The ABPI and the Pharmaceutical Marketing (PM) Society have formally agreed to work together in promoting and advancing the UK pharmaceutical industry.

The two organisations have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) committing them to align activities that are relevant to their shared interests.

Areas of joint working suggested by the MoU include training, events and member surveys to identify issues and facilitate planning in the industry.

The PM Society promotes marketing excellence in the healthcare industry. Run by volunteers as a non-profit organisation, it has members in 230 UK companies.

In 2012 the PM Society introduced a number of Interest Groups focused on current challenges: market access, digital marketing, NHS partnerships, patient engagement and personal development.

The ABPI represents research-based biopharmaceutical companies in the UK, and is recognised by the Government as the body negotiating on behalf of the branded pharmaceutical industry.

“The PM Society reaches out to the operational heart of the UK pharmaceutical and life sciences industries and is a natural partner to promote debate and discussion with the people we serve,” said ABPI Chief Executive Stephen Whitehead.

“The working groups in market access, NHS partnerships and patient engagement, aligned as they are with many of our strategic imperatives, offer particular potential for joint working.”

Neil Copping (pictured), Chairman of the PM Society, commented: “Since we redefined the Society early last year, we have looked to address members’ needs more effectively in the rapidly changing healthcare environment.

“Aligning strategic and grass roots level activities by joining forces with the ABPI, we aim to open new doors and deliver increased value and benefit to both organisations’ membership.

“It will also avoid duplication on initiatives that are relevant industry-wide and might otherwise have been under discussion by both organisations.”

Apodi’s Jan Cox discusses four vital stages to ensure your next job provides everything you could have wished for this Christmas. 

For the employer and employee alike, stability can be a dangerous illusion, particularly in the current economic climate. It is inevitable that markets and organisations will change and adapt in response to the economic, commercial and political pressures that exist – and this will impact on both the recruiting organisation and the candidate.

In my previous article, Stability: a dangerous illusion?, I stressed that: “For a lot of people, the pharmaceutical industry has provided a stable career over many years. For example, there are many sales representatives who have had a successful career fundamentally doing the same job in the same way and often for the same employer. Whilst there will always be a need for sales representatives within the industry, the number has fallen and will continue to fall. And for many, the role itself will change and demand the acquisition of new skills and knowledge.

Some companies are addressing the need to change rather quicker than others. Those that are slow to act may be creating a situation where some employees still feel they are operating in a relatively stable environment. This may be a dangerous illusion because it is almost guaranteed that the changing environment within the industry will impact on most employees – and probably sooner rather than later.”
From my experience I believe there are four key stages for employees to build a successful career and secure the RIGHT job in such a dynamic marketplace.

STAGE 1: Assessing what companies want
World class organisations understand the importance of the recruitment process and the need to find the right people. Jack Welch, one of the most famous business leaders of the 20th century, stated: “nothing matters more in winning than getting the right people in the field. All the clever strategies and advanced technologies are nowhere near as effective without great people to put them to work.” His company, General Electric, had an extensive recruitment process which tested for integrity, intelligence and maturity. Its hiring framework focused on finding people who had positive energy, the ability to energise others, the courage to make tough ‘yes or no decisions’, the ability to execute and get the job done and finally passion.
Conversely, McKinsey, the world renowned consulting organisation, looks for people who:

• Are of above average intelligence
• Possess a record of achievement at a good university and business school
• Show evidence of achievement in all previous jobs
• Demonstrate extraordinary analytical ability

Clearly there are different themes running through the recruitment requirements of these two companies, and naturally so, given the differing nature of the services they deliver. However, it is possible to find differences even when looking at the recruitment process for similar roles in competing companies in the same industry sector.

For example, pharmaceutical companies often look for different attributes when recruiting for sales representatives. A typical job advert may stress the need for the following from applicants:

• Experienced sales representative with at least two years’ experience in similar roles
• University degree
• Sales to be delivered through the company’s selling process/model

Interestingly, the Gallup Organisation has found in extensive studies that education has often little, if any, influence on an individual’s ability to sell; the learning curve in most sales jobs is relatively short and only rarely is there a correlation between experience and results; and that the most successful sales people sell in different ways using different strengths – following a strict sales process/model is more likely to hinder top performers than to help them.

