5 trends driving insights management

If you’ve attended an industry conference recently, you may have heard a discussion about insights management technology – a platform or solution designed to collect and analyze insights gathered by life science companies. Why is it such a hot topic right now, and what are the trends driving insights management?

The goal of insights management is to improve how information moves through an organization, getting the correct information to the right people at the right time and in the correct format, to drive change. Market research firms were among the first to formalize an insights management approach, but now many industries use some form of insights management to enable better decision-making.

What are the trends driving the adoption of insights management technology?
Life science companies are getting into the insights management game, too. Here are the five trends driving the uptake of technology that helps manage insights.

There’s more information to work with
Data sources are proliferating – not just in the life science space but everywhere. The pandemic contributed to this by forcing most business collaborations to go digital, resulting in more recordings, transcripts, online polls, surveys, and social media interactions. For pharmaceutical and medical device companies, all of this information could hold valuable insight on patients, products, and developing scientific narratives – but the time required to collect, sort, and interpret this data is significant.

Legacy systems and processes are fragmented and slow
Life science teams can spend nearly 200 hours a month compiling a single report, mostly because the information needed is distributed across different systems that live in different departments or geographies, none of which are automated or designed to talk to each other.

Digital transformation is a priority for life science
The COVID-19 pandemic was the single biggest driver of digital transformation and disruption in recent years, with 35% of pharmaceutical industry leaders stating that the crisis accelerated digital transformation by more than five years. Companies no longer have the option of playing catch-up or taking a wait-and-see approach, either – most biopharma leaders believe their organizations need to adopt digital technologies more quickly to win in the market.

Information moves fast, but decisions don’t
The availability of 24-hour news and how quickly information moves across social networks has given rise to a niche market of publications and websites designed to fact-check or disprove misinformation. In the life science industry, emerging clinical data and breaking scientific news move just as quickly, and organizations may struggle to respond. It’s no longer practical to wait months for the opportunity to gather insights from experts, and teams are turning to technology that enables more efficient engagement.

There’s a bigger appetite for operational efficiency
The pharmaceutical industry is investing heavily in advanced technologies like artificial intelligence and machine learning, which reduce the reliance on manual processing and allow workers to focus on their areas of expertise rather than combing through hours of recorded interactions or hundreds of pages of notes.

Read the post on our site:
https://within3.com/blog/trends-driving-insights-management

Listen Instead: 5 trends driving insights management

What is insights management?

Insights management may sound new to you, but you’re likely already doing it. From pre-clinical activities through medical affairs to product launch and beyond, pharmaceutical and medical device organizations rely on expert insight to guide important strategic decisions.

But insights management isn’t just the activity around planning and executing advisory board meetings, steering committees, publication development, and other types of insight-gathering activities. It begins before that – by getting a truly holistic view of disease communities and selecting the right experts – and continues beyond, into understanding a more complete picture of scientific and market signals that allow for better decision-making.

Life science companies are facing new challenges, and many industry leaders are prioritizing tech and digital transformation as strategic imperatives for their changing business landscape. Here’s how insights management fits in.

Understanding disease communities
Pharmaceutical and medical device teams already have an understanding of how regional and global experts can inform strategy and impact decisions. This understanding lies at the heart of why MSLs, for example, work to build and strengthen relationships with prominent KOLs. It’s also why clinical teams might engage patients to get feedback on a proposed study protocol, and the reason commercial teams conduct market research.

But relying on these experts isn’t enough – teams also need a holistic understanding of the disease communities they are studying. With this 360-degree view, teams will get a better understanding of what they should focus on and the key questions they should ask. For clinical teams, this might mean identifying the best possibilities for study sites or where appropriate patient populations might be located. Medical affairs organizations may be able to identify rising stars and new voices who have large networks via influence mapping. And many groups will turn to social listening to better understand conversations around brands or within patient advocacy networks.

Effective engagement, with plenty of flexibility
We all learned a thing or two about virtual engagement and tech-enabled collaboration over the last year and a half. Online interactions offer plenty of benefits, but there are also drawbacks for teams that aren’t using the right tools. Standalone video calls augmented by email chains and file sharing can’t take the place of peer-to-peer exchange.

