Medical affairs is increasingly expected to contribute to a wide array of efforts within the organization, making it more important than ever for teams to efficiently identify key opinion leaders (KOLs). Fortunately, medical affairs teams now have access to AI- and machine learning-driven solutions like ZAIDYN® Opinion Leader Intelligence that enable effective engagement. ZS worked with the medical affairs team at one of the top large pharmaceutical companies to use ZAIDYN Opinion Leader Intelligence to help the team meet their engagement goals and objectives.

The client’s medical affairs leadership team sought a data-driven technology solution to identify and prioritize KOLs based on specific medical objectives and disease area strategic priorities. They also wanted the ability to better evaluate whether their field medical team is engaging with the right KOLs so that they could make ongoing improvements. Of course, ensuring their teams were allocated the resources needed to excel was also a priority.

The client possessed data pertaining to KOLs from a number of sources, but had no clear approach for curating and validating that data. They knew they needed help from a firm that could use both technology and human intelligence to analyze the data. A solution like ZAIDYN Opinion Leader Intelligence that uses AI and machine learning—paired with ZS’s industry expertise—was particularly appealing. 

ZS used human intelligence—with plenty of desk research—to analyze KOLs and develop profiles in ZAIDYN Opinion Leader Intelligence. Throughout the process, ZS and the client communicated to ensure the best possible targets were identified. Both parties said it was important to curate based on specific business rules and parameters tailored to the client’s needs. They hosted extensive review and discussion sessions to talk about potential KOL targets and why or why they shouldn’t be included. In these sessions, ZS showed key data cuts and its analyses to the client to explain the rationale behind its choices.

ZS worked with the client team to clarify any emergent questions. For example, this could involve reviewing secondary research with the client to ensure KOL classifications are appropriate. The client especially appreciated that ZAIDYN Opinion Leader Intelligence offers a 360-degree view of the influence network by allowing medical affairs teams to see how doctors are connected with each other.

After ZS and the client agreed on a list of KOLs to incorporate into the solution, ZS configured and tailored ZAIDYN Opinion Leader Intelligence to meet the client’s needs. ZS’s Gloria Zhou said the longtime relationship between the firm and the client made this process more collaborative. She noted the client was especially pleased that the implementation process took only six weeks.

“From an analytics perspective, ZS and the client have been strategic partners for years, so there was a level of trust established that enabled us to move quickly,” Zhou said.

ZS stayed in touch with the client’s field medical professionals once they started using ZAIDYN Opinion Leader Intelligence, allowing ZS to gather feedback and continue to tailor the platform to their needs. ZAIDYN Opinion Leader Intelligence features capabilities to gather user feedback and automatically incorporate it on an ongoing basis.

“Throughout the implementation process, the ZAIDYN Opinion Leader Intelligence team made our field medical team on the ground feel like their voices were heard and their feedback was valued,” said one senior leader at the client. 

Both medical affairs leadership and field teams said ZAIDYN Opinion Leader Intelligence quickly became indispensable for field planning, and they reiterated the importance of being able to target KOLs on specific medical initiatives and objectives. The platform began paying dividends as soon as teams used it, as they were able to identify 300 new and previously unknown KOLs. Additionally, the solution also helped them identify more than 150 rising star KOLs that the field medical team could consider for early engagement. Perhaps most significantly, ZAIDYN Opinion Leader Intelligence facilitated the creation of over 10,000 new connections within the influence network of these KOLs.

Medical affairs team members at the client commented on how ZAIDYN Opinion Leader Intelligence transformed their operations:

• “This solution makes it easier for our team to move past abstract, vague conversations with KOLs and instead discuss specific opportunities and challenges.”
• “This platform is a game-changer for territory planning and prioritization.”
•  “It would have taken us a significant amount of time to find these influence network insights without the help of ZAIDYN Opinion Leader Intelligence.”

With ZAIDYN Opinion Leader Intelligence, the client has the ability to explore a deep and comprehensive influence network across a disease area’s research, clinical, academic and leadership spheres. They can also access KOL lists that evolve along with landscape shifts and strategic priority changes. To drive even higher KOL engagement, the client can access last mile engagement insights around referral patterns, channel preference, sentiment and more.

In the years to come, the client said they plan to continue to use ZAIDYN Opinion Leader Intelligence because of how seamless it is to align KOL engagement with company objectives