Therefore, many companies are looking for more innovative and different assessment criteria when recruiting for sales roles. It was for this reason that my own company, Apodi, developed the recruitment model above. This model primarily focuses on a candidate’s:

• Talents/strengths
• Competencies
• Cultural fit
• Mental toughness

It is clear that companies are often looking for different things even when recruiting for similar roles. In some cases, even the most sophisticated companies will be looking for attributes that don’t, in fact, have a significant influence on a person’s ability to perform the job effectively. However, at this stage of the process, all applicants can at least find out what really is important in each company’s assessment criteria before they apply. This can be done by contacting the agency involved or the company itself. Also, in this age of networking and social media it should not be too difficult to contact people who are current employees of that company.

STAGE 2: Preparing for success
In this rapidly changing marketplace all employees should understand that planning for success and finding the best career does not start simply a month before the decision to find a new job. Building a successful sales career depends on a long-term view of career development and should include the following:

• Find out what your underlying strengths are. For long-term career success these are much more relevant than your education or experience. The Gallup Organisation identified 34 different strengths – each one of which may play an important part in a sales process depending on the role itself. The key for each individual is to understand what those strengths are and which selling roles will best suit them
• Take charge of your own personal development. Most companies now ask representatives to have a sound knowledge of the changing NHS and how that impacts commercially on the pharmaceutical industry
• Prepare a CV that stresses the following:
• Your key strengths and why this has ensured success in the past
• Your knowledge of the changing NHS
• Experience, education etc – whilst these are not necessarily predictors of success, employers often still stress the need for them
• Undertake market research. Research which companies are most suited to you. It would not be too unfair to suggest that the world of the pharmaceutical sales representative is quite incestuous and most representatives are prepared to give their opinion and information on current and past employers

STAGE 3: Sourcing the appropriate job
Most prospective applicants are well versed in the various methods of sourcing jobs. These include registering with agencies, searching through job sections in newspapers and magazines, online searches and approaching companies directly. A direct, personal approach can be very powerful. One of the greatest leaders in American sport, basketball coach, John Wooden, gave the following advice to organisations: “When hiring, be diligent in discerning what the individual’s motives are. Be alert for those who express a strong desire to join and contribute to your team and have some understanding of who and what your organisation is all about. Recruiting should be a two way street.”

STAGE 4: Choosing the right opportunity
Hopefully, the above process ensures that an applicant has a number of choices when deciding on their next career move. Typically, the final decision will involve factors such as remuneration, benefits, training and development, and promotion opportunities. There are also some other considerations that are often overlooked.

Many companies’ mission statements and credos state something along the lines of: ‘The company wishes to attract, develop, motivate and retain exceptional people.’ Despite this, the rigour companies apply to the recruitment process differs significantly from one business to the next. Consider choosing the company that takes recruitment seriously – it almost certainly reflects the fact that they really stand by the mission statement, rather than just talk about it.

Also, judge the company by the manager you are going to be working for. Managers have a huge influence on your career, your motivation and your ability to do the job – a good one will take you to the stars, a bad one will stifle you.

Finding a job is tough; but finding the right job is even tougher. If you are focused on developing a successful career you must give it the attention and energy it deserves. Judge the role on how it fits with your talents/strengths and assess the company’s ability to let you utilise these to maximum effect.

Jan Cox is the Resourcing Director at Apodi and can be reached on jan.cox@apodi.co.uk

At a recent meeting of the Pharmaceutical Learning and Organisational Development  network, it was agreed that a change in sales training tactics could help address the challenging market conditions by  increasing motivation and resilience for those involved in the sales process.

To address this need, Sales-Motivations have partnered with Wellards to deliver cost effective e-learning based sales performance solutions to help pharmaceutical and medtech teams maintain and grow their motivation and sales performance in these difficult times, without the cost and inconvenience of traditional training. 

To find out more, please visit www.sales-motivations.com, or for a free trial of Sales Motivations, visit www.sales-motivations.com/free1day,  or contact us on +44(0)845 531 4125.

Epilepsy patients in Dumfries and Galloway will benefit from a unique partnership between the Scottish NHS, pharmaceutical companies and the voluntary sector.

The cross-sector collaboration will deliver specialist nurse training for local health professionals to develop their expertise in managing epilepsy across all care environments.

NHS Dumfries and Galloway will work with charity Epilepsy Scotland and pharma companies Eisai, GSK and UCB Pharma to develop the service.

