Using Omnichannel to Drive Integration between Medical and Commercial: Key Takeaways from a DHC Group-Syneos Health® Hosted Roundtable
Today’s omnichannel strategy should be rooted in the customer journey. Achieving a seamless customer experience requires an understanding of the customer’s pain points and integrating medical and commercial functions for consistency.
Biopharma leaders responsible for their companies’ omnichannel initiatives recently participated in a round table discussion addressing the challenges inherent to integrating their omnichannel initiatives. The roundtable, jointly hosted by DHC Group and Syneos Health, served as a platform for strategists to share their best practices and discuss lessons learned while pursuing an integrated approach with medical and commercial functions. Stakeholders in a variety of roles at emerging biotechs, small life sciences and top 10 pharmaceutical manufacturers joined this private conversation, providing diverse and complementary perspectives. Below are some key takeaways from the event. Today’s omnichannel strategy should be rooted in the customer journey. Achieving a seamless customer experience requires an understanding of the customer’s pain points and integrating medical and commercial functions for consistency.
A tailored approach that accounts for the customer’s journey is critical to omnichannel planning and fundamental to informing the tactics that will orchestrate a seamless and engaging customer experience. The Medical and Commercial functions may execute omnichannel activities from a similar strategic framework but must also tailor implementation to the pain points specific to the different stages of the customer journey. A successfully aligned and cohesive omnichannel strategy will include a tailored customer experience and allow for the Medical team to facilitate success for the Commercial team, with the end goal of improving patient outcomes. An integrated Medical-Commercial omnichannel strategy has the potential to enable impactful brand continuity and consistency throughout the asset lifecycle. Additionally, identifying synergies between the two functions and breaking down silos to deliver a universal perspective can encourage increased precision as omnichannel teams seek to better understand varying needs across segments.
An effective omnichannel strategy requires unified execution across technology deployment, data integration, and content strategy.
- Technology: While there are many advanced technologies to help drive an omnichannel experience, remaining agile and cognizant of how your stakeholder likes to learn is crucial to creating the most engaging experience. State-of-the-art technologies like virtual and augmented reality can be very useful tools, but if the customer is not ready to learn in this format, leveraging them may not be the best way to meet engagement objectives. The utility of advanced technologies in helping to meet engagement objectives will continue to evolve as stakeholders become more comfortable with their application and develop new preferences.
- Content: Delivering user-friendly content for a unified customer experience across the Medical and Commercial functions can be difficult given the public nature of the content and known compliance challenges. As we know, what is delivered out of the Medical function must be distinct from what is generated from the Commercial function. Furthermore, generating content that is technical and scientifically appropriate sets a high bar for content creation. Scientific content that maintains independence on the Medical side but is customized and tailored to specific segments tests the comfort zone of the industry. If there is consistency in messaging across functions, legal teams will be on high alert of appearing "too Commercial" - resulting in a significant hurdle for today's Medical strategists. In addition, effective communication of segmenting algorithms and how compliant Medical tiering can differ from Commercial is critical to an aligned segmenting process. Innovating to remove those hurdles to streamline and accelerate the medical review process is a necessity for progress towards integration. We must consider the content lifecycle throughout the creation process. Questions to consider include: Is the content iterative based on stakeholder preferences? Are there “evergreen” elements to expiring content that can be repurposed? When is it appropriate to brand content or keep it unbranded? The answers and best practices related to these questions are still evolving.
- Data: While removing silos in data will be critical to a unified omnichannel approach, there are issues related to restrictions in sharing certain datasets across functions. Some of these challenges include access to data, best practices around data utilization, and access to tools and stacks. One solution is to have a third-party review data and make decisions for the specific customer group targeted, but new and innovative solutions continue to emerge.
Measuring success of an omnichannel strategy will require a fundamental shift away from traditional KPIs, combining qualitative and quantitative metrics for a holistic and comprehensive view.
Strategists should be wary of “vanity metrics” that may not provide a full picture of customer engagement. A better measurement of an effective, integrated strategy are success metrics such as salesforce execution, product adoption and customer perception that are better aligned to customer expectations and objectives.
Along the same lines, traditional KPIs grounded in snapshot measurements are becoming increasingly obsolete as customers require longitudinal data to measure changes in perception and behavior. Given the desire for personalized content across utilized channels – approaches to measuring these aspects are challenging to define and still nascent. However, if done right then comprehensive measurement would provide a holistic and realistic view of engagement success.
As is the case with any emerging digital strategy, challenging traditional thinking will be key to harnessing the potential of omnichannel offerings. This will require shifting perceptions around how cross-functional teams can compliantly integrate ways of working. If done effectively, a successful omnichannel strategy can drive an enhanced experience for customers throughout their entire journey.
The DHC Group funds and conducts research, hosts and produces industry events, while offering media and outreach opportunities for its members. TheDHCGroup.com
Contributors
Suma Ramadas, Executive Vice President, Medical Affairs, Syneos Health
Stacy Hartung, Vice President, Marketing and Sales Enablement, Syneos Health
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