for HCPs to connect, collaborate, and seek advice from their peers. Medical Affairs teams can actively participate in these communities by providing accurate and up-to-date information, sharing research findings, and engaging in discussions. By doing so, they not only establish themselves as reliable sources of information, building trust within the industry, but also encourage peer-to-peer interactions among HCPs.

Medical Apps and Mobile Platforms

Medical apps and platforms designed for HCPs are becoming increasingly popular. These offer a wide range of functionalities, from clinical decision support and drug information to medical calculators and educational resources. Medical Affairs can partner with app developers to ensure the inclusion of evidence-based content and facilitate peer-to-peer interactions within these applications. For example, HCPs can use medical apps to share challenging cases, seek second opinions, and discuss treatment options with their peers. Such platforms promote collaboration, enhance clinical decision-making, and strengthen the overall healthcare ecosystem.

Social Media and Professional Networks

Social media platforms like Twitter and LinkedIn have become valuable tools for HCPs to connect with colleagues, stay updated on the latest medical news, and engage in discussions. Medical Affairs teams can establish a strong online presence by sharing scientific content, organising live chats with experts, and participating in relevant healthcare #hashtags. Furthermore, professional networks like Doximity and Sermo, to name a few, provide specialized spaces for HCPs to connect with peers in their respective fields. These platforms facilitate knowledge exchange, foster collaboration, and enable Medical Affairs to build relationships with key opinion leaders.

Telemedicine and Virtual Consultations

The adoption of telemedicine has surged in recent years (especially during the COVID-19 pandemic), with the likes of Teledoc, Amwell, and Paginemediche leading the way. Medical Affairs can support the integration of telemedicine into healthcare practices by providing guidance on best practices, compliance, and patient engagement strategies. Telemedicine not only improves patient access to care but also offers HCPs the opportunity to consult with specialists and seek expert opinions conveniently and efficiently.

Data Analytics and Insights

Digital solutions also offer Medical Affairs teams the ability to gather and analyse data on peer-to-peer interactions. By tracking engagement metrics, identifying popular topics, and understanding the unmet needs of HCPs, Medical Affairs can tailor their content and initiatives to better fill professional educational gaps. Applying adult learning principles helps us assess not only what they retain but what they can practically apply in clinical settings.

The integration of digital solutions into the realm of Medical Affairs has opened up new avenues for collaboration, scientific exchange, and relationship-building. Virtual and Hybrid event, online communities, medical apps, social media, telemedicine, and data analytics all contribute to strengthening peer-to-peer interactions. As technology continues to advance with, for example, the adoption of AI and ChatGPT, the field of Medical Affairs must remain adaptable, innovative and risk-averse and harness the full potential of what digital solutions can deliver in terms of personalized care.

Traditionally, this process involves several rounds of discussion and iteration between the customer and the internal team, leading to a time-consuming and resource-intensive cycle.

However, the advent of modern technology, particularly Artificial Intelligence (AI), opens up exciting new possibilities for streamlining this creative journey. By involving AI from the very outset of the process, we can transcend the limitations of the traditional model and create user flows that are more intuitive, secure, and error-free. Let us explore how AI can revolutionize the way we shape user flows, using a compelling case-example.

The Case-Example: Crafting a Secure Register and Login Flow

Imagine a customer has provided precise requirements for a register and login flow they want for their upcoming mobile application. Given the need for heightened security and error prevention, the user flow demands meticulous planning and designing. In the conventional approach, the customer’s information would be shared with the team, initiating a series of iteration rounds where each member contributes their perspective. However, we propose a more innovative way: incorporating AI, specifically Natural Language Processing (NLP) models like ChatGPT.

Early AI Integration: From Information to Action

Rather than embarking on a lengthy journey of brainstorming and iterating manually, the team can quickly communicate the customer’s requirements to the AI model. The NLP machine becomes an active participant by transforming the information into tangible outcomes. For instance, a question or task can be assigned, such as “Write me a user flow with numbered steps based on this information.” Alternatively, the AI can be asked to generate a code for a diagramming tool, like Mermaid, to create an illustrative user flow diagram. This proactive involvement of AI ensures a smooth transition from ideation to execution, eliminating unnecessary lag time.

