Beyond Rep Calls and Product Tracking: A Data Explosion Breaks down Silos; Takes Efficiency to New High

Without data management, your company is pretty much stuck in the weeds…in everything from your supply chain to operations, from finance through contracting, sales and sample management, and the ever-present compliance and validation mandate.

Medicines and raw materials are being sourced throughout the world, and a drug’s distribution from manufacturer to physician involves many trading partners before the drug even gets to the patient.

And as stakeholder numbers increase so do their responsibilities. All teams must have fast and easy access to the same set of numbers to meet the needs of an at-a-glance culture. At the same time, teams must have detailed data at their fingertips that align with their area of responsibility and allow for deeper dives as needs dictate.

For example, Sales Ops must evaluate initiatives versus results and incorporate data for users beyond traditional Sales Management and Managed Markets to include a universe of promotional data along with sales activity.

Trade Group requires supply chain product movement data, including inventory and returns.

Contracting/Finance must monitor GPO activity and 340B sales activity to keep on top of appropriate negotiated rates

And as Specialty Pharmacy takes hold, you must capture SP/SPP data and incorporate rich insights from hub service providers to provide better care for patients.

Efficiency Key. Technology Non-stop

There are no two ways about it. Efficiency is the consistent key to having a competitive edge in the
marketplace.

The good news is that there’s no end to technology evolution.

Cloud-based computing has matured, reducing the need for extensive IT network investment. RFID tagging provides precise location of products and stands to revolutionize supply chain management.

And business intelligence dashboarding software quickly delivers an endless stream of impressive data visualizations and analytics for real-time monitoring and a manufacturing process that allows for continuous adjustment as data is collected.

To be sure, we’ve come a long way from the time digital first took hold in pharma…back when CRM technology transformed the industry and displaced paper-based call reports and IT computing became more powerful. The latest surge of technology advances provides you with the important tools you need to operate efficiently in the highly regulated pharma environment with the capability and competency to make massive amounts of data customizable for individual audiences—and the fuel to drive tactical and strategic directives.

The World of Data Exploding

Data is at the heart of all of this, and the explosion is incredible.

But incredible is only incredible if you harness these advancements. And you must. They serve as the information system that not only works today but is also adaptable and ahead of continuous change.

To achieve operational efficiency and the delivery of a superior customer experience, we
recommend these best practices:

1. Establish a Vendor-Neutral Data Platform – Adapt your information system to mix-and-match data sources from competing companies. There is no best-of-breed data to manage all your business needs.
2. Invest in Customer Master Data Management – If you can invest in just one thing, make this it. You cannot have high-value and 360-degree insights without a strong customer master system, impactful standardized reporting, and ongoing support processes. Your customer profiles are critical assets. Keep them proprietary.
3. Standardize Industry ID’s for Seamless Integration – Require all data sources to include as many industry-standard ID’s as possible and supply 3 rd party vendors such as speaker bureaus or marketing firms with files from your own MDM, so that all results come back with the required linkages, making integration a non-event.
4. Leverage Electronic Data Interchange Data to Track Your Product Movement – EDI provides secure commerce data between links of the supply chain, providing a clear picture of product movement. Even if your product is sold retail, having product movement data has numerous benefits like keeping Sales and Finance on the same page to validate the accuracy of the projections for your product.
5. Keep the Field involved. You need customer buy-in, so do not build systems in a vacuum. Form a joint team of top analytics talent and use best analytics practices in both the home office and the field. Some of the most progressive analytics are being performed at a local level, making field involvement crucial.
6. Create Your Own, Common-Sense Analytics for Scoring Customer Value – Create a common language to ensure that all stakeholders are familiar with the same reference points (e.g., prescribing volume, decile, rank in territory, prescribing patterns, specialty, whether they are aligned to a high-volume group practice, etc.)
7. Eliminate Data Overload – Bombarding the user community, especially the field force, with data can backfire. Give your people and departments what they need to run their business and perform relevant analyses.
   Tools and Knowledge to Develop Meaningful Insights
   The list is robust and a lot for you to manage on your own—which is when and where Synergistix is designed to serve you. We’re here to help you take advantage of the growth opportunities afforded by the tech evolution and data explosion. We have knowledge and expertise spanning more than 30 years’ experience in the full pharma data spectrum: syndicated data, promotion, client, supply chain, and specialty pharmacy.
   We offer customizable reporting for robust Rx data analyses from market to prescriber level as
   well as precise supply chain tracking from class of trade to customer-level:
   Reporting and Analytics With InView – customer, interactive dashboards, online 24/7
   High Performance Data Marts –
   o SQL – a one-stop shop, housing all syndicated, non-syndicated and client data
   with advanced integration routines and value-add metrics to deliver high-quality
   feeds to reporting systems and CRMs
   o DART – the fastest ad-hoc query technology on the market; results delivery in
   seconds with built-in analytics

Master Data Management – A full-service client repository of customer data that allows companies to distill, customize, and reconcile customer information from multiple sources

Harnessing the ongoing developments in tech and data is a must for your success. Contact us to learn more – with Synergistix at your side, take your organization to new heights.