Human nature and busy schedules mean that many people implicitly opt-out of video calls by multitasking or letting more outspoken participants dominate the conversation. This means that pharmaceutical and medical device teams are missing out on important contributions.

While live events and in-person meetings have resumed in most parts of the world, pharmaceutical and medical device teams have learned when to deploy different types of virtual engagement. Hybrid virtual engagements – combining webcasts or in-person meetings with asynchronous collaboration – make better use of time spent in person, and reduce the need for constant travel in order to participate in a peer-to-peer exchange. Increasingly, life science organizations are designing these interactions to produce a high volume of dialogue and high-quality discussion.

From insights to action
In the aftermath of a successful engagement, it’s tempting to think the bulk of the work is done. But for many life science teams, this marks the start of another labor-intensive process. Insights from experts, patients, and influencers must be transcribed or collated, shared with other stakeholders, and examined to reveal key insights.

It’s at this point that the process bogs down – because in many cases, there is no process. 

Read the entire post on our site:
https://within3.com/blog/what-is-insights-management

Listen Instead: what is insights management?

What is an insight?

It’s a discussion we hear at events, in industry roundtables, on expert webinars, and from customers: what is an insight? Pharmaceutical and medical device teams collect information, compile data, and record observations – but none of these are insights on their own. We wondered: if teams are trying to achieve alignment on what insights are, don’t they need a way to reveal them quickly and put them to work more effectively?

Insights are pivotal points that change how life science teams address a problem. They significantly impact business decisions and patient outcomes, and revealing them more efficiently is an ongoing challenge. Insights change behavior. And with more information sources and data available every day, it’s never been more critical to streamline finding actionable insights.

Within3 understands this challenge. We developed the industry’s only insights management platform to collect, manage, and reveal more insights and enable better decisions for pharmaceutical and medical device teams. We know that only a tiny percentage of the information you collect will add up to an insight with impact – and we want to help you find them.

Read the post and view a video on our site:
https://within3.com/blog/what-is-an-insight

Listen Instead: What is an insight?

How life science companies create value with insights management

The pandemic kicked off a remote work revolution and led many companies to re-examine processes across the organization, from finance to hiring to supply chain. By far, some of the biggest changes occurred around digital transformation and adopting new technology. Life science organizations took some of the biggest leaps, with more than a third of industry leaders saying the global health crisis accelerated digital transformation by more than five years. Among the various technologies embraced by the industry was insights management, or digital platforms designed to gather, organize, and analyze insights. What’s the value of insights management for life science?

As with most digital transformation efforts, the potential for cost savings is just part of the appeal. More importantly, however, teams can create value by getting a more precise view of disease communities, engaging more diverse voices, reducing internal workloads, and shortening the time between capturing insight and taking action.

Plan and execute up to 12x faster
Planning is time-consuming, and internal hours spent on logistical tasks can add up quickly. This is particularly clear regarding traditional face-to-face engagements like advisory boards, which can take several months to plan and are subject to last-minute disruption. Life science teams that shift advisory boards to asynchronous technology can execute their programs up to 12 times faster – meaning they can get important feedback or critical insight much more quickly. And while saving time is certainly a benefit, the added agility is even more meaningful – teams can react quickly to current events, the competitive landscape, new data, or other key factors.

Reduce team workload by up to 25%
Gathering insights isn’t just a matter of asking questions and recording answers. Life science teams must put in the legwork ahead of time to understand what’s happening in a specific therapeutic area, including what the competition is doing and what experts and patients are talking about. Uncovering and monitoring these conversations – many of them online – is labor-intensive and requires analysis. These tasks eat up time that could be spent focusing on core business objectives. Insights management platforms, and specifically social media listening technology, can automate many aspects of these manual tasks.

From insight to action 4x faster
After insights are collected from disparate sources – online conversations, large-scale meetings and congresses, advisory boards, and one-on-one conversations with HCPs and other experts – another phase of work begins. For example, typical meetings require anywhere from four to six weeks for a follow-up, transcription, clarification, and development of action plans. Insights management platforms enable life science teams to centrally manage insights and apply technologies like artificial intelligence and natural language processing to identify prevailing sentiment and important trends quickly. Returning to our “typical meeting” example, insights management would help teams develop action plans within a week of completing a discussion rather than several weeks or months.