Streamlined Collaboration and Immediate Feedback

With the AI model assisting in creating the user flow, the team can start discussing and refining the design immediately. The traditional siloed approach gives way to collaborative brainstorming sessions with the AI acting as a virtual team member. The dynamic interplay between human creativity and AI’s rapid processing capabilities enables the team to explore diverse possibilities without being constrained by time or resources. As the AI-generated diagram serves as a solid foundation, the team can request modifications, additions, or removals with ease, streamlining the entire iteration process.

Efficiency and Resource Optimization

With AI, the need for multiple iteration rounds in this process is drastically reduced or even eliminated. This efficiency allows the team to focus on other critical aspects of the project. Instead of lengthy back-and-forths between the customer and the team, the AI empowers the team to present a refined and comprehensive user flow in a single sit-down. This newfound efficiency not only benefits the team internally but also leaves a positive impression on the customer by showcasing a proactive and agile approach to problem-solving.

Human-AI Symbiosis: Unlocking Creativity

Contrary to popular fears of AI replacing human creativity, this case-example demonstrates the true potential of human-AI symbiosis. AI’s ability to swiftly generate comprehensive user flows frees up the team to focus on higher-order creative thinking. Rather than being bogged down by the minutiae of the user flow, team members can channel their creativity into envisioning unique and innovative features for the application. Thus, AI enhances human capacity and enables a harmonious fusion of human ingenuity and AI’s analytical prowess.

Incorporating AI into the Creative Process

Incorporating AI from the start of the user flow ideation process opens up a realm of possibilities for efficiency, creativity, and collaboration. By embracing AI, teams can transform the traditionally iterative and time-consuming process into a streamlined and engaging journey of innovation. The case-example of crafting a secure register and login flow exemplifies how AI can swiftly convert information into action, foster collaborative brainstorming, optimize resources, and ultimately unleash the true potential of human creativity. As technology continues to advance, we must embrace these transformative opportunities, redefining the future of user flow ideation and design in a bold and inspiring manner.

In the healthcare and pharmaceutical sector, R&D is the heart of the innovation process. As such, it is one of the main processes that generate high-value data. The use and valorization of this data enable pharmaceutical companies to identify new potential drugs, develop them as effective medications, and get them approved more quickly. The use of Data Science and Artificial Intelligence allows for the following:

• Improved understanding of diseases and biological processes.
• Predictions of the best molecule to synthesize and how to do it.
• Quicker identification of patients for enrollment in clinical trials, based on multiple sources.
• Reduced risks of adverse events.
• Integrated data backbone instead of rigid silos.

This last point is crucial and can activate every other data valorization step, where data needs to flow freely throughout the research and development process chain: from research and pre-human stages to clinical development and regulatory stages. It is also necessary to integrate external data sources into the organization to generate high-value analytics for business decisions and research.

Integrating data across all stages of the value chain

In pharmaceutical R&D, one of the most significant challenges lies in accessing big data that contains heterogeneous, consistent, reliable, and easily accessible information. Nevertheless, overcoming this hurdle can lead to the most effective outcomes for addressing new innovation challenges. Managing and integrating data across all stages of the value chain, from discovery to implementation, is a fundamental requirement for companies that want to maximize the benefits of technological trends. Thus, data serves as the foundation for value-added analyses, and effective end-to-end data integration can establish an authoritative source of information for the entire company. By integrating different data, regardless of the source, whether internal or external, proprietary or publicly available, comprehensive cross-sectional research can be conducted.

A more comprehensive and coherent view of information with semantic data integration

In a scenario that typically involves compartmentalized silos, implementing interoperability is more than a technological operation; it requires an effort of semantic data integration. This involves combining and linking information from different sources to provide a deeper and more meaningful understanding of the data itself, allowing seemingly different but conceptually related data to be linked to the same physical data. Approaches, such as the use of ontologies and data description standards, facilitate semantic integration by creating connections and relationships between information. This approach goes beyond simple data combination, allowing for a comprehensive understanding of the meaning and context of the information, thereby improving the accuracy and reliability of such analyses. Through semantic data integration, a more comprehensive and coherent view of information can be achieved, facilitating the removal of interdepartmental silos.

Building a domain-specific ontology

There are numerous ontologies in the medical field, but when constructing a specific data integration model for a particular business domain, it is necessary to build a domain-specific ontology.

