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Driving Modernization with a Connected Medical Affairs Ecosystem

A top 10 medtech shares best practices for improving patient outcomes with a collaborative approach

As the medtech industry continues to evolve, maintaining a connected medical affairs ecosystem is critical to success. Increasing complexities in key opinion leader (KOL) management in particular requires a thoughtful approach to maintain strong relationships and ensure stakeholders across medtech organizations get the information they need.

During the 2024 Veeva MedTech Summit, a top 10 medtech shared how they improved compliance and enhanced patient outcomes by utilizing Veeva Link Key People to optimize and standardize their KOL management approach across teams.

The benefits of a strong connected ecosystem

At large medtechs, stakeholders across a variety of teams interact with the same external KOLs and other partners to achieve different objectives. Without a system in place for managing and understanding these interactions, there can be miscommunication and duplication in overlapping requests. This not only creates potential strain on relationships between organizations and their partners, but puts a significant burden on internal teams trying to work in sync on product development and market strategies. By establishing a strong, centralized ecosystem, organizations can increase cross-functional collaboration and ensure the efficient use of resources and expertise. This allows for strategic alignment between medical, R&D and commercial teams as they use this input in product development and market strategy.

Throughout their Summit session, the medical director at the top 10 medtech explained that, “Aligning information from multiple functions, particularly in a large, diverse company, helps us to maintain a unified external strategy.”

He also shared that a fully connected ecosystem should have a few critical components:

  • Comprehensive CRM system: A connected ecosystem should integrate a CRM that tracks and manages relationships with KOLs, hospitals, investigators, and other key stakeholders. This includes centralized data from different departments (medical, R&D, commercial) for a unified view of customer interactions

  • Data accessibility and transparency: For collaboration to be as seamless as possible, data sources across stakeholders need to be easily accessible, understandable, and transparent so that the data can be readily utilized in different use cases without the need for inquiry to other stakeholders.

  • Scalability and adaptability: As new data grows alongside an organization, the system will need to scale to adapt to new processes, regulatory requirements and technologies. Flexibility is key to evolve with changing needs.

    • Planning for modernization

    The medical director further expressed that medtech organizations should consider these three aspects when embarking on their own journey:

      1. Start with cross-function alignment: During planning, medical affairs, R&D, and commercial teams should clearly align on goals. Distinct roles are necessary to understand how each department contributes to and benefits from this ecosystem.

      2. Begin with one area and take a phased approach: Given the complexity of a connected ecosystem, execution should be gradual. Focusing on a single area (such as KOL management) and then expanding the system will allow for thoughtful growth.

      3. Identify and address change management challenges: Users may have challenges in adopting the new system. Advocacy from leaders and early adopters is critical for ensuring buy-in.

    Technology adoption requires strong advocates. Some people resist change, but once they see the benefits, they come around.” – Medical director at top 10 medtech

    KOL management as a starting point

    While sharing best practices, the medical director also noted that KOL management is an excellent starting point for building a connected ecosystem because KOLs provide crucial insights into product development and market adoption. R&D teams further rely on KOLs for product feedback and commercial teams may engage them for promotional activities.The medical director stated, “A connected system ensures that medical, R&D, and commercial are aligned when engaging with KOLs, creating a more cohesive relationship.”

    Veeva Link Key People can help provide the valuable KOL information and relationship management to help your medical and commercial team’s journey to a connected ecosystem. Learn more here.