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Look before you leap into a remote engagement solution for life sciences
Ensure your selection meets industry criteria for compliance and more
Jainab Kassamaly, Product Manager, Global Technology Solutions
May 01, 2020

The rapid, global spread of COVID-19 is reshaping the way business is conducted in sweeping ways. Digital customer engagements, once a convenient supplement to in-person sales calls, have suddenly emerged as a primary vehicle for life science companies to reach healthcare professionals (HCPs). Virtual interaction technologies offer a way for individuals in customer-facing roles to conduct business-critical relationships with HCPs.

Pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies need to maintain continuity with HCPs to introduce new brands and indications, address clinical questions, cultivate key influencers, and more. This makes it urgent for IT or commercial operations to choose and deploy a remote engagement solution. However, companies should exercise caution and consider specific criteria while making this important selection.

Here are some questions to ask:

  • Will your sales professionals feel confident that busy physicians can join the virtual interactions easily, without having to jump through technical hoops just to connect?
  • Will HCPs have peace of mind that the virtual sessions are secure and compliant, with their privacy protected?
  • Can the application scale to handle dozens or hundreds of sales reps and Medical Science Liaisons (MSLs) conducting remote details at the same time, with no performance loss?

We believe that two crucial factors unique to life sciences organizations evaluating remote engagement applications are convenience and compliance:

Convenience

When a rep is asking for time with a physician, the software must make the connection process straightforward, with no new app installations or complex setup procedure. We recommend that a remote interaction app offer these features:

  • Accessible – Start up instantly, work on any device and browser, and run in environments with fluctuating bandwidth and different firewall setups.
  • Noninvasive – No web app downloads or complex installations required by the HCP, and no app artifacts left behind.
  • Engagement – Enable the deployment of questionnaires, surveys, and medical inquiry forms within the tool, and request permission from participants to record the session.

Compliance

All life sciences communications, including virtual interactions with HCPs, pose significant risks because this is a heavily regulated industry and information about medications and patients is extremely sensitive. A remote engagement solution should include these capabilities:

  • Security – Protect HCPs from potential phishing attacks that could result in the loss of personally identifiable information and ongoing vulnerabilities on the users’ systems.
  • Privacy – Communicate adherence to GDPR data standards, share legal disclaimers, ensure access to legal and additional documents.
  • Guaranteed content – Administrator tools guarantee content is approved by the MLR review process, is legible, and can be designated for certain field reps.
  • Pharmacovigilance – Allow participants to capture mentions of an adverse drug event or risk factors for a brand being discussed.

IQVIA offers an application enabling virtual customer interactions called OCE Remote Engagement. This application not only meets high standards for compliance and for ease of conducting interactions, it also provides extensive tools for presenting and viewing content, integration with CRM platforms, analytics and reporting, and more. And IQVIA has the services delivery specialists to get OCE Remote Engagement and IQVIA Remote Detailing up and running quickly.

Pharmaceutical companies of all sizes are adapting quickly and creatively to the impact of COVID-19. One of the main responses is mobilizing people resources to continue developing HCP relationships using digital channels such as remote engagement. Before adopting a remote engagement solution, make sure to assess your requirements and the potential risks. Popular horizontal applications may tick a lot of feature boxes but still not provide all the capabilities that life sciences companies need.

Learn more about remote detailing solutions from IQVIA.

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