-
Americas
-
Asia & Oceania
-
A-I
J-Z
EMEA Thought Leadership
Developing IQVIA’s positions on key trends in the pharma and life sciences industries, with a focus on EMEA.
Learn more -
Middle East & Africa
EMEA Thought Leadership
Developing IQVIA’s positions on key trends in the pharma and life sciences industries, with a focus on EMEA.
Learn more
Regions
-
Americas
-
Asia & Oceania
-
Europe
-
Middle East & Africa
-
Americas
-
Asia & Oceania
-
Europe
Europe
- Adriatic
- Belgium
- Bulgaria
- Czech Republic
- Deutschland
- España
- France
- Greece
- Hungary
- Ireland
- Israel
- Italia
EMEA Thought Leadership
Developing IQVIA’s positions on key trends in the pharma and life sciences industries, with a focus on EMEA.
Learn more -
Middle East & Africa
EMEA Thought Leadership
Developing IQVIA’s positions on key trends in the pharma and life sciences industries, with a focus on EMEA.
Learn more
SOLUTIONS
-
Primary Intelligence
-
Commercial Analytics
-
Management Consulting Services
-
R&D Solutions
-
Contract Sales and Medical Solutions
-
MedTech Solutions
-
Oncology Solutions
-
Real World Evidence Solutions
-
Technology Solutions
-
Supply Chain Solution
-
Provider Solutions
-
Public Health Solutions
Primary Intelligence
Today there is more data than ever. Each set of primary and secondary data provides important insights, but that data needs to be integrated. Current market research solutions leave a gap because they are unable to integrate the depth and breadth of insights required in today’s complex markets. IQVIA's Primary Intelligence is the exception.
Learn MorePrimary Intelligence Quick Links
Commercial Analytics
IQVIA provides segmentation and targeting, call planning and resource optimization, multichannel marketing, and performance management and compensation solutions for clients throughout the Middle East and Africa.
Learn MoreCommercial Analytics Quick Links
Management Consulting Services
IQVIA can help you take the decisions that lead to success. With a wide array of management consulting services and a patient-centric approach, we can help you succeed in today's healthcare market.
Learn MoreManagement Consulting Services Quick Links
R&D Solutions
IQVIA brings together human data, data science and human science to harness advances in technology, analytics and human ingenuity and enable a more modern approach to clinical development.
Learn MoreR&D Solutions Quick Links
Contract Sales and Medical Solutions
Healthcare is in a constant state of perpetual advancement and development, and healthcare businesses need to innovate and grow ahead of the market to succeed.
Learn MoreContract Sales and Medical Solutions Quick Links
MedTech Solutions
Today’s constantly developing technologies are pushing the boundaries of medical devices’ capabilities, adding new benefits and features that enhance patients’ lives and create new categories of buyers and influencers who play a larger role.
Learn More
Guiding through unprecedented innovations to reshape oncology
In the Middle East, oncology is increasingly becoming a major focus in healthcare. Today, it is the 6th highest selling therapy area and one of the fastest growing therapy areas in the region.
Learn More
You know your questions – let us bring you the right real-world answers
Your work promises the potential to improve health outcomes. At IQVIA, we strive to help you by providing you with the complete understanding, tools, evidence and communications you need to realize that potential. It’s an exciting time to reimagine what’s possible.
Learn MoreTechnology Solutions
With state-of-the-art technology and a global database, we help push the potential of human science higher and help our clients achieve it by improving healthcare professionals’ understanding of their patients’ needs.
Learn MoreTechnology Solutions Quick Links
Re-imagine pharmaceutical distribution and supply chain management
Digital disruption is empowering companies across industries with unbeatable competitive edge. Organizations that do not adopt and integrate digital technologies will experience debilitating disadvantages in a competitive marketplace.
Learn MoreProvider Solutions
IQVIA's comprehensive suite of healthcare provider solutions equip you with latest tools and technologies needed to build a smart and sustainable health setup. Talk to our experts and let us help you get started on your pathway to sustainable growth.
Learn MoreProvider Solutions Quick Links
IQVIA Public Health interventions work to improve the health of entire populations
IQVIA’s Public Health solutions offer powerful insights and innovative digital solutions with speed and agility to introduce modern approaches for public health surveillance and quality improvement.
Learn MorePRODUCTS
-
HCP Space
-
Hospital Information System
-
Mobile & Home Health
-
Revenue Cycle Management
-
Patient Level Information Costing System
-
IQVIA Health Insurance Management
-
IQVIA Vigilance Platform
-
SmartSolve eQMS: Enhance Quality Assurance and Control
HCP Space
Build deep HCP engagement journeys. Maximize digital engagement impact. Drive better brand outcomes.
Learn More
Hospital Information System
IQVIA’s cloud based solutions for healthcare providers and institutions are designed to minimize medical errors, increase physician efficiency, reduce costs, facilitate regulatory compliance and promote standardization of care to build a safer, more convenient way of managing healthcare.
Learn More
Mobile and Home Health Tech Solutions
IQVIA’s complete mobility suite for healthcare providers can help improve clinical teamwork, expand boundaries of care and drive better patient outcomes.
Learn More
Revenue Cycle Management
IQVIA can help you improve your billing and collection cycles, save processing time and help with better record keeping so that you can focus on providing the best patient care.
Learn More
Patient Level Information Costing System
IQVIA's PLICS, a patient costing solution, designed to help you better analyze your cost built using a bottom up Activity Based Costing methodology, developed by team of cost accountants specializing in Healthcare.