Epilepsy, which affects over 1,500 people in the region, poses challenges to both primary and secondary care: medication is often poorly tolerated and acute episodes are dangerous.

Epilepsy Scotland will provide a specialist nurse for three days a week to ‘upskill’ health professionals, while the three pharma companies will support the training with software, printing and other resources.

The partnership will run for three years and, according to Epilepsy Scotland Chief Executive Lesslie Young, will create “a legacy of epilepsy care in this area”.

It will enable the region’s NHS Board to address an identified lack of expertise, and to provide services directly that it had previously outsourced.

Young commented that the project is “an original model of cascading epilepsy expertise” that “sets a new benchmark in joint working” towards the shared goal of “better patient-centred treatment”.

“This innovative proposal allows the research-led pharmaceutical industry to work with our partners to improve the delivery of healthcare and focus on improving outcomes for patients at a time of significant financial challenge,” noted Gordon Lundie, UCB’s Government Affairs & Market Access Director.

Jeff Ace, Chief Executive of NHS Dumfries and Galloway, said the project was “a milestone collaboration”.

Having the right balance where company culture is concerned is vital to a successful and growing organisation. Pf’s Iain Bate focuses on where companies often get it wrong.

Company culture is very much like gravity. You may not be able to see it, touch it, smell it or hear it, but, good or bad, it’s everywhere you turn in every organisation. But just what is it? And, more importantly, what makes the difference between a productive company culture and a damaging one?
In 1966, Marvin Bower from global management consulting firm, McKinsey & Company, described company culture as “how we do things around here”. Sure, it can seem to be as simple as that. But company culture is far more than preferences or working habits. It’s in the metaphorical bloodstream of a company. Or at least it should be. During induction days at a new job, company culture is very rarely mentioned. In fact, you may go throughout your whole working life in a job and it never be discussed. You may be given tips on sales techniques or how to walk in a single line to exit offices during a fire drill, but training on company culture is seldom given or heard of.

Gabrielle O’Donovan, a company culture expert who penned The Corporate Culture Handbook, said in an interview in 2007 that the role of company culture is to preserve the past via tradition while stimulating via innovation. However, if organisations are neglecting company culture and failing to express the principles from which they were founded upon, then how can they possibly move forward?

There are many facets of company culture. In fact, no two companies’ methodologies will be the same. These may include having a strong mission clarity, having committed and empowered employees, forging strong relationships between staff and highly effective leaders and a commitment to learning and development. Whilst there are many more to mention, if one element of these is badly wrong within an organisation it can affect ideologies towards company culture – especially from an employee’s point of view.

Each year, Pf’s Company Perception, Motivation and Satisfaction Survey gives those working within the medical sales industry the chance to vent their frustrations or express their gratification on the issues which matter the most to them. Participants are asked to outline what it is like working for their current employer and what they consider to be the most significant things that characterise their past twelve months in their job. Behind a shield of anonymity, respondents rarely pull any punches. And this year’s survey was no different. Pf took a look at some of the latest responses, and examine what they say about the key components of company culture. The following are real examples of feedback from the Pf Survey 2010/11. They outline some of the ‘deadly sins’ of company culture that, where they exist, can be very damaging.

1.  Job security
“It’s at an all-time low. My new manager is one of the most unprofessional, unethical and dishonest people I have ever come across with no integrity, drive or desire to assist in any way. I have been bullied and harassed; I’m demoralised with low self esteem.”

At a time of widespread industry job losses, one thing that employees value more than anything in the current market is security. Immediate managers and their seniors have an important role to play in ensuring a sense of security in the workplace. Dr Jill Miller and Rebecca Clarke, research advisers, CIPD, note that although job security may not seem an obvious or important factor in company culture, acknowledging and delivering this to employees not only eases any office-based worries but also creates loyalty and promotes retention – something which is important in an era when employees are less likely to have company affinity or search for a ‘job for life’. 

2. Leadership
“The Managing Director has been parachuted in and knows very little about the industry. He behaves like Napoleon and morale is at rock bottom. After 2009 being the best year ever, a 0% pay rise leaves everyone in the wrong frame of mind.”

