In comparison to other industries, the life sciences has been slow to progress on integrating digital advantages into their business models. Primarily, it has remained a business of frequent office visits to medical practices and healthcare facilities in order to maintain relationship status for product promotion.
In the last decade, health communities have begun to limit rep / physician access, but pandemic COVID-19 has closed the doors on most interactions.
Medical device and pharmaceutical companies within the US are currently grounding sales forces to prohibit all sales face to face meetings within medical practices. This abrupt disruption in engagement has companies shifting to adopt virtual sales capabilities, including video conferencing, email automation, asset management, and activity tracking.
Rapid changes are coming for collaboration opportunities
Sales forces and physicians are already responding to the change in channel preferences through tele-medicine and virtual engagements, while others are being left without choices during times like COVID-19. In fact, TikaMobile is partnering with Zoom to allow customers to manage calls and coordinate virtual healthcare professional (HCP) engagements all within their CRM platform. More companies are expected to integrate virtual services and communication capabilities to enable for successful collaboration for both sales rep and HCP.
Physicians have been waiting for remote engagements
On the plus side, physicians are already preferring virtual connections to in office visits. Kineticos Life Sciences states, “A CMI Media survey across multiple specialties showed that while 50% of physicians approve of in-person visits, 79% actually prefer e-details and 43% would prefer web conferences. Other reports show a majority of providers prefer communicating by email.” This bodes well for sales forces who will be interacting with physicians virtually, providing a runway for further virtual engagements.
Outlook to a Combined Future
As digital transformations have continued to rise and place pressure on the healthcare communities, pandemics like COVID-19 may cause expedited transition and drive the capabilities of remote communication channels. It is expected that social interactions will continue in the future, but providing an alternative channel to collaborate in a meaningful and engaging way will offer many advantages to field teams. Teams that offer balance between physical and virtual engagements will find success when considering targeted messaging, activity metrics, and performance indicators.
Looking for a way to connect with your physicians virtually?
Contact us for more information on TikaMobile's integration with video conferencing on your platform.
References:
https://kineticos.com/covid-19-impacts-current-state-of-biopharma-field-sales-2/
Blog
April 22, 2020
