ZS analytics and Veeva CRM partnership helps pharmacos coordinate marketing and sales

  — New technologies will allow reps to harmonize and orchestrate physician experience —

EVANSTON, Ill. — June 12, 2015 —As pharmaceutical companies deploy more and more multichannel marketing and sales strategies to reach time-pressed physicians who leverage digital technology, a new challenge has emerged: How to thoughtfully coordinate the myriad sales and marketing activities in a way that creates a memorable customer experience and effective physician engagement.

Now, pharmacos can turn to enhanced software and analytics from global sales and marketing firm ZS and cloud-based software provider Veeva Systems to help orchestrate their sales and marketing interactions.

The new, powerful solution, demonstrated at the Veeva Commercial Summit in Philadelphia on June 9-11, helps pharmacos orchestrate the optimal mix of rep and multichannel marketing activity based on physician preferences. The Veeva CRM platform informs sales representatives of all multichannel interactions, and ZS's AffinityMonitor™ provides physician affinity for various channels and marketing offers. ZS's Suggestions Engine™ solution then provides guidance for the reps’ next best action.

"High-value physicians are short on time, and research from ZS's AffinityMonitor™ shows they receive an interaction from pharma companies every hour around the clock," said Jaideep Bajaj, chairman of ZS's board of directors. “This creates extra pressure for sales and marketing to coordinate tactics and stand out, whether it's through in-person sales visits or digital marketing channels, such as a websites, podcasts or email. Our partnership with Veeva CRM gives pharma sales and marketing disciplines the power to coordinate their many efforts and initiatives and align them with physician preferences. With information, tools, training and the ability to impact multichannel tactics, the rep can orchestrate interactions with physicians."

Available this fall, the new tool includes a data-driven analytical engine that evaluates relevant sales and marketing data, shares physician affinities and then recommends the next best action for sales reps.  ZS will also provide overall program and change management to drive adoption and implementation success for clients.

ZS’s program implementation services will help provide answers to questions such as:

• Change management: How should the organization enable tight integration between sales and marketing functions? 
• Integrated sales and marketing planning: Given the physician's preference, what mix of sales and marketing maximizes return on investment?
• Process design: How should sales reps design their customer engagement?
• Training: How should sales reps best use the multichannel information and technology, and how do they add the most value to their customers in a multichannel world?

"This tool allows the pharmaco to align communication with a physician's preferences and current interests. The orchestrator rep—who can see all outreach to physicians—refines sales and marketing efforts to each physician's unique preferences," said Bajaj, who described the challenges of sales and marketing integration during his keynote address at the Veeva Commercial Summit. "Sales forces that orchestrate both personal and multichannel marketing will be more successful in making the best use of a physician’s precious time."

The technology, for example, will alert the sales rep when a physician with high affinity for information from peers and managed care support prescribes a certain drug less frequently because of its disadvantaged formulary status. The rep could then focus the physician’s attention on patient copay assistance and reinforce clinical benefits via key opinion leader videos.

"Over the past three decades, ZS has helped lead the life sciences industry through major sales and marketing transformation," said Matt Wallach, Veeva co-founder and president. "The current move toward true multichannel marketing and sales requires a broad approach that encompasses new technology, processes and training. Together, ZS and Veeva are working together to make multichannel a reality for our customers."

In addition to its partnership with Veeva to help orchestrate sales and marketing, ZS has become a Veeva OpenData partner. This partnership makes it easy for life sciences companies to access and maximize customer data by eliminating the traditional third-party access agreement process.

It also ensures a smooth integration with ZS's services, provides ZS access to Veeva's data and allows ZS to complete its analytics and client projects faster. Further, ZS will leverage Veeva Network software to help enable customer intelligence solutions and drive large-scale commercial transformation programs for clients.

ZS is a professional services firm that works side by side with companies to help develop and deliver products that drive customer value and company results. We leverage our deep industry expertise, leading-edge analytics, technology and strategy to create solutions that work in the real world. With more than 35 years of experience and 8,000-plus ZSers in more than 25 offices worldwide, we are passionately committed to helping companies and their customers thrive. To learn more, visit www.zs.com or follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn.

Veeva Systems Inc. is a leader in cloud-based software for the global life sciences industry. Committed to innovation, product excellence, and customer success, Veeva has more than 275 customers, ranging from the world's largest pharmaceutical companies to emerging biotechs. Veeva is headquartered in the San Francisco Bay Area, with offices in Europe, Asia, and Latin America. For more information, visit www.veeva.com.