As in any organisation, those at the top of the career ladder must lead by example. How are employees on the ground expected to promote a healthy and successful company culture if their superiors flaunt expected values? For example, the banking sector has again come in for wide-spread criticism recently for its bonus culture for senior leaders despite huge losses, whilst those working behind counters up and down the country still struggle to pay the bills. The same principles apply in any sector. If company culture is seen as the heartbeat of a company, then the brains – its leadership – must promote these elements and find ways of improving upon these at every opportunity.

3. Management
“The new line manager is not a great people person. He doesn’t answer his mobile and is slow returning calls. He also sends very blunt emails!”

The behaviour of line managers is equally important as those in senior positions. While staff on the ground may never even see or speak to a company chairman or a managing director, they are likely to have daily interaction with their boss. Dr Miller and Jill Clarke explain that managers throughout an organisation have a key role to play in “maintaining the company’s culture, role-modelling expected attitudes and behaviours”. As a result of the absence of training in expected values, many organisations find that articulation and communication of the expected values of the company, and how to maintain these, is a vital step in ensuring staff are aware of what is expected of them. Line managers are in the perfect position to do this on a daily basis.

4. Training
“My company is too self engrossed and not willing to develop talent. Instead it is more keen on supporting those who have worked for the company for longer despite knowing results are not being achieved. There’s no logic or rationale for recognising individuals. It is more likely to put people off trying to progress.”

At a time when pay rises are well below the rate of inflation – if you’re lucky to have one at all – and the fear of the axe looms large, training is seen as an avenue of progression. Sure you may not get paid for a promotion, but it looks good on your CV and new skills and qualifications can be gained in the process. But when training programmes are withdrawn or neglected by organisations there’s an immediate impact on the ground. These schemes offer a glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel. Without these in place, staying in the same role – or even company – for the next 12 months may seem a dark place to be.

5. Career development
“It’s difficult, as the company move the goal posts with reference to development.”

There’s nothing worse than being stuck in the same routine without a glimpse of career progression. But, as companies have tightened their belts, opportunities to work the way up the career ladder have decreased. The need to work longer has also seen positions which would’ve come available after retirement blocked by established colleagues. Dr Miller and Jill Clarke believe that a new approach is needed by organisations to increase the amount of opportunities open to staff. “Organisations need to think smarter about their approach to training and development, taking a strategic approach to ensure the development offered is closely aligned to the current and, most importantly, future needs of the business.”

6. Salary and bonus
“I love working for my company; there’s a great culture and the management are very approachable. However, there’s a lot of responsibility and the hours I commit cut into evenings and my personal life with a low salary.”

No-one likes to think they’re overworked and underpaid. But human nature suggests that many of us do. In last year’s Pf survey, the median salary of respondents was £46,000 – of which 46% were unsatisfied with. The Office of National Statistics published results in 2011 which revealed that median gross annual earnings for full-time employees was around £26,000 – considerably less than those working within the medical sales industry. However, where money is concerned, there’s never enough. With food, clothing and energy prices continuing to rise – coupled with low interest rates – every penny spent needs to be justified. So if companies are squeezed and cannot budget for pay increases, they need to consider other means of rewarding, recognising and, ultimately, motivating staff.

7.  Work-life balance
“It is competitive with a lack of regard for personal needs. There is a lack of recognition unless you are in the clique! Ideas and individuality are not respected. It’s very administration focused with more and more time being spent on the computer. We are expected to do the same daily job of seeing face to face customers contributing to a very one sided work-life balance.”

Despite being well paid compared to other professionals and the UK average, there’s no point earning thousands of pounds each year and not being able to enjoy it. The balance between time spent at work and with the family has been placed under the microscope recently when staff are expected to work longer hours without any reward. Employers have a responsibility to improve work-life balance. Full time employees in the UK now average 42.7 hours a week at work. It’s arguably more for those travelling up and down the country visiting clients. But a refreshed and happy worker is a productive one. While employers may be happy to drain every last ounce of energy from their staff, in the long run it’s doing them no good. Danish workers, who only work 39.1 hours a week, are unsurprisingly more productive than UK counterparts. It’s no surprise.

Culture change
So how can companies address issues with job security, leadership and management, training, career development, work-life balance and issues with remuneration? In its report, Developing organisation culture, the CIPD advises companies to plan any attempted switch in values. A clear, public plan of action should be devised that communicates the need for new working measures and thinking, and outlines how the new approach complements the overall vision of the organisation.