Ensuring a consensus among individuals regarding the specific meanings of concepts that define their activities stands as the most significant challenge in constructing an ontology. Achieving semantic agreement is the process of helping people understand exactly what they mean when expressing themselves. The purpose of an ontology is to model the business, and it is independent of computer systems (e.g., legacy applications and databases). Its purpose is to use formal logic and common terms to describe the business so that both humans and machines can understand it.

Ontologies offer a means to reconcile data present in disparate information silos without necessarily physically integrating them, allowing for a unified and cohesive view.

Semantic technology, in turn, improves collaboration among various departments, helping the organization perform more complex, relevant, and useful searches.

Data Science with our clients

We also apply this approach to our own clients’ businesses, where one of them faced challenges in navigating and visualizing thousands of interrelated concepts. How did we think data science could come into play? Our solution involved building a semantic data model for data integration, empowering leaders to make informed decisions and improve business outcomes by accessing the right data, regardless of physical boundaries imposed by data silos. This approach also strives for more flexible updates and management of information.

To assist our client, we initiated a series of workshops aimed at defining and designing an ontology specifically tailored to their research and development business unit. Subsequently, we embarked on the scouting and benchmarking of various ontology management platforms, evaluating each to find the one that best aligned with the company’s requirements and constraints. Once the ideal platform was identified, we facilitated another set of workshops to define and validate the use-cases, ensuring the practicality of the ontology model.

With the use-cases successfully implemented and the selected platform in place, our team is currently collaborating with the platform provider in the second phase of the project to develop and finalize the ontology.

By implementing semantic data integration, advanced solutions for data valorization emerge, unlocking insights across the portfolio. This approach enables us to identify clinical opportunities and conduct research on potential applications for translational or personalized medicine. By combining biomarker research with clinical outcomes, we gain a deeper understanding of the data. These high-value insights, made possible through advanced methodologies of data science, allow companies in life sciences to develop new drugs and solutions that improve the lives of HCPs and patients faster, safer and with better understanding than ever before.

What we have in front of us is another significant leap: ensuring that our people develop the right skillset to navigate this demanding new reality.

Embracing Technological Innovations

In this era of digitalization, the pharma industry is starting to embrace technological innovations: digital platforms powered by AI tools provide opportunities for targeted communication, personalized engagement and data-driven decision-making.

Sales representatives need to be equipped with strong digital literacy and social media skills to effectively reach and communicate with healthcare professionals.

Similarly, the marketing function must leverage advanced analytics and artificial intelligence to gain valuable insights into customer behavior, enabling companies to tailor their marketing strategies and optimize resource allocation.

The medical function can benefit from digital tools and platforms to streamline scientific communication, stay updated with medical literature, and collaborate with healthcare professionals in a more efficient manner.

Collaborative Stakeholder Engagement

As the landscape is shifting towards a more and more patient-driven approach, sales, marketing and medical roles must evolve to effectively engage with new stakeholders such as patients, caregivers, and patient advocacy groups.

Collaborative partnerships with these stakeholders foster trust, improve patient outcomes, and generate valuable feedback for continuous improvement.

The incorporation of patient’s voice and perspective, let pharma companies engage in a more affective way with HCPs and institutions, tailoring strategies and meeting the evolving needs of the healthcare ecosystem.

Navigating Regulatory Challenges

The pharmaceutical industry operates within a highly regulated environment: it is required to comply with evolving guidelines and regulations related to GDPR, evolving media and new product categories whose specific regulatory framework is not clear yet (cfr. DTx).

This is especially true when we consider the new market of Digital Health and Digital Therapeutics: in such a complex arena where EU markets are evolving in a fragmented way, the only current certainty is that we’ll be navigating in turbulent waters still for a long time.

Traditional commercial functions will no longer be successful in such environment and the main skills that are required are related to entrepreneurship and problem solving: representatives from the various functions have to quickly adapt to changes and find creative solutions to complex situations.

Partnerships orchestration

Pharma companies are moving towards a new reality where partnerships are becoming the new-normal.

Partnership with startups for innovative services to be provided to patients along traditional treatments and partnerships with hospitals and institutions to optimize patient’s journeys and experience.

Being able to effectively collaborate across different cultures, being empathetic and accepting of our differences are crucial aspects for being successful in the long run.