Learn More
IQVIA Health Insurance Management
An integrated platform that seamlessly connects patients, healthcare providers and payers to drive efficiency, reduce costs, and improve quality of care.
Learn more
IQVIA Vigilance Platform
Your complete, SaaS approach to drug safety and pharmacovigilance
Learn more
SmartSolve eQMS: Enhance Quality Assurance and Control
The complete eQMS for the Life Sciences industry.
Learn moreBLOGS, WHITE PAPERS & CASE STUDIES
Explore our library of resources spanning the healthcare ecosystem. Hear from IQVIA data scientists, doctors, researchers, and other experts on the topics, trends, and market developments that matter to you.
LEARN MORE
OUR LATEST WHITE PAPER
"Learn how digitalization has transformed the patient journey and why mapping the digital patient journey offers myriad of opportunities for pharma.
LEARN MOREABOUT IQVIA MIDDLE EAST & AFRICA
The IQVIA team in the Middle East and Africa works to provide clarity in these dynamic markets.
LEARN MORE
CAREERS
"Learn about work and life at IQVIA and find all the opportunities we have for your next step in your career journey.
Learn moreBlog
Unraveling the impact of the lockdown on the South African commercial landscape
The ongoing pandemic and subsequent lockdown have resulted in significant changes in commercial interactions between pharmaceutical companies and healthcare professionals (HCPs)
May 24, 2022
The COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdowns had a far-reaching effect on interactions with all of the pharmaceutical industry’s key stakeholders – healthcare professionals (HCPs), regulators, funders and patients. The restrictions on movement and personal contacts had a major impact on salesforce activities and the ability of reps to engage directly with HCPs.
IQVIA obtained feedback through a structured survey to better understand the pharmaceutical industry’s commercial activities in response to the pandemic and lockdowns. The survey had three focus areas:
- To understand changes in salesforce efforts (measured by days in field) by comparing changes prior to, during and post the hard lockdown
- To determine the impact on HCP interactions that sales representatives were able to conduct by comparing changes prior to, during and post the hard lockdown
- And thirdly, to evaluate the response of pharmaceutical companies through adjustments in salesforce team size during and after the lockdown.
This survey compared four different commercial team structures:
- Primary Care Segment where commercial teams are focusing exclusively on General Practitioners.
- Specialty Care Segment, where commercial teams are detailing to Specialists only.
- Retail Segment, where commercial effort is focused solely on Pharmacies.
- The Hybrid Segment, where teams are detailing to a combination of General Practitioners and Specialists or General Practitioners and Pharmacies.
IQVIA received 23 completed surveys. This included information for 101 commercial teams within the pharmaceutical industry. On average, each organisation had four commercial teams in place with an average of nine FTEs per team. The contribution of the commercial structures analysed was leaning towards the Hybrid commercial model; this segment represents 43% of the teams analysed and demonstrates that companies have adapted to a more agile way of working.
AVERAGE DAYS SPEND IN FIELD
The commercial teams in the Primary Care Segment experienced a 66% reduction in average days in the field during the 2020 lockdown period. This trend can be seen across all the commercial segments.
As lockdown restriction eased and the influx of patients reduced, doctors and pharmacies started to allow sales representatives into their respective practices, resulting in an increase in the number of days in the field in 2021.
The commercial teams within the Hybrid segment were impacted the least during the lockdown period when compared to all other segments. The Hybrid representative model bridges multiple healthcare disciplines and, therefore, could adapt to achieve access within the healthcare industry. The Hybrid segment also demonstrated the best recovery post-lockdown. The impact that the pandemic and lockdown regulations expressed on access of HCPs within the Hybrid segment was overall marginal.
AVERAGE DAILY INTERACTION WITH HEALTHCARE PROFESSIONALS
The average call rate pre-lockdown for the Primary Care Segment was recorded at eight interactions per day. During the lockdown period, the average interaction a representative could achieve was reduced to only five interactions per day.
The average HCP interaction within the Retail Segment only decreased by one call a day (from eight to seven) when compared to the same period.
While many doctor practices were closed or were not welcoming sales representatives, pharmacies remained open and access was relatively easier, resulting in a higher call rate throughout the pandemic.
COMMERCIAL SALES FORCE SIZE ADJUSTMENTS
The commercial segment that was affected the most with regards to salesforce size adjustments were the Specialty Care Segment. 29% of the corporations that are represented in the Specialty Care Segment reduced their salesforce team size during the lockdown period. The average reduction in FTE headcount per team was approximately 20%. The reduction in elective surgeries and the reduced access for pharmaceutical corporations to the hospital environments were the key driving factors determining the size of their dedicated detail teams within the Specialty Care Segment. Organisations that had diverse portfolios were able to retain sales teams but had to alter the roles of these representatives. As an example: one organisation that had a focus on surgery specialists also had a presence in the consumer health environment but did not utilise any salesforce activity to drive business in the retail environment pre-COVID. This organisation had to rethink their commercial model, and they required their Specialist Representatives to become retail orientated with a Pharmacy commercial focus.
CONCLUSION
In a time when commercial teams are faced with a rapidly changing environment, being flexible and agile is key to ensuring that companies maintain a seamless connection with their customers. Our research showed that those organisations that were able to alter their commercial approach the quickest in the initial phases of the lockdown reaped the rewards during the volatile period. The best commercial strategy for pharmaceutical companies in South Africa is not yet known nor is the future profile of the sales representative. Nevertheless the organisation that does not take risks will not be successful.