Next, employees should be engaged for their opinions with managers also encouraged to play an active part in discussions. Senior leaders and managers on the ground need to ‘buy-in’ to any new measures and be seen to be transparent in their approach.

The report says it’s also important to identify and develop the necessary skills and behaviours required from staff to incorporate any new elements set to be introduced. If resources are tight, companies are encouraged to be creative to develop staff capabilities.

Finally, it’s important to measure and assess the impact of the new culture change. Without having staff onside and willing to help introduce change, any attempts will be futile. Staff need to buy into a vision they really see and hear the next time they look around the office.

This month’s Pharmaceutical Field looks at some of the major issues affecting UK pharma at present; the evolution of its customer-base, an increased focus on compliance, the developing training needs of medical sales professionals and pharma companies’ ongoing challenge to attract and, crucially, retain talent.

The DH’s Innovation Health and Wealth document, published at the tail end of 2011, seeks to address the most significant challenge for UK healthcare – accelerating the adoption of innovation within the NHS. There is much that pharma can do to help enable innovative medicines reach patients more quickly.

Regulatory compliance remains a key priority for pharma as recent and impending global legislation puts pharma’s engagement with customers under increased scrutiny. In the process, the changing legislative landscape is having a significant impact on the training needs of medical sales professionals in the UK. This, in turn, is having a domino-effect on the pharmaceutical employment market, where a notable ‘skills gap’ is having a huge impact on recruitment and the quality of applicants for commercial roles.

Faced with an apparent dearth of quality candidates for sales positions, companies are needing to work hard to create the best working environment to retain their most talented employees. Pf’s annual attitudinal survey of the UK sales force reveals that, in some parts of the industry, there remains much to be done to ensure that the company culture advertised in the corporate brochure matches that experienced by employees in the workplace.

In the UK joint working is being encouraged to develop innovative services and propagate best practice. But in France, new legislation is placing significant barriers between pharma and its clients. Jérôme Guermonprez explains the implications for market access strategies in the country.

Across Europe pharmaceutical companies have been looking to underpin market access strategies with strong links to healthcare professionals. And while most pharmaceutical companies admit there are significant national differences that demand specific market access strategies, there has been a push, where possible, to leverage expertise, messaging and strategy to drive economies of scale.

Many organisations are now actively embarking upon innovative, cooperative working with regional decision-making bodies – such as the Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCG) in the UK; whilst doctors and pharmacists are increasingly involved in research projects, from clinical research to patient care, patient outcomes and procedures. Indeed, the UK’s amended Health and Social Care Bill strongly encourages pharmaceutical research, innovation and the use of scientific evidence in decision-making.

In France, the forthcoming radical overhaul of the drug regulatory system will significantly change relations between pharmaceutical companies, healthcare professionals, patient associations and physician associations. The “Reforme du Medicament” legislation aims to crack down on health practitioner conflicts of interest, restructure the country’s drug regulator and tighten the process for licensing drugs and for monitoring their effects once in use.

The proposed bill creates compliance requirements that far outstrip the UK anti-bribery laws and includes a number of significant changes which will directly affect the way pharmaceutical companies interact with opinion leaders across the French health service.

To minimise the risk of conflict of interest, the new legislation mirrors the US Sunshine Act by requiring pharmaceutical companies to disclose all financial relationships with healthcare professionals, patient associations and scientific experts.

With an emphasis on patient safety, the bill also requires far more detailed information and discussions about indications – from the provision of a helpline number on every drug packet to enable patients to report problems, to the creation of a government watch list of drugs under review.

It also demands pharmaceutical companies no longer undertake direct physician training but instead provide the funding for training to the government, which will then oversee independent training programmes.

 

Restricted access

Critically, from a market access perspective, the bill will prohibit individual medical representative visits to physicians within a hospital; visits must be collective to avoid any one-to-one relationships and ensure discussions are open and transparent.

The impact of this legislation – which is currently being discussed and should be passed by the French government by the end of 2011 – will be significant for pharmaceutical market access policies and demand companies gain new insight into key opinion leaders (KOL).

Under this new model, the industry will have to be incredibly careful about the type of relationships that are put in place with stakeholders; indeed, at least one pharmaceutical company has already announced it will no longer pay physicians directly in the future or invest directly in physician grants to avoid any regulatory compliance issues.

