Biotech medical affairs roundtable: Omnichannel engagement

Part one of our biotech discussion series, featuring experts from Inizio Medical, focused on 2024 trends in the medical affairs market and part two delved into the data and AI space. In this third and final piece, we will discuss omnichannel engagement and how will continue to be used to enhance capabilities.

Omnichannel capabilities are being developed by many organizations to refine customer experience through tailored solutions. How will omnichannel engagement be used in industry as organizations continue to develop their capabilities?

David Woods, Vice President Medical Analytics and Innovation, Portfolio Lead, MEDiSTRAVA, an Inizio Company:

Omnichannel engagement capabilities within the medical function remain relatively latent compared to their functional peers (e.g. commercial teams). There is still a need to align the medical team within the organization to identify and define what good omnichannel experiences and outcomes look like. True omnichannel engagement is within reach when medical teams define their omnichannel goals and align on their strategy, KPIs and plan of action. Where possible, companies should also collaborate with cross-functional partners like commercial teams who may be more advanced in their omnichannel technology stack.

We believe that medical is optimally positioned to take a leading role in omnichannel engagement across all life sciences organizations. This is because of their strong skill set and position among key stakeholders as drivers of insight and key contributors to building a holistic customer view. We will see medical teams start to overcome traditional barriers to communications success, like vast volumes of complex content, by orienting toward a more personalized and modular content approach.

We will also see Medical become a key driver of hyper-segmentation – the idea that a company must define its stakeholders into ever more finely tuned groups in order to deliver truly personalized, value-delivering engagement experiences. When that happens, the need for hyper-personalized content will also become present, driving a future where content will become personalized at a 1:1 level with individual customers. Making these things a reality requires a strong vision from medical colleagues, a team that is aligned to that vision, continued investment and evolution of the tech stack and significant internal change management.

How can external partners be used to facilitate omnichannel processes?

David Woods:

Inizio Medical draws on a long heritage of medical strategy, advanced analytics and digital innovation to provide holistic omnichannel solutions for medical clients. This may include helping medical clients (and their teams) evolve their thinking (shaping their mindset) or identifying and resolving gaps in team capability (skill set). At implementation ‘ground floor’, omnichannel solutions can transform a client’s toolset; whether that be frameworks, internal processes, change management, or more discrete technical innovation, implementation and solutions architecture. Our team of experts takes a consultative approach to clearly define the core client challenge and align both a roadmap and solution set accordingly.

Medical affairs organizations are intensifying their efforts to foster a pharmaceutical landscape that is more centred around patients. What methods do businesses need to adopt to provide a more patient-centric offering?

Luis Perez, Senior Commercial Director, Nucleus Global, an Inizio Company and Naseem Ahmed, Global Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at Inizio Medical.

Organizations should consider taking a step back and assess if the initiatives being championed are truly having clinical impacts that can meaningfully affect their true customer, patients. Additionally, the patient voice should be considered in its truest sense and viewpoint, viewed without the prism of the corporate narrative but really through the voice of the patient and families battling these diseases daily.

Improving patient outcomes, including those in underrepresented and underserved communities, relies on embedding an inclusive approach centered on amplifying the patient’s voice throughout the entire drug development and treatment journey. Therefore, health equity is key and should be integrated into every fact of the omnichannel strategy and process.  Uncovering the true pain points and areas of burden for patients through the use of analytics and insights, then tailoring materials written through the following to name a few:

1. Ensuring that healthcare professionals are provided with educational resources and training on cultural competence and are able to recognise how to address health disparities to facilitate more effective communication and personalized care.
2. Creating patient education materials that enhance health literacy by embracing diverse perspectives, cultural nuances, beliefs, and experiences within underserved patient communities. These resources should be culturally sensitive and linguistically diverse to empower both patients and healthcare providers alike.
3. Ensuring equal access to information by designing user-friendly and accessible digital platforms, websites and mobile applications.