By: Jim Whitaker - VP, US Commercial Strategy Business Consulting at Veeva Systems
The average biopharma conducts more than 20 different types of events over the lifecycle of a drug, ranging from speaker programs to medical advisory boards to investigator meetings or training. Each event generates valuable healthcare provider (HCP) insights that can inform your company’s omnichannel engagement strategy and strengthen your HCP experience. But traditional events management – with its disconnected tools and manual spreadsheets – often leaves this valuable data hidden from the rest of the organization.
“By integrating events into a broader engagement strategy, organizations can forge stronger connections, deliver tailored experiences, and optimize engagement,” says Kathleen TevlinNulty, General Manager of Veeva Digital Events.
Here are three ways an integrated events strategy can strengthen the value of events within your organization.
Centralize event execution into a single platform
When teams work across multiple events management solutions, information can be difficult to locate – or worse, gets lost altogether. This leads to unclear communication, delays, and avoidable costs, such as unnecessary fees for late registrations.
An integrated approach to events management – from selecting speakers to managing the budget – stores information in one place, and everyone works from the same reliable source. This streamlined approach promotes transparency in planning and communicating logistics, which ultimately saves time, money, and a lot of confusion for all stakeholders involved in event management.
Stephanie Fitch, senior director of marketing and field operations at Jazz Pharmaceuticals, has seen these benefits when her team centralized their events operations onto a single platform. “Veeva CRM Events Management provides us with a compliant, easy-to-use system, allowing our field-based teams to focus on supporting their customers rather than program logistics,” said Fitch.
Establish consistent reporting for insights and compliance
Having a consistent reporting process with a standardized set of metrics and data definitions is helpful for two key reasons: compliance and customer experience.
For compliance, a consistent set of reports helps to catch potential violations, such as an attendee coming to too many events or a speaker exceeding their honoraria cap. Since metrics and data definitions show up the same way for different events, it’s much easier to catch where a certain metric may be reaching compliant limits and remedy the situation before it results in a violation.
Peter Kimble, CRM director at Kyowa Kirin International, is using a unified approach to keep his teams compliant as they run events. “Event planning has spanned a variety of formats adapting to newer ways in which customers choose to interact,” said Kimble. “As we have adapted to flexible event styles, we rely on Veeva CRM Events Management to ensure compliance and deliver a complete view from start to finish, creating more relevant and thoughtful experiences.
Consistent reporting metrics and data definitions also help companies like Kimble’s make easy comparisons across different events and event types, allowing for accurate comparisons of event ROI and effectiveness. These comparative insights can then help content teams fine-tune their event content for different preferences and different formats, and help event teams adjust logistics and venue details to fit the needs of the attendees.
Link events with channel activity data
Without the right timing or channel, even great content can fall flat. Many traditional event management solutions manage events in isolation from the rest of the customer journey, which can hinder the ability to time content delivery for the greatest impact. Capturing and consolidating all touchpoints between HCPs and brands with event management software linked to CRM data establishes a unified view of HCP activity. This allows you to deliver more personalized and cohesive experiences, fostering deeper connections with HCPs and maximizing both content and event impact.
“Our global events strategy is centered around meeting HCPs and scientific leaders where they are, requiring a flexible virtual and in-person approach,” said Dave Yates, global product director at GSK. “By gaining a complete view of insights across how experts engage, Veeva CRM Events Management helps us adapt to learning preferences to deliver relevant omnichannel experiences that support better patient outcomes.”
Events as a strategic engagement channel
Events are not just high-value opportunities for biopharmas to educate and gather feedback from HCPs—they are a preferred channel for HCPs as well. A 2021 survey by Boston Consulting Group indicates that 91% of HCPs think of speaker programs as an effective learning channel.
Given this win-win situation, more and more biopharmas are taking an integrated approach to events management that brings end-to-end visibility. Many are also folding events planning, execution, and reporting directly into a CRM platform to better access and analyze customer data alongside event-specific details.
This connected approach allows for a more complete 360-degree view of an HCP’s brand relationship, helping enhance both your events and omnichannel strategy.
Learn more about how Veeva CRM Events Management can drive greater event value on a unified platform.
Author Jim Whitaker leads Veeva’s commercial strategy business consulting in North America and is a 23-year veteran of the pharmaceutical industry. His first 15 years were spent at AstraZeneca in a number of commercial roles including leadership across sales, marketing, and commercial operations. Over the past 8 years, Jim has led consulting practices within commercial strategy and operations, focusing on launch readiness, go-to-market strategy, and the evolution of commercial operations. Jim joined Veeva in October of 2019 to help start the business consulting process and believes Veeva has a unique opportunity to help customers tackle their evolving customer engagement challenges by providing a view of the market that only Veeva has.
The editorial staff had no role in this post's creation.