Furthermore, with many physicians likely to back away from any interaction with the pharmaceutical industry, at least in the short term, patient and physician associations will have a far greater role to play. Pharmaceutical companies will have to rapidly assess the way these associations and individual physicians respond to the new legislation and amend market access strategies accordingly.

 

Regional structure

This new challenge comes at a time when pharmaceutical companies are still adjusting to the major overhaul of the French healthcare system – which has seen the creation of 26 Regional Health Authorities (RHA).

While drug reimbursement is still set nationally as in the UK, since 2009, each region has found the responsibility to adapt national objectives to local or regional health and demographic problematic. Over the past year, each region has had to sign multiple year contracts between the  state and the region to deploy the health strategy.

As in the UK, over the past two years, pharmaceutical companies have realigned resources to create a regional approach based on a key account management (KAM) model. The regional structure has significantly broadened the number of stakeholders involved in decision-making, both financial and medical.

Furthermore, each RHA has a different demographic breakdown and health issues, creating very diverse goals for each region. This change has required a far greater insight into decision-makers and regional objectives; it has also demanded pharmaceutical companies use the KAM approach and strong CRM tools to drive synergies between teams at local, regional and national level.

Pharmaceutical companies in both France and the UK are now actively seeking in-depth insight into the KOLs within new regional structures. Information from the structure of the new organisations, including the multiple drug, technical and price commissions, to identifying specific members, roles and drivers is proving key to create the right regional messaging.

And with this regional, KAM-based model still in its infancy in France, pharmaceutical companies face a tough challenge to ensure the implications of the new medical reform legislation are incorporated.

Messaging, for example, must now be amended to include product safety, as well as quality and efficacy; while companies must ensure information is up to date to ensure changes in physician attitude to the pharmaceutical industry as a result of the new regulations are flagged to remove the chance of inappropriate or unwanted contact. CRM tools will also be essential to coordinate group visits to physicians to avoid any chance of the forbidden one-to-one interaction.

As in the US following the introduction of the Physician Payment Sunshine Act in 2009, pharmaceutical companies will also need help to meet their obligations to declare all activity with physicians.

 

What next?

It is tough to predict how the health service in France will respond to the new legislation over the next 12 months. For pharmaceutical companies there is no doubt that direct physician contact will decline and organisations will have to refocus efforts towards the increasingly influential patient associations and physician associations.

But for those organisations operating across Europe, the changes must demand very different approaches towards health service co-operation. As the UK market looks to drive service innovation and close ties with practitioners at every level, counterparts in France are being compelled to be transparent and improve patient safety. The concept of the global, or even pan–European, market access strategy looks ever less practical.

Jérôme Guermonprez is the Vice President and General Manager, France, Cegedim Relationship Management.

John Wilkinson (pictured), Chief Executive of Eucomed, has received a special Career award from the International Vascular and Endovascular Course (IVEC) in Milan.

The award recognises the medtech industry’s contribution to the development of vascular and endovascular surgery.

IVEC Chairman Giorgio Biasi presented the award to John Wilkinson to “honour the excellence of a distinguished scientist and eminent colleague who has contributed enormously in promoting, divulging and spreading culture, development and achievements in the field of vascular and endovascular techniques.”

Following the award presentation, Wilkinson gave the Edmondo Malan Lecture on ‘Development and Achievements in Endovascular Procedures as a Result of a Continuous and Ingenious Co-operation between Physicians and Industry’.

He discussed the long history of collaborative working between clinicians and industry over 200 years, with ideas from doctors and surgeons being developed by companies, culminating in such revolutionary devices as the drug-eluting stent.

Wilkinson also emphasised the need for innovation to be built on a platform of ethical interaction and transparency, and for industry to support education and training in the delivery of new therapies.

Finally, he drew attention to the demographic and economic challenges facing Europe’s health systems, and called for a collaborative approach between all stakeholders to support innovative solutions to these urgent problems.

Eucomed is the leading European medical technology industry association. It represents 4,500 designers, manufacturers and suppliers of medical technologies.

Despite huge investments into CRM systems some pharma companies still struggle to get all of their staff to embrace and fully interact with them. Pf’s Iain Bate explores why, and what the future holds for technology in the industry.

There’s no doubt that technological developments have changed the way we live and work from year to year – maybe even from month to month in the 21st Century. But has the world of healthcare been travelling in the slow lane of the intergalactic highway?

