The case for change

In late 2022, Veeva and Salesforce announced the expiration of their partnership in 2025, with a full shutdown of the joint system in 2030. With the partnership ending, both companies are developing their own offerings. Choosing which CRM platform to adopt—and how to implement it—will have a significant impact on the global commercial operations of life sciences companies.

Regardless of the chosen platform, companies will need to invest tens of millions of dollars and tens of thousands of hours to navigate the transition. The decision will affect customer engagement for years to come. Doing nothing is not an option. Life sciences leaders must decide how they will respond. Will they view it as a crisis or an opportunity?

Instead of viewing this event as a problematic disruption, life sciences companies have an opportunity to reflect holistically on the effectiveness of their customer engagement. Proactively building new engagement strategies and refreshing their technology stack to align with those needs can accelerate growth. Leaders will need to evaluate their unique business priorities, context, and capacity to develop short- and long-term customer engagement strategies.

Taking stock of the current customer relationship landscape

A recent Deloitte survey of more than 240 global health care providers (HCPs) and pharmaceutical executives found a persistent gap between pharma’s outreach activities and customers’ needs:

• More than 80% of pharma executives are satisfied with their current customer engagement strategy. However, less than 35% of HCPs feel like pharma’s customer-facing resources are meeting their needs well.
• Nearly half (47%) of HCPs harbor concerns about the scientific validity of communications from sales representatives and question the authenticity of these resources.
  
• Most (67%) of the time, HCPs prefer to get their information from non-pharma company channels, especially since 37% believe that medical science liaisons are not available when needed and don’t offer enough engagement when they are present.
  

Anchoring technology choices to a strong strategic framework

To close the engagement gap, life sciences companies must understand their strategic goals for the next three to five years, determine the best ways to convey messages, assess their effectiveness, and ensure these efforts align with the overall company direction. Executive leaders should consider asking themselves:

Five customer engagement models to transform the future of pharma

Deloitte has outlined five customer engagement models that align with an enterprise’s strategic roadmap, illustrating future engagement possibilities. These models help leaders ask relevant technology questions and determine the best platforms to meet ongoing objectives and needs.