As medical affairs gains insight into patient and healthcare professionals’ needs, teams are challenged with how to turn these insights into actions across the product lifecycle from development to commercialization.
By thinking beyond medical to include the priorities of the internal data consumers – such as R&D, market access, and commercial teams – medical affairs can have a broader impact across the entire product lifecycle. Insights deliver direct value to R&D in trial design, publication research, real-world evidence, and investigator identification. For commercial teams, insights help determine which key opinion leaders (KOLs) want to engage and any gaps in key scientific messages.
How can teams use insights to determine the needs of key stakeholders – including patients – and drive strategy and product innovation? Here are ways to make the most of medical insights from data collection to analysis to action.
Defining What Data Needs to be Captured for the Desired Insight
It is important to establish a common understanding of what is meant by “insight” and how this differs from “data” or “observation.” This understanding helps determine the robustness of the data collected and where to focus. Without this, there could be a detrimental impact downstream, and the data collected will be less valuable.
| Captured data – All data from different sources and forms: ad board, 1:1 KOL interaction, medical information request, social media post. |
| Qualified insight – An insight that has significant potential to be aligned with a strategic priority. |
| Actioned insight – Insight that has driven or contributed to a business outcome. Creates potential to change strategy. |
An ocean of data is collected across KOL interactions, from ad board insights to competitor intelligence to patient treatment data points. Medical organizations should be clear on what data needs to be captured, the questions to be answered about the therapeutic area (TA) or molecule, and what defines ‘an insight.’
Integrating different datasets and applying new technologies and natural language processing (NLP) enables better conversion of data into insights. But that is just one piece, as there will always be a need for human involvement in tagging and managing the insights to understand what is most important.
Bringing Actionability to Every Stage
Actionability is not an end outcome, so it is important to bake in actionability at every stage of the medical insights process. This actionability is a cycle, it is not linear, and each stage impacts the other. Given the vast array of data sources available, the framework and process around which insights are collected and analyzed become essential. This is an opportunity to indicate the right direction to improve strategies.
| Strategy – Establish a clear definition of what internal teams need insights for. |
| Capture – Provide structured ways to capture data, separating customer observational data from that tied to strategic objectives. |
| Analysis – Deploy a targeted analytical approach that is intentional about hypothesis, connecting data with what internal customers need to make decisions. |
| Surface – Present insights to decision-makers with a path to action in a timely way. |
| Action – Build a closed-loop process so people can see the effectiveness of insights used. |
Removing Key Blockers Preventing Actionability
Many medical organizations focus on generating volumes of insights. Meanwhile, most, if not all, aren’t answering their key business questions. There should be a ‘one team’ approach to solving this, moving beyond siloes to define what internal teams need to meet business imperatives.
Often insights are captured using a variety of non-integrated mechanisms, such as field medical teams, med info, ad boards, publications, and congresses, which make it hard for decision-makers to extract meaning. Here lies the opportunity. By integrating insights from all sources, it will provide visibility for key stakeholders to align what is important to generate specific outcomes.
Cultivating a Change Mindset
Creating actionability in insights requires a new way of thinking and acceptance that organizations can do far more with data collected by medical teams. A commitment from leadership to embrace and invest in new ways of working can lead to cross-functional transformation.
Cultivating change management internally can feel like turning an ocean container ship in a new direction–it takes time. There are a number of practical steps medical organizations can take to create this change and improve the actionability of their insights, including:
- Drive alignment across the organization on direction and strategy, even when challenged. If challenge leads to changes, avoid biases and commit to making them.
- Create a clear definition of what an insight is. Ask key decision makers what they find the most valuable insights are and why. Audit what is truly being captured and make sure it is centered around a strategic priority that can be actioned.
- Leverage a mechanism to communicate the feedback and actions to the teams involved in capturing the insights. This allows visibility into how the insights were utilized, often motivating the teams that captured them. If significant changes to the medical strategy were made, all teams should be aware of the changes and why.
Actioning Insights, One Step at a Time
How can medical teams tackle this? Start simple by capturing the right data. Determine what topics should be recorded in CRM and which key medical questions, for example, should be evaluated. Do some simple, consistent tagging around major congresses or topics. Spend time determining what needs to be answered at the global versus local level in medical and set KPIs that every medical interaction will be trackable for automated insight capture. Then, when digital adoption is higher, summarize findings in dashboards and assign actions to teams.
Let people see the value of investing in insights, create the conditions for change, and build the foundations to help leapfrog data challenges. With defined processes and innovative technology, companies can achieve greater actionability from the rich insights medical orchestrates.
About the authors:
Louisa Peacock, MA
Louisa is the Practice Manager of Veeva’s European Business Consulting group in Medical Affairs, focused on realizing value across Medical Affairs and transforming how Medical operates. She is experienced in delivering complex strategic and operating model transformation projects. She holds a ten-year career at Accenture and EY working with Merck, BMS, AZ, Takeda, UK Department of Health, and others
Warren Brini
Warren is an experienced pharmaceutical and biotech sales, commercial operations, and technology leader delivering excellence in executing specialty care product launches in partnership with shared services colleagues. He works across the organization to develop and prioritize tools, data, and services for field service teams. He architects and enhances the CRM and KOL platforms and other systems promoting field team effectiveness. He takes ownership of key deliverables to executive effective sales strategies, build high-performing teams, and facilitate data-driven decision-making. Warren draws on deep industry experience and exceptional business acumen to lead change, and is responsible for setting the organizational vision and driving solutions advancing commercial operations performance. His previous projects include launching a successful omnichannel HCP experience program through field engagement and change management initiative, leading the implementation of new digital and data technologies to provide innovative industry-leading solutions, and managing global brand strategy and alliance partners for leukemia product.
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