The potential that technology offers to pharma, and the general world of healthcare, is enormous. But is the pharmaceutical industry, and its staff in particular, using it to maximise the returns of billion-dollar investments?

It would seem that technology is the ‘buzz word’ on the lips of a few of healthcare’s major players at present. The DH recently invited people to nominate their favourite health-related mobile phone ‘app’ – be it for keeping fit, to locate a hospital or chemist, or helping to manage an illness. Creative minds were also asked to design their own health app with a panel of DH judges deciding on their favourite from the most popular entries.

Health Secretary Andrew Lansley says it’s the Government’s intention to give people better access to information using modern technology and the exercise is a “unique opportunity for the NHS and those who develop apps to not only showcase their work, but to bring to life new ideas and realise true innovation in healthcare”.

As part of the DH’s technology revolution, patients may also soon be offered online consultations with their GPs using programmes such as Skype. Clearly the Government is embracing the convenience technology offers to patients, but are other sectors in healthcare as interested? It would seem there is still some way to go.

 

In two minds

Pf ’s 2010/11 annual Company Perception, Motivation and Satisfaction Survey suggests that not all respondents are completely convinced by the power of technology in the workplace. Although the Survey – which relates to 2010 and the early part of this year – found that nearly 90% of respondents have access to a CRM system, only 43% find time to use it in the field and more than a fifth of people fail to accurately record post-call reports with important clients.

Questions have to be asked as to why, despite multimillion pound investment and training by pharma companies, there remains a percentage of staff that still ignore the power and potential of the technology at their finger tips.

Results from the Survey reveal there’s no difference in uptake by key account managers, primary and secondary care representatives, those in primary care roles only, firstline sales managers and secondline sales managers and the use of CRM technology between differing age groups – although surprisingly 10% of respondents in these positions with less than two years of experience said they did not have a CRM system, compared to just 5% more experienced colleagues.

The launch of the iPad in March 2010 promised to revolutionise the way sales representatives, and those in similar roles, use CRM systems in the field. However, nearly three-quarters (70%) of respondents from the Survey are still presently sent out with laptops containing their customer-relationship systems.

When quizzed on what they’d change about the hardware which houses their system, the majority of respondents said that their CRM was too awkward to carry, with poor running systems an issue and that batteries ran out too quickly. Apple claims its second-generation iPad now enjoys ten hours of use away from a plug socket in the field.

Yet the switch to the latest convenient tablet devices may not necessarily be about high levels of investment, it may be down to maximising value for money as Paul Shawah, Vice President, Multi Channel Strategy, Veeva Systems explains. “I would say the life cycle of devices within the industry is generally about three years, sometimes a little bit longer,” he said. “When a company invests in new technology they typically depreciate that over that period, so they don’t want to replace it in the field for that time to maximise their investment.

“However, with the introduction of game changing technology like the iPad, this has changed. We see a number of our pharmaceutical customers are justifying the business case to move to the iPad even before their tablets are fully depreciated. This speaks to the business benefit that pharma expects to achieve from the iPad and the related applications only available on that device.”

A convenient shield

Despite technology eliminating mundane process in the workplace and offering the potential to assist employees and improve their efficiency at work, it has historically been used as a shield to mask poor performance and abused as a means to waste company time – a recent online survey by AOL found that nearly half of Americans (44.7%) rank surfing the web as their primary activity during the two hours they ‘waste’ each day at work.

But it would seem that a high number of respondents do value the opportunities CRM offers. Almost two-thirds (64%) said they always enter correctly the amount of customer sales they make into their CRM. But 21% admitted they fail to always report face-to-face meetings with clients. More surprisingly, over a fifth of participants said they do not always record the number of products they had sold to clients.

The lack of honest accuracy is surprising considering the amount of time spent using CRM systems each day. A third said they spend between one and two hours a day on their system with a fifth spending three hours or more on their CRM. During their time using the management system, more than half (55%) said that call reporting was the most useful feature.

Although respondents were less impressed with the KAM abilities of their software with only 19% believing it to be the most useful facility. When questioned about what they would change given the chance, 45% said they wanted an improved database, over a quarter (28%) called for their system to be overall more useful, and 18% said they would prefer their CRM to be easier to use.

