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Helping reps become as effective and efficient as they can be in an increasingly competitive and demanding marketplace relies on new technologies that can drive productivity.

By Editor on Feb 22, 2006

Helping reps become as effective and efficient as they can be in an increasingly competitive and demanding marketplace relies on new technologies that can drive productivity. AdvanceTech Monitor predicts that the use of online technologies, such as e-detailing, will have the single greatest impact of any approach on pharma sales force effectiveness during the next two to three years.

Pharma's unique mobile challenges and opportunities

Despite being one of the first industries to deploy mobile technologies, however, experts say pharma's expectations of and demands on mobile and wireless solutions are significant and difficult to meet. The ever-growing numbers of individual reps in today's pharmaceutical field forces are generating and drawing upon vast amounts of market, physician, product, regulatory and scientific data and must do so with the speed and accuracy demanded by such a fast-paced, high stakes industry.

Most pharma sales forces have already invested in sales force automation tools and mobile sales solutions are gaining in popularity. The industry has turned to mobile technologies to boost sales force productivity, cut costs by automating existing processes and build competitive advantage.

Mobile devices, from Smart phones and PDAs to tablet PCs and even iPods, which can manage messages downloaded as MP3 files, give reps the flexibility to accommodate their varied working environments and allow them to use their time more efficiently, while providing better service to their customers. And the devices are showing up across the industry.

Personal digital assistants (PDAs), in their current configuration, allow reps to do pre-call planning, including research on physician prescribing and preferences, as well as information on prior details and contacts with customer touchpoints throughout the organization. Reps can also use the devices to enter post-call info and enquiries and manage email, and documents with a level of ease and flexibility not afforded by a laptop computer.

But, according to Mark Leijten, Project Manager of Mobile Initiatives at Amgen, while the PDA's small size is its greatest asset it is also a drawback when it comes to performing more complex operations such as planning.

And that has prompted several companies to turn to tablet PCs. According to Proscape Technologies, more than 10,000 tablets have already been deployed with reps at Pfizer, AstraZeneca, GlaxoSmithKline and others, and the group predicts that number will double by end of 2006.

Several companies have linked tablets to their SFA systems, allowing reps to access and capitalize on physician info from across their organization's touchpoint databases to deliver personalized details. And that flow of information can be reversed, allowing reps to collect and analyze physician preferences and product perceptions for use by the marketing team to update plans of action and campaign messages.

Industry experts predict this kind of feedback will become even more valuable as details become fewer and briefer across the industry.

Mobile technologies are also allowing sales teams to be more responsive. The collection and distribution of competitive data using mobile devices is streamlining sales and marketing manager's ability to arm reps with counter-details, allowing sales teams to secure and maintain competitive advantage.

As new technology augments and perhaps replaces the field rep's existing cell phones and laptops, experts say, sales teams will be empowered with knowledge and messages that will resonate with customers.

Consumers and physicians also are catching the technology wave, according to Mark Bard of Manhattan Research, who says these groups continue to increase the allocation of time they give new technologies and the online channel in general. Bard predicts the market will continue to embrace interactive tools and technology that facilitate doctors's and patients's quest for information, education and healthcare news and updates.

What lies in the mobile cards?

Experts predict most field reps will carry at least three different mobile device types for the foreseeable future, requiring companies to select a standard infrastructure that supports multiple devices well and to commit to training reps to use and maximize their efficiency and effectiveness on several device platforms.

The quick development of mobile technologies poses a potential danger for the industry, however.

You can select a device and by the time you go to roll it out, the technology is obsolete or there is a new version being brought to market, Leijten says.

Janos Kellerman, European e-commerce director for Baxter Netherlands, agrees. And he cautions it is important to be able to calculate the ROI of mobile initiatives and convince management of the usability of applications and show that you can reduce costs to justify the implementation of the technology.

But a lack of technology standards, as well as data security issues, experts say, will remain stumbling blocks, at least for the near future.

According to the Pace Productivity Report, pharma sales reps spend just 23% of their time actually selling and most of the rest searching for the information they need to be able to sell. And while sales force automation systems can provide and collect a broad range of the information reps need, many industry experts caution they are just one spoke in a wheel of capabilities that will be needed to make the rep an indispensable resource to physicians. Better information management tools and remote access, they say, will go a long way toward helping reps focus on value-added tasks and enable them to provide more personalized service.

Technology mobile and otherwise will play a key role in facilitating and augmenting reps's efforts to build more interactive and sophisticated relationships with customers.

If mobile and wireless sales force strategies interest you, be sure to register for eyeforpharma's 2nd annual Mobile and Wireless Sales and Marketing Strategies conference being held in Barcelona, March 14-15, 2006. To learn more, visit www.eyeforpharma.com/mobile2006 .