Fueling Multichannel Engagement With Master Data Management: Perspectives from the 2015 Veeva Commercial Summit

As sales and marketing executives acknowledge, successful multichannel engagement requires a deep understanding of the customer. Master data management (MDM), the process of creating a trusted, single view from multiple sources of information, establishes this critical foundation. Working from a single view, or ‘golden record,’ life sciences companies can create more targeted interactions, delivering relevant information at the time and place of the customer’s choosing.

At the 2015 Veeva Commercial Summit, industry practitioners and data management experts described their experiences and best practices for successful MDM projects. They shared key insights, including the following:

Global healthcare leader Eli Lilly placed organizational change management at the center of its MDM project plan. Data management leads Ashley Kalmbach and Mark Kopetsky first aligned with executive leadership on project goals. Throughout the project, frequent communication with senior management and field stakeholders allowed them to answer questions and address outstanding concerns. And despite some unanticipated speed bumps, Kalmbach and Kopetsky succeeded with a project that is helping Eli Lilly to improve customer centricity at all touchpoints.

Specialty pharmaceutical company Medac Pharma knows that a trusted, single view helps raise the bar on customer engagement, enabling sales representatives to conduct more meaningful conversations. Adopting a phased approach to their customer master rollout enabled Medac’s Michael Henrick and Glenn Tate to first deliver quality HCP and HCO data to sales, in order to support new product launches. Beyond the basics, they also identified the compliance and marketing teams as key stakeholders, and planned for additional uses of customer master data to improve Medac’s commercial operations both near and long-term.

Aggregate spend disclosure requirements are top of mind for life sciences companies. But when it comes to producing transparency reports, these firms are challenged to recognize their customers across multiple systems, such as CRM, Events, and Samples Management. As a result, they may file inaccurate reports, and possibly incur financial penalties. But as Veeva’s Lynzee Collins explained, master data management can help pharma companies more easily identify the people that have received promotional funds – even when they look different among various systems. With MDM, life sciences organizations gain a consistent view of the customer, improving support for compliance reporting and reducing the risk of inaccurate reporting and penalty assessments.

There are new master data management innovations in store for Veeva customers. To learn more, listen to my podcast on the vision for Veeva Network.