The year 2023 has just paved the way for a new future. We have almost fully recovered from the aftermath of the unprecedented pandemic and in the past few years, pharma companies have realised the importance of data. To quote British mathematician and entrepreneur Clive Humby, data is indeed the ‘new oil for pharma companies’ and much more than that.
Pharma companies of all sizes have drilled for and stored more and more data about their customers and business operations to drive performance and growth to reach their goals. In conjunction with the increased use of the HCP, consumer awareness and access, data creation has exploded in recent years. As a result, new initiatives and teams have been built solely on having access to unique and useful data — a lot of times being remote as well.
Data informs all aspects of the pharmaceutical commercial process, and it plays a pivotal role in driving sales. Yet, companies face many obstacles when it comes to data analytics and management. Without a proper data analytics strategy, emerging pharmaceutical companies can struggle with inaccurate forecasts, poor targeting and unmotivating incentive compensation plans, all of which can hamper sales. This might lead to a snowball effect on the entire organisation.
Look for the true gap in insights
Maintaining a competitive edge in the market requires monitoring the current competition and market while keeping an eye on the future. It is essential to make strategic decisions and stay ahead by leveraging accurate, timely competitive intelligence that spans the entire brand value chain and product lifecycle.
With the growing omnichannel and digital marketing trends, accessing highly actionable data is becoming the standard approach. However, sometimes when we have data, we might need more insight. As author S. Goodwin aptly coins the DRIP (data rich, information poor) syndrome, this now paralyses many healthcare organisations’ performance improvement efforts. Symptoms of DRIP syndrome include the use of an abundance of data points and the predominant use of retrospective data.
An organisation should collect only the required data to improve performance and meet accreditation and regulatory requirements. There also must be an emphasis on the dollar ROI for every data purchase and assimilated in the organisation. After all, we want to use the data and synthesise insights not just build a data library.
Related: Six predictions that will impact healthcare in 2024
Integrate market research with forecasting
Market research and strategic forecasting are the tools with which companies make informed predictions. Using market research and historical data, forecasters can forecast demands and trends that will help them better predict future revenues. However, this is easier said than done.
It is a mammoth task to convert the insights to foresight, especially if the firm is struggling in post-COVID aftermath, undergoing M&A, or restructuring of the businesses. It becomes critical to continue to generate insights and be an enabler in decision-making.
One of the best ways is to integrate market research into forecasting to get collective “market insights” than observe both in silos. Not only does it become a seamless integration for the company, but even at a human level, it transforms the output quality and enables more robust decision-making.
Ingrain market access early into forecasting
Market access can vary significantly in a country like Canada, with each province having its own complex system. In Europe, market access and pricing have their validated complexities. It also varies from the type of disease the drug is catering to. Oncology, rare diseases, vaccines, specialty, general medicine, and many more classes have their epidemiology, patient journey, disease area, market characteristics, future pipelines, etc., which need to be accounted for by a forecaster. In summary, market access is one of the primary contributors to product launch success and failure. If market access is integrated early on in forecast and revenue generation, we can keep the forecast realistic.
Join hands cross-functionally to create an integrated approach
The insights gap holds the life science industry decision-making into silos and unstructured outputs. Identifying where to play, whom to target, and where to win are all critical elements in good decision-making. Right now, teams are scampering with all the data and information overload.
Moreover, when you have different geographies and regions to be rolled up into an organisation-level forecast, they should have the same ingrained structure to be on the same page.
Resource allocation, budgeting, inventory, supply management, P&L, and finance are some functions affected by sharp insights. Human-level challenges can be shifting priorities, attrition or layoffs, data quality issues, etc. Organisation and human-level challenges persist, but the show must go on.
After all, we know the importance of these insights will eventually help in delivering drugs to patients. Integrating teams under one umbrella will allow senior leaders and decision-makers to close the insights gap across the entire cross-functional process. In 2024, an integrated approach is the way to go.
Hybridise forecasts using technology and humans together
In a perfect world, independent reasoning by the forecasters combined with the analytic capabilities of the machine models should complement each other to arrive at an ultimately more accurate forecast. With the advent of Big Data and AI in the pharmaceutical world, machine learning models can improve the judgment of a human pool. Still, we must highlight the importance of accounting for trust and cognitive biases in human judgement. Unlike a prediction, a forecast must have logic to it. The forecaster must be able to articulate and defend that logic.
The wise forecaster is not a naive spectator but a participant and, above all, a decision-maker, and a critic. Forecasters will continue to be realigned, reimagined, and amplified and be the flag-bearers of the intersection of data and science.
Research and knowledge management
Every strategy lead wants to reflect the true voice of the customer, framed in the right context, so the stakeholders can make good customer-centric business decisions that remain compliant with regulations. A lot of times the problem is that the organisation has an enormous (and growing) amount of internal and external knowledge about how the customers feel about the products, so it becomes difficult to synthesise and connect the dots in an understandable way for the stakeholders.
Forecasting and Insights teams at large, multinational healthcare firms face common healthcare research and knowledge management stumbling blocks, like:
- Research duplication because there’s no easy way to search the organisation’s knowledge to see what’s been studied before.
- Time-consuming knowledge synthesis because all the structured and unstructured data sources live on different platforms.
- Lost insights; the teams’ insights reports end up buried in inboxes and hard drives because there is not a centralised place for people to find past insights.
Related: Could smart manufacturing be an antidote to pharma industry challenges?
Conclusion
The team’s insights are critical to the success of the business. The business strategy and forecasting team are the internal voice of the customers — the patients, doctors, and healthcare professionals who rely on the company’s products to meet their needs.
One possible solution to overcome market research challenges is by leveraging technology to implement consistent, scalable, and robust research and knowledge management processes.
There needs to be agile workflows and checkpoints that standardise forecasting, market research and insights management activities, so the steps are always clear, and teams are always compliant in the go-to countries.
The importance of implementing technology that fits an organisation’s needs and improves efficiency and communication across teams to allow for an organised, strategic product launch. By leveraging technology that connects all knowledge assets and insights, one can make customer-centric, patient-based decisions. After all, if the company succeeds in its goals, not only they win but the patient wins too. Building resiliency is the key.
All the views and opinions expressed are fully independent and belong to the author only.
Sanobar Syed is a pharmaceutical business strategy and forecasting pioneer with 15+ years of experience, leading market research, strategic forecasting, and business analytics for top global pharmaceutical firms.
