Digital Transformation as an Adaptation Process: Benefits for HCPs and Patients
In order to avoid getting trapped and isolated in a process of digital Darwinism, pharma must embrace digital transformation.
Health professionals are a very diverse group with different professional needs according to the different specialties and the country in which they work. However, we can establish a common set of criteria that can help bring value when approaching them.
2014 was a generational turning point in this group because it was the first year in which there was a majority of digital native health professionals, as reflected in the LBiHealth graphics.1 This may explain why daily internet usage has increased for business purposes, according to data published last year: 1.7 hours a day in 2013 2 compared to 2011, where only 12% spent more than 20 hours a week connected for professional purposes. 3
Moreover, although there has been a corresponding increase in the number of smartphones compared with five years ago, computers or laptops are still the devices most used by far (1.3 of the 1.7 hours) 2. This data is supported by the results of a study by Kantar Health which also points in the same direction4. The fact that the increase in usage by healthcare professionals is not directly related to the greater number of smartphones, might lead us to conclude that they are not yet that relevant for the clinical practice of this group of professionals. Despite this, Kantar Health data suggests that more than half of the HCPs use their devices to search for information related to treatment and use it for deciding between therapeutic options. 5
A key aspect in making sure we provide value to healthcare professionals is to be aware of what type of content is most frequently accessed by them online. The most demanded type of content according to a study by EPG Health Media6 is the accredited medical training and online access to peer-reviewed medical journals. The results of this study are reinforced if we consider other data that shows that 31% use eCME either daily or weekly, while 38% do so monthly. With respect to the frequency of access to online journals, 15% do it daily and 39% weekly. 3
There is striking data emerging from the perspective of the pharmaceutical industry: the percentage of these professionals who frequently access websites sponsored by the industry has not increased in the same way, and remains at only 20%.
Also important is how the increased digitalization of health professionals is reflected in e-Health, evidenced by countries like Holland, UK and Australia where more than 90% of these professionals have agreed to the use of some form Electronic Health Record. (7)
Digital Darwinism
We are at a stage now where clearly the use of technology in the clinical practice of health professionals is increasing year after year. However, there is striking data emerging from the perspective of the pharmaceutical industry: the percentage of these professionals who frequently access websites sponsored by the industry has not increased in the same way, and remains at only 20% 3. How can we explain this data when seemingly the online channel is becoming the preferred way to access information and interact with industry? 8
One way to explain this digital gap among health professionals may be through the concept of "digital Darwinism" and the risk that this entails. According to Brian Solis, Digital Darwinism is a lag phenomenon associated with the advancement of technology and society, an era in which technology and society are evolving faster than businesses can naturally adapt. With this in mind, there is now a risk that the industry is trapped and isolated in the way it relates and adds value to the different stakeholders.
In order to avoid getting trapped and isolated in a process of digital Darwinism, Pharma must embrace digital transformation.
Digital transformation and sustainable competitive advantage
We can understand digital transformation as a process that allows companies to adapt to the continued disruptive change that technology brings. The key point is not to understand the digital transformation as an end in itself but as a process that takes advantage of technology to create competitive advantages, thanks to an increased ability to understand and meet customer needs.
Although it may seem paradoxical, the success of a digital transformation process need not be linked directly to enhancing the technological muscle of an organization but to a cultural change within the company, requiring the direct involvement of key roles such be the CEO, CMO, or CIO.
The ultimate goal in the process of digital transformation is the development of sustainable competitive advantages, one of which is the ability to respond in an efficient and appropriate manner to customer needs. Cap Gemini’s report, "The Digital Advantage: How Their digital leaders outperform peers in every industry," provides many cases from different industries with examples of how the digital maturity of a company is not measured solely by the intensity of their actions, but also by the intensity of the transformation of the management of the company. We can distinguish different categories of organization based on their digital maturity, with the Digirati companies representing those that best combine the digital intensity of their actions with the intensity of the transformation processes of management. At the other extreme, we find the Beginners companies. According to this report, pharmaceutical companies are typical of those organizations which are at an early stage in terms of digital maturity. This is attributed largely to the regulatory barriers that have kept them back in this first early phase.