Working side by side with corporations and startups, we have observed multiple times how difficult is to find an agreement between companies with a different culture even when they share a common objective. Thus, it’s best to avoid further challenge by coming together under one clear objective.

Adapting to Changing Customer Expectations

Patients are becoming more informed and proactive in their healthcare decisions; HCPs have to cope with new trends and NHC systems profound transformations that are changing their role in the ecosystem. Sales, marketing, and medical representatives must adapt their strategies to meet changing expectations and habits.

This involves fostering patient-centric approaches, providing educational resources to HCPs and patients, and engaging in meaningful conversations that address patients’ needs and concerns.

By building trust and delivering value, pharma companies can foster customer experience enhancing loyalty and driving brand equity and differentiation among patients and HCPs communities.

So, what does this mean for pharma?

Sales, marketing, and medical functions are expected to evolve in response to the dynamic landscape evolution.

The evolution of the “traditional” roles and the investment in the development of new competences and processes aligned with these trends is key for every company: evolving employees skillset and developing new roles is just an element of the needed change management that pharma companies are facing.

A company’s capabilities are just one piece of the equation that pharma companies will continue to face and need to resolve.

So, to ask the question many people don’t like to, what does it actually mean?

A cursory Google search will reveal all kinds of explanations, including how omnichannel is different from multichannel. But, in simple terms, omnichannel is about transforming customer engagement to ensure that a cohesive, and joined up, message is delivered across all personal and digital channels (including the field force) – not just hitting customers with more channels but connecting the dots across them to form a unified and effective story.

The result: a better customer experience and more impactful message delivery for your brand (which should equal higher sales, if your positioning is solid).

Assuming that sounds good, the next question from senior leaders is: what do we need to deliver this?

Most often, the answer to this question is ‘technology’ – CRM and all the systems that sit around it, enabling effective customer profiling, content management, next-best action, and so on. For sure, you cannot deliver omnichannel transformation without this technology. However, given that there are so many good technologies around, why have so few companies achieved omnichannel nirvana?

In my experience, the answer is that, while technology is a key enabler, to view achieving omnichannel maturity (Figure 1) as predominantly a technology project is a path to failure. And I still see too many companies charging down this route.

Figure 1: True omnichannel maturity requires both technology and fundamental shifts in the operating model to become more customer- rather than brand-centric.

What else is needed then?

Here are some key areas that deserve at least equal focus as technology, to deliver real success.

Vision and leadership buy-in

As mentioned above, the initial challenge is that there is still a lack of understanding of what omnichannel means. There are multiple interpretations of it, even where it’s understood.

Before embarking on any transformation, this needs to be aligned across all levels of leadership, from C-level executives to the leaders who will deliver this change. This vision needs to include not only clarity on the new operating model, but also how this model will be delivered (encompassing all the following points), what success looks like and how it meets the needs of all stakeholders internal and external (including investors / shareholders).

Critically, it also needs buy-in to embrace a mindset that is first and foremost customer-centric, rather than internally brand- or function-centric.

Changes in processes and internal alignment

Changing the customer engagement model also requires changes to the current processes and functional setup, as these are all geared around the ‘old’ model.

This encompasses numerous areas, for example:

• Brand planning, which needs to be coordinated across all customer-facing functions (commercial, medical, market access, corporate communications) to ensure a cohesive strategy.
• Creative / content production, which needs to adapt in to enable a more modular approach to telling the story piece by piece, allowing dissemination over time and different channels as part of a single, cohesive story.
• Compliance, which will need to operate more nimbly when approving customer-facing materials.
• Field force operations, which must tightly coordinate with central activities, whether within commercial, medical or market access.

With regards to brand planning, to achieve true omnichannel maturity this should actually be ‘customer planning’, starting with their needs and desires to think about how to best share brand information, rather than vice versa. This is a key component of the industry’s long-voiced promise to be more customer-centric.

At its core, true omnichannel transformation also therefore poses questions around the fundamental structure of companies. For example, should there even be separate medical and commercial functions when they are both tasked with providing customers with relevant information, albeit of different types?

That’s a much bigger topic for another article…

Comprehensive change management

Change management is one of the most overlooked aspects of any transformation, in my experience.