 

The next level

But what of the future of CRM systems? Will they be easier to use and have improved customer databases? David Round, General Manager, UK, Cegedim Relationship Management, says the regular interaction we now have with technology means we’ve all come to expect the latest developments.

“End users are significantly more ‘technology-savvy’ than their counterparts of even five years ago,” he explained. “If anything, the challenge for companies is to ensure that they provide their end users with the types of technology that they use as consumers. It’s also important to focus on the usability of your software to ensure maximum use. Technology companies – and pharma – must work together to develop a better understanding of the interaction, to ensure it meets users’ needs in the field.”

One main reason that users have become more ‘savvy’ is down to the use and interaction with social media. Whether at home or at work, websites such as Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and most recently Google+ have driven an increased use of various forms of technology – especially on devices such as smartphones or tablet devices which reps are calling for in the field.

Pharma companies, both in the US and UK, have flirted with the idea of fully embracing the power social media harnesses, but at present are restricted by the PMCPA’s Code of Practice and by the FDA – who has again delayed the publication of its guidance.

The FDA says it is “difficult to provide a timeframe... due to the extensive work and review process, or ‘Good Guidance Practices’, which ensures that FDA’s stakeholders are provided well vetted guidances articulating FDA’s current thinking on a topic”.

Although the FDA may be unsure on how to direct healthcare companies, David Round believes the introduction, both professionally and personally, of social media has had an impact on staff and their expectations.

“For the modern professional person, much of their everyday life is conducted online – for example on shopping, utilities, insurance or booking a holiday – and many users then want the same level of capability from the tools they use in their job,” he added.

Dan Goldsmith, General Manager, Veeva Europe, agrees there has been a significant shift in the way we operate and interact due to our experiences online through tagged posts or hash-tagged searches. But although the 800 million users on Facebook – more than half which ‘log-on’ every day – and 175 million people on Twitter have no problem saying hello to friends, pharma finds it more difficult reaching out to people.

“Social media create a new avenue for healthcare dialogue and will only continue to pervade our lives,” said Dan. “Consequently, I believe that pharma faces two challenges. The first is to decide how to participate in the online dialogue with stakeholders and then to create those interactions through the channels we’re all familiar with, such as Facebook and Twitter.

“The second is to figure out how to leverage the model of social dialogue internally to support stronger collaboration and more focused communication among employees. Already, we see some companies taking advantage of the latest social business tools to connect employees with one another and to access and share information in real time.”

Clearly CRM solution providers understand the potential modern technology and social media platforms offer to companies. Whether pharma and its workforce get fully up to speed on the intergalactic highway sooner or later remains to be seen.

The meetings and events sector is today recognised as a core revenue stream for academic venues. Sam Booth explains how schools, colleges and universities can give your meeting a degree of excellence.

The majority of academic venues offering conference facilities now function under a dedicated brand with a specialist conference team and, despite operating in a difficult economic environment, the majority have continued to invest in the upkeep and improvement of their facilities. It is because of this that the academic venue provides some of the highest quality conference and events facilities available for event organisers today.

With such large scale purpose built facilities it is not surprising that the academic venue has become the preference for many organisations’ annual conferences and conventions. Combined with state-of-the art audio and visual support, a mix of old and new facilities, and a vast amount of high quality on-site accommodation, they provide a one-stop shop approach to modern conferencing.

 

Extracurricular facilities

With the addition of some of the more unique sections of the university being opened up for use, they have also become a popular choice for product launches, awards dinners and even large exhibitions. Sports facilities are also another great asset, playing host to tournaments or team building for many different groups.

It is because of the fact that all of these facilities are already in place that the academic venue can offer a competitive price for delegates, unlike many purpose built conference centres or hotels.

However, it is not just the top class facilities or cost effective offering that is attracting event organisers. The sheer amount of supporting research and access to academic speakers at a university is also playing a major influencing factor on choice. Coupled with the fact that the facilities have been built with learning in mind, this element can enhance and enrich an event and in turn help to add credibility and increase delegate engagement too.

 

School fees

In return, students and academics will benefit from this too with all profits generated being reinvested directly back into the university, giving research programmes and other learning facilities a welcome boost in resources.

The academic venue is a vibrant, unique and highly cultured choice for any event and can help make a significant contribution in paving the way for the country’s next generation of leaders. I would urge anyone to give them a try.

Sam Booth is the Head of Keele Conferences and Events.