Unifying Commercial Teams for Customer-Centric HCP Engagement: Q&A with Matt Farrell

Matt Farrell
Vice president of commercial
strategy
Veeva

Pharma companies are subject to the same issues that any large company faces. When it comes to communicating, information at large companies can sometimes become too segregated between departments, making it difficult to provide answers quickly. Matt Farrell, vice president of commercial strategy at Veeva, spoke with Pharmaceutical Executive about strategies companies can use to solve these issues.

Pharmaceutical Executive: Why has a more coordinated experience for HCPs become elevated from a best practice goal to a practical priority?
Matt Farrell: Biopharmas have been pursuing customer-centricity for decades, but few would say they have achieved it. As commercial teams optimized within their own functions, systems and data have grown more disconnected, and engaging the customer as one company has gotten harder. At the same time, increasing therapeutic complexity, evolving engagement preferences, and shifting HCP access are deepening the need for a unified approach.

At our recent event, we had a doctor tell the true story of his experience with sales reps at Company A and B, both top global biopharmas. He asked both a similar question about their products. Company A was able to quickly coordinate internally and got back to him right away with a detailed, accurate response. Company B struggled to consolidate an answer, took much longer, and provided partial information. A top global biopharma exec on stage summarized, “All of us want to think we are Company A, but if we are honest with ourselves, we are not sure.”

Companies can respond with the right information at the right time when functions like sales, marketing, and medical have a single view of the customer, allowing them to instantly collaborate and provide a better customer experience.

PE:One view of the customer has been talked about for a long time, why hasn’t it been achieved?
Farrell: Typically customers have separate commercial teams working with their own data and their own view of the customer. This disparate system approach can make it hard to connect data and teams—resulting in fragmented, siloed processes. Technology has been an obstacle because there were no native connected systems, and unlocking the opportunity to break down these silos and unify systems is needed for a more holistic approach and better experience for HCPs.

PE:How can Commercial organizations create this more unified approach to HCP engagement?
Farrell: Veeva made a major decision two years ago to bring sales, marketing, medical, and service teams together on one life sciences-specific platform for the first time. Now that it is available it is a major step for the industry for all customer-facing teams to work from one customer record.

Now, commercial organizations will simplify. Eliminating multiple integrations and stitched-together workflows across systems will allow teams to meet HCP needs faster and more efficiently. A single view of the customer across commercial teams will reduce friction and enable collaboration across each customer interaction.

With all commercial teams operating in a single system, a marketing campaign will incorporate a sales rep’s approved email as a tactic, target a message to an HCP’s preferred channel, and route HCP inquiries to the contact center, enabling instant cross-team collaboration for a quick and accurate response.

PE:How do you think AI can help reps to be more effective?
Farrell: AI has a wide array of use cases for field teams, and we are only starting to scratch the surface of where it can be applied to make reps more effective. For example, through prompts, AI can help field teams with pre-call planning by providing key selling points of a treatment or medicine based on conversations the team has had with a key opinion leader (KOL) or HCP. It can provide a summary of interactions offering insight into topics covered over the most recent calls or give the rep core prescription trends for the physician. AI can also automate manual, repetitive tasks to allow the rep to focus more of their time on engaging with their customers.

PE:Where do you see the most progress toward true customer centricity?
Farrell: The most progress is coming from companies that focus on simplicity. Collapsing multiple applications and distributed data sets into a single database is allowing—and in some ways, driving—their teams to truly collaborate together to create a seamless customer experience. It reduces the need to manage custom integrations that increase complexity and cost. With data consolidated and standardized, those organizations can become leaders in the application of AI.

I shared an example where a company needed to respond quickly. Now imagine a scenario where a biopharma can proactively manage engagement across multiple campaigns, touchpoints, and meetings to educate on a complex medicine. Sales, marketing, and medical working with a single database, with a single view of the customer, is the only way to truly bring the processes and workflows together for customer-centric engagement. That is what ultimately enables HCPs to have the information they need to get their patients access to vital treatments faster.