Think about all the effort spent on brand marketing where we are trying to change the behavior (prescribing) of physicians. It starts with extensive market research, which feeds into testing and retesting the positioning, then building out the experience architecture (what the barriers to change are and how we move customers through them), into the engagement experience (how we get the message across), and extensive measurement to track how we’re doing and what needs to change.

Now think about how much of that same effort we typically apply to internal teams when trying to change their behavior to operate in a more ‘omnichannel’ way. Why is it different?

Change management is another whole topic, but it’s so much more than communication. It encompasses every element listed here and, critically, requires securing the right input from internal stakeholders to understand their current beliefs and behaviors, plus securing their input and buy-in to the change being made.

My advice: engage early, understand their situation, and involve them in the solution. Don’t suddenly spring a new ‘solution’ on them that they have heard nothing about and had no input into.

Effective data management

Data, data everywhere, but not a drop of insight!

We live in a world where massive amounts of data are created every day, and data sits at the core of any effective omnichannel system. It enables a deeper understanding of every individual customer, to the level of n=1, which allows more personalized, effective approaches.

But only if the data is as complete and accurate as possible.

This requires an understanding of data accuracy at the point of entering the system, identification of gaps, the ability to integrate disparate data sources together (interoperability), and ongoing cleansing / maintenance to ensure it’s kept up to date. Without this, even a well-structured data system will quickly become redundant.

Also, make sure the system is set up so that those who know the customer best have the opportunity to challenge the data as part of the maintenance process. This is principally the field forces operating on the front line, because – shock and horror – sometimes they might know something that your data machine doesn’t!

Even before you bring in data scientists and smart AI applications, customer profiling needs to embrace both secondary data sources and first-hand human knowledge.

Fresh incentives

Omnichannel transformation can often feel like herding cats to those leading it. And how do you herd cats? Simple, you move their food!

Objectives and incentives are an often overlooked area in customer engagement transformation. At its core, a more customer-centric omnichannel approach seeks to improve the quality of each interaction, not just (or indeed at all), the frequency of interactions.

This needs to be reflected in the personal objectives and incentives for everyone involved in making it happen, from the senior global leaders right through to the local sales reps and MSLs. For example, trying to get sales reps to invest time in understanding how to deliver more modular content and integrate their activities with central marketing approaches, like email or webinars, is never going to work if they remain incentivized by the number of calls, they make every day.

Instead, it’s important to work back from the desired end model (and what success looks like in this) to define overarching KPIs and translate these into specific objectives for all internal stakeholders involved in driving the change, with their incentives linked to these.

In summary, achieving omnichannel maturity is about carefully considering all aspects of the organization that need to change – people, systems and processes. The above factors are key components of this, and I’m sure you can think of more.

Technology is an important part of achieving this maturity, within the ‘systems’ bucket. However, viewing omnichannel transformation as a predominantly ‘technology’ problem / opportunity / project won’t deliver success.

You could even say that delivering true omnichannel maturity requires ‘omnipotency’ – the power to influence and lead many others, across every function, on this journey. I look forward to working with more Global Heads of Omnipotency on transforming our industry!

The Complexities of the Customer Journey

Traditional customer journeys have become increasingly complex in the digital era. A study by IQVIA revealed that what used to be a simple four-stage process has now expanded to eighteen stages, accompanied by over twenty digital touchpoints. While this proliferation of touchpoints offers more data to measure, it also poses the risk of overwhelming analysis paralysis.

From Passive to Active to Interactive Engagement

In the realm of global media and customer experience, there is often a tendency to focus on impressive numbers like millions of impressions or website visits. However, such metrics fail to provide insights into whether these interactions are actually influencing customer behavior. Passive engagement, such as views or clicks, offers limited value in achieving desired outcomes. Instead, it may be more fruitful to concentrate on “active engagement,” where customers take deliberate actions such as downloading guides or providing personal details. Interactive engagement takes this a step further, involving real-world commitments like in-person meetings.

Transitioning from KPIs to CXIs

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) have traditionally been used to measure internal progress, including sales, awareness, and market share. Shifting the focus to Customer Experience Indicators (CXIs) directs attention towards the customer’s perspective. However, it’s important to clarify that CX does not stand for Customer Experience but represents “the customer’s experience or the experience of the customer,” as highlighted by Forbes. This slight distinction holds significant implications.

