4 Reasons Why the Pharma Industry should Adopt a Customer-Centric Approach

With populations aging and chronic illnesses growing, the Life Science industry is undergoing a massive transformation.

According to Infosys research¹, for businesses to make the most of this change, they need to focus on renewing their existing systems and processes. They also need to add new technological advancements to gain maximum value from their business operations.

According to a Forrester blog², a competitive edge achieved through brand, manufacturing, distribution, and technology management is not adequate to stay relevant for the pharma industry operators. They need to widen their scope and consider the following: Knowing their customers, understanding their needs, delighting them with results, connecting with them through an omnichannel presence, and consistently providing superior experiences.

"56% of industry operators have already implemented a sales force automation solution" - Forrester

An article by Gartner³ says, "To stay relevant, the Life Science industry stakeholders have to offer meaningful information to their customers when they demand it." To build an omnichannel market strategy that's both efficient and optimizes your costs, businesses need to consider:

• A change of approach of CRM solutions in the Life Science industry.
• The inter-relation between mediums and how to leverage data.
• The upgrades in the way business are conducted.

Realizing newer benefits

Forward-thinking companies benefit a lot from adopting a customer-centric approach and implementing a sales force automation solution fit for pharma. Here are four reasons to adopt a customer-centric pharma approach:

1 . Analyze Large Chunks of Data = Superior Business Outcomes

A Deloitte report⁴ highlights that the pharma industry's spending on research and development isn't resulting in the necessary business outcomes that are expected. The report further explains that focusing merely on the pill and not the disease as a whole is the main impediment to better business outcomes. According to the report by Infosys, healthcare can be delivered better through the help of analyzing larger chunks of data and using technology to create superior business impacts. The organization, therefore, benefits from a single source of truth.

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2 . Widening Horizons

Patients are taking greater control of their own health. They no longer wish to be receiving therapies that their prescribers deem fit, says a McKinsey article⁵. "Healthcare will be driven much more by consumers than physicians, with patients increasingly coming to their doctors with more information, parameters they measured at home, and an informed opinion about how they should be treated." - Dr. Bertalan Mesko, medical futurist, and author of "My Health: Upgraded"

It's essential pharma businesses know that an abundance of digital data such as electronic health records, clinical insurances, behavioral patterns on social media, among others can help the industry derive holistic benefits from an integrated environment. A proactive approach that's backed by actionable insights from CRM solutions is required to keep up with the transformation that the industry is undergoing.

3 . Moving Up to the Clouds

By leveraging hybrid cloud infrastructure, businesses can easily gain easy access to both internal and external data. Instead of just resulting in cost-optimization, like the cloud does for other industries, it presents far more pronounced strategic benefits for the pharma industry. The cloud is making the Life Sciences industry future-ready in more ways than one. This is done by powering the entire value chain from research and development to operational functions. Functions such as finance and resource management. The Infosys research goes onto advocate the seamless manageability of data that cloud presents.

4 . Increased Transparency = Enhanced Agility

As organizations are expanding and scalability is becoming a priority for businesses, gaining visibility and unifying disparate systems becomes a pain point for pharma. Analytics that are delivered in real-time and present the potential to bear actual business outcomes is an immediate need for pharma stakeholders. Predictions that are on point, shortened response times, efficient supply chain processes, and faster decision-making capabilities are just some of the results that businesses will experience. That is if they were to drive smarter and more transparent supply chain management systems across their organization. Streamlined processes that are driven by technology are the way forward.

To articulate the true value that our CRM solution can drive in business terms for your organization, connect with us today.

References:

1. https://www.infosys.com/industries/life-sciences/white-papers/Documents/life-sciences-industry.pdf

2.https://www.forrester.com/report/Transform+Customer+Processes+And+Systems+To+Improve+Experiences/-/E-RES72102

3. https://www.gartner.com/en/documents/3257317

4. https://www2.deloitte.com/uk/en/pages/life-sciences-and-healthcare/articles/measuring-return-from-pharmaceutical-innovation.html

5. https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/pharmaceuticals-and-medical-products/our-insights/how-pharma-can-win-in-a-digital-world