Bayer, Norgine, and Alexion Share Best Practices to Advance Digital Transformation with Data and Technology

Nine in ten commercial data leaders (91%) view customer reference data as a global strategic asset, but 57% believe their organization does not have an efficient data governance model or the right data foundation to support digital transformation¹.

Innovative companies like Bayer, Norgine, and Alexion are successfully evolving data management to advance their digital strategies and drive business decisions. Here are a few tips they shared during Veeva Summit:

Using data to improve customer experience

To address the changing needs and behaviors of healthcare professionals (HCPs), Bayer Italy focused on two key factors for their digital transformation: putting the right technology in place and achieving a data-driven approach.

“We need to reach our customers via the right channel with the right message at the right time,” shared Angela Genco, head of integrated multichannel marketing and sales. “This is only possible with a solid customer data foundation.” Bayer drove an internal organization-wide mindset shift where every customer touchpoint became a data collection point.

Empowering field teams with real-time access to high-quality customer data significantly accelerates the digital transformation process. Elie Dubrulle, CRM project manager at Bayer France, shared the impact of data accuracy and speed at Bayer. “Having quality data enables our team to focus on execution,” he said. “Data change requests are resolved within hours. Our reps trust the system, which is increasing CRM adoption and leading to an improved customer experience.”

Achieving a unified view of the customer

An integrated approach is critical when working in a cross-functional environment. Koen Janssens, associate director, field force effectiveness at Norgine shared his innovative approach: “our database is the heart of our company. It is essential that medical, market access, marketing, and commercial are all pulling customer information from the same source so we can speak the same language.” He is not alone. The majority of life sciences leaders (88%) identify improving customer data as a top priority¹.

Data quality challenges and lack of integration can be a big drain on field force effectiveness and hinder digital initiatives. Marc Jenny, international business systems and reporting lead at Alexion, shared how they recently undertook a massive project to improve data processing. “Two years ago, we were in a situation where data quality was always the excuse for something not working as expected, even if it was not related to data,” said Marc Jenny. “We switched to Veeva OpenData and Veeva Network to achieve end-to-end integration of customer data within our systems and have a single solution provider. We now get access to quality data in real-time, which is a huge benefit.” He shared some tips for the 78% of life sciences companies who are currently undertaking or planning a data enhancement initiative¹: “The key to our successful implementation was getting early buy-in from key business stakeholders and building their trust by providing complete transparency into the end-to-end data quality process.”

Visit our Resource Centre to get the latest insights from leading pharmas and biotechs on innovative approaches to commercialization.

___________________________________
^{1. Source: Veeva 2020 European Customer Data Survey. The full survey results are available here.}