Without losing sight of the intrinsic characteristic of the pharma business, there may be other factors that explain why these companies are labeled Beginners as regards to digital maturity. One of these relates to wrongly equating the digital investment effort with being a company adapted to the current technology environment of health professionals. With this in mind, a pharma company does not become a Digirati company simply by having a large number of websites or apps.
Instead, the digital maturity has to be measured by the ability a company has to integrate technology as a unifying component of all channels of customer interaction and to respond to the needs of different stakeholders, becoming in that way a customer centric company. In that sense, IT departments and digital marketing teams should work jointly in the channel implementation of Multichannel Closed Loop Marketing strategy ( MCLM). It is the coordinated work of these two departments that characterizes the companies DevOps .
The MCLM strategies allow us to turn data generated during interaction with clients into commercial insights. However, the pharmaceutical industry is still far away from a full implementation of such strategies.
The ability to link metrics, KPIs, and user-generated data in forming a better understanding of client needs, and therefore a customization of messaging, is what helps pharmaceutical companies leap to being Digirati, with all the corresponding benefits that this has on the effectiveness of their commercial actions when approaching clients
The act of creating value among our customers is linked to a hybrid model of promotion and provision of services, where a pull approach must always prevail over push.
This is what allows us to develop sustainable competitive advantage that goes beyond product promotion. In that sense, the scenario beyond the pill, beyond actions linked exclusively to the promotion of therapeutic options, has to be the framework in which companies direct their actions as a way to generate competitive advantage.
Challenges and opportunities in a beyond the pill scenario
The challenges and opportunities of a scenario beyond the pill are well summarized in the article "Medicine as a service".
This scenario provides an option to extend the range of actions of the laboratories and go beyond the therapeutic arena, extending it to prevention, diagnosis and prognosis.
To succeed in approaching a beyond the pill scenario, the most important thing is big data generation,and the technology to enhance the Internet of things. Actions are mostly directed to patients, as reflected in this comprehensive article in Mobihealthnews.
The key to success for companies that are beginning to embrace this new positioning beyond the product is the ability to integrate the clinical practice of health professionals within the pharma industry proposals. In this sense, telemedicine has to be the attachment point, the link between medical professionals and patients empowered by technology. Telemedicine can be applied from different perspectives, such as clinical trials or visits to monitor these patients from home.
The key to successfully implementing this commitment to go beyond the product lies in the integration of technology within the core business, combined with the ability to transform all data generated during interaction with different stakeholders into a clear indication of how to improve the value proposition for healthcare professionals and patients. That is what will turn an organization into a customer-centric company and develop a sustainable competitive advantage.
About the author
Ricard Robledo specializes in driving digital transformation processes within organizations, through the definition and implementation of Multichannel Closed Loop Marketing (MCLM) strategies. He is experienced in leveraging customer interactions to formulate action plans to adapt to the changing business landscape that organizations are facing today. Currently, Ricard is heading up the Global HCP connection area at Nutricia Advanced Medical Nutrition (part of the Danone Group).
He worked in companies such as Brystol-Myers Squibb, where he dealt with the development of the multichannel strategy complementary to the field forces, Elsevier Health Science where he ran the e-Pharma business holding both local and international roles, and Novartis, as e-Marketing Manager. He collaborates with different business schools as associate professor.
Before starting in the healthcare industry, he held positions in science in Unilever Research Vlaardingen (The Netherlands) and the Leibniz Institute for Neurobiology (Germany).
References
1) http://www.pmlive.com/pharma_intelligence/infographic_digitally-native_hcps_544275
2) Taking the Pulse® Europe 2013 (Manhattan Research)
3) Taking the Pulse® Europe 2012 (Manhattan Research)
6) Digital Resources: Healthcare Professional Demand versus Pharmaceutical Industry Supply (EPG Health Media)
7) http://www.bloomberg.com/slideshow/2013-06-25/top-10-countries-where-doctors-go-digital.html#slide10
8) http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20131205005364/en#.VHWxCIuG_i9
9) http://www.wired.com/2014/04/digital-darwinism-disruptive-technology-changing-business-good/
- http://mobihealthnews.com/32728/in-depth-pharmas-digital-health-opportunities/2/
- http://www.bloomberg.com/slideshow/2013-06-25/top-10-countries-where-doctors-go-digital.html#slide10
- (EPG Report Digital Resources: Healthcare Professional Demand versus Pharmaceutical Industry Supply)