Introducing Customer Experience Indicators (CXIs)

It is easy to create CXIs that merely serve as proxies for KPIs –  for example, measuring customer satisfaction – without considering its passive nature. However, some companies, like The North Face, take a more comprehensive approach. They offer lifetime product guarantees, providing free repairs, replacements, or refunds. Additionally, they repurpose, recycle, or donate irreparable products. This commitment to sustainability and customer satisfaction enhances loyalty, justifies premium pricing, and stands in contrast to the negative environmental impact of fast fashion.

Understanding What Truly Matters to Customers

In a thought-provoking article by Gene Cornfield, he suggests a shift from KPIs to Customer Performance Indicators to promote customer-centricity. Rather than focusing on revenue, growth, or market share, organizations should measure their performance against indicators that truly matter to customers. Cornfield proposes speed, accuracy, peace of mind, and trust as worthy customer-centric indicators.

Shifting Measurement Focus to CXIs

While KPIs have been an integral part of marketing for decades, it’s crucial to adapt to the data-rich environment we now operate in. Conducting a Net Promoter Score (NPS) survey twice a year is no longer sufficient.

In fact, Medical Affairs played a key role in providing evidence based scientific data during COVID-19 vaccine trials and also accelerating the unprecedented rollout and adoption of the vaccine. The adoption aspect is especially important to note as the decision did not solely lie with clinicians, but very much with patients, payers, and policy makers (Stakeholders). Medical Affairs had the responsibility to not only educate and inform clinicians but also influence all Stakeholders to agree, adopt and comply with the vaccination protocols to reach rapid and unprecedented herd immunity on a global scale. This could only be achieved by communicating both the efficacy and value (HEOR) of the data and establishing trust within a global population (excluding the minority of anti-vaxxers).

This feat demonstrates not only where Medical Affairs stands today but where its role and responsibilities lie in the future. There are three main focus areas that Medical Affairs teams should prioritize to not only maintain momentum but drive innovation within the industry.

Technology

The first focus area is embracing what technology brings to data analytics and insights analysis and finding ways to collaborate with ‘big tech’ who, in many cases, own this data (RWE and Genomic companies for example). Real-time information is being increasingly analyzed by artificial intelligence, something Medical Affairs needs to monitor and supplement to ensure compliance and accuracy. Patients, or better yet, “all of us” are increasingly empowered to take charge of our health and well-being. We are more informed, and with access to unprecedented information online and technology such as digital platforms, diagnostic tools, wearables and chatbots, we are equipped with in-depth information about our health which, in some cases, surpasses what clinicians have time to access. When managed with the right scientific vigor by Medical Affairs teams, technology enables the fast curation of evidence-based information, allowing Stakeholders to make more timely and collaborative decisions.

Adult Learning Principles

The second focus area is to embrace best-in-class adult learning principles to not only educate Stakeholders but ensure they retain the information and more importantly allow them to apply what they learn. As an example, Oncologists, are flooded with extraneous information, some refer to as an ‘infodemic’, and medical affairs have the responsibility to adopt a stakeholder-centric (some call it omnichannel) approach to ensure the right information is delivered to the rightstakeholder, on the right channels (of their choosing), at the right time (always on, live or on-demand). This is critical to moving Stakeholders along the adoption ladder making sure they all end up in the same place.

Creative Storytelling

The third focus area is creative storytelling, meaning how we, as an industry, exchange complex scientific information with Stakeholders. Medical Affairs have typically delivered scientific information in conservative lengthy linear formats which are scientifically rigorous but lack compelling narratives. Simply put, they don’t tell a story. Creative storytelling has been used since prehistoric times to communicate with and educate populations. The creative combination of words, sound, and imagery (more recently moving imagery) has moved masses over the centuries to take collective action and influence life-changing moments. The key to engaging Stakeholders is to deliver a creative narrative that triggers an emotional response, which in turn helps gain their trust and eventually their loyalty.

Medical Affairs stakeholders are increasingly digitally savvy and have the opportunity to showcase their leadership within Pharma, biotech and MedTech when it comes to leveraging technology, digital platforms, omni-channel communications, and data analytics. Strategic insights can be derived from these activities, generating qualitative and quantitative metrics, which provide actionable outcomes. Medical Affairs have a key role and responsibility to engage beyond prescribers by collaborating with all Stakeholders to improve patient outcomes and improve the overall trust people have in the Pharma industry.