In the world of ever-growing personalized experiences, imagine a cure that is tailored to your genetic makeup in order to make the treatment as effective to your body type as it can be. Now you no longer need to imagine. Technology has made such an imaginative scenario a reality through Personalized Medicine. According to BioSpace, not long ago, “FDA approved AstraZeneca’s Tagrisso (osimertinib) for the first-line treatment of patients with metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) in tumors with epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutations. The mutations, exon 19 deletions or exon 21 L858 mutations, are detected by an FDA-approved test.”

How does technology drive such innovation and how can other companies in the life sciences industry keep up and exceed innovation expectations? In this blog, I’d like to take some time to look at the five pillars of innovation propelling life sciences forward to such incredible realities, and how peer companies can keep up with the right technology on their side. 

 

The five pillars driving innovation in life sciences

Developing personalized medicine doesn’t require computing power but rather a thoughtful approach to IT design. Following are the five pillars of innovation in providing a better consumer experience in the life sciences industry.

— Data Stewardship: All things will begin and end with data. Having a strong data stewardship plan will be extremely important in order to ensure the entire IT ecosystem continues to provide in-depth analysis, experience, and value.

— Interconnectedness: All systems need to talk to each other so that real-time information is quickly processed, analyzed, evaluated, and following actions immediately derived.

— Focus on User Experience (UX), not User Interface (UI): User interface should be designed to support and drive user experience. Companies that focus only on the user interface may not reap the benefits of their technology stack.

— Engage: Institute a strong feedback system. Learn from the consumers and continually evolve the system to align with ever-changing consumer needs. Leverage the internal teams (such as center of excellence) to align the strategy and go to market quickly.

— Celebrate: Celebrate your consumer value with your team and with your consumers!

 

How can life science companies enable innovation to provide a better experience through Salesforce?

Salesforce is a leading CRM platform in the industry. One of its core strengths is its ability to integrate with various data sources through different data applications. With the use of MuleSoft, Salesforce connects with consumers, members, and patient data systems securely and seamlessly. Salesforce’s clinical data model further maintains the data integrity of the system by allowing the data to map directly into the data objects without unnecessary data transformations or data merge. With the wealth of data collected in the single source of truth, Salesforce, allows the organization to perform deep analytics and AI to discover new ways to deliver more value to the end consumer. Let’s take a look at three:

 

Integrations and analytics: With its highly integrated platform, Salesforce allows multiple devices and apps to connect into one. Consumers can get intelligent alerts customized to provide nothing less than an excellent experience through Salesforce Einstein and data analytics. For example, imagine as a consumer you track your meals through an app for healthy eating. You might also be taking daily medications to control a chronic illness. The interconnected technology ecosystem can reach the data from all the applications, run simultaneous real-time analysis, and suggest which meals to eat or avoid to gain the maximum efficacy from the medication that day while looking at the menu at a restaurant.

Verticalization: Salesforce Industries, formally known as Vlocity, provides omnichannel capabilities so that companies can build highly engaging and flexible flows. Flows that can adapt quickly based on usability study, adoption, and feedback. With fast delivery from ideation to implementation and omnichannel support, Salesforce Industries allows companies to transform their user interface into user experience while creating a personalized experience for their consumers. Today consumers are able to access their clinical test results through patient portals. Tomorrow, consumers will be able to know what the test results mean in regards to their body, habits, diet, activities, and mental health.

Marketing opportunities: Salesforce’s Marketing Cloud has robust marketing capabilities and provides an excellent way to market for new opportunities. Because of its ability to segment and reach people effectively, Marketing Cloud can also connect with the consumer to engage in a meaningful way, allowing the consumers to feel connected with the life sciences institutions. Sure, focus on the opportunity for betterment, but don’t forget to celebrate each consumer’s wins no matter how small the battle. For many, each battle means their ability to find normalcy in their lives and relationships. 

 

Until recently, the limitations in the technology forced the users to adapt to the functionality offered. However, with increased flexibility in today’s IT ecosystem, technology is adapting rapidly to users’ needs. With Salesforce’s technology stack, life sciences companies can now go beyond just informing the consumer to relating what the information actually means to the consumer in regards to their specific health. Life sciences can therefore build long-lasting relationships and not just consumer loyalty, walk alongside their consumers’ wellness journey, and help them win their battles.