Cutting costs or saving time is always a benefit, but value creation offers more opportunities. By accelerating time to insight, life science teams can design more successful clinical trials, bring products to market more quickly, and engage more thoughtfully with stakeholders.

View the post on our site:
https://within3.com/blog/creating-value-with-insights-management

Listen Instead: How life science companies create value with insights management

What does medical affairs need to know about artificial intelligence? Spend 10 minutes with Jason Smith, CTO at Within3, to find out. We asked Jason three burning questions about AI: what is our relationship to this advanced technology, what are we getting wrong about it, and how can we use it to our advantage?

Show notes
New York Times article: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/16/technology/bing-chatbot-microsoft-chatgpt.html

Show guide
Our relationship with AI [00:00:40]
Discussion on the current state of AI, the impact of chat GPT, and the importance of context in training models.

Understanding AI's capabilities [00:03:00]
The maturity scale of AI in different industries, the difference between AI and augmented intelligence, and the importance of incrementalism in adoption.

Incrementalism in AI [00:04:47]
Explanation of incrementalism in AI, using medical affairs as a case study, and the role of humans in decision-making.

Misconceptions about AI [00:07:20]
Dispelling the misconception that AI is a silver bullet and emphasizing its role in augmenting and automating tasks for faster and more informed decision-making.

Incrementalism and user adoption [00:08:26]
The importance of incrementalism in AI adoption and user adoption challenges in organizations.

AI in medical affairs [00:09:26]
AI's potential to improve efficiency, accuracy, and effectiveness in medical affairs, drug development, clinical trials, and patient care.

Within3 Questions: What does pharma need to know about AI?

In this episode of Within3 questions, we talk to Natalie DiMambro, Vice President of Product Commercialization and Training at Within3, about change management in the life science industry. Learn about the importance of customized training to address individual skill gaps and fears associated with change, plus how the risk-averse nature of the pharma industry can hinder innovation. Recommendations include taking incremental steps towards change, creating a milestone list, and looking back on accomplishments to build confidence. Listen in to learn more.

Show guide:
Passion for the human element [00:01:06] Natalie DiMambro explains her passion for the human element in technology and the importance of customized training to address individual skill gaps and resistance to change.

Fear of change [00:02:42] We discuss the fear associated with change and how it is an individual-based fear that needs to be addressed with a customized approach.

Risk-averse nature of life science industry [00:04:11] Natalie talks about how the risk-averse nature of the life science industry affects the way people approach change, particularly around technology, and how it can lead to a lack of innovation.

Reducing risk [00:07:09] Natalie emphasizes the importance of reducing risk to reduce fear and move towards a path of continuous learning and how having a good partner can help make a plan for adoption that is reasonable and reduces risk.

Bonus question: changing mindset [00:08:13] Sarah asks Natalie for one recommendation on how someone in the industry can change their mindset around change.

Enabling change [00:08:29] The personal pursuit of change, self-assessment, identifying skill gaps, and engaging partners for training.

Creating a plan [00:09:18] How to create a culture of learning, find a plan with less risk, and make incremental changes with attainable goals.

Honoring milestones [00:10:46] Natalie emphasizes the importance of reviewing accomplishments, acknowledging milestones, and building confidence for future changes.

Within3 Questions: Pharma teams need good change management to get more from technology

How do in-person conversations work with an insights management platform?

During the all-virtual, all-the-time detour of 2020 and 2021, the innate qualities of in-person professional events came into sharp relief. Yes, you likely accomplished a lot – but you also realized that some nuances of relationship-building, knowledge-sharing, and deal-making could not be fully replicated in a virtual environment. How can live meetings and insights management co-exist?

In returning to those valuable in-person experiences, we lost some critical aspects of information capture that digital tools provide. After years of relying on recordings and transcripts, you might be left wondering: where are the insights going? And how can you put them to work as part of your insights management strategy? Here are three key elements of virtual insight-gathering that we recommend retaining.

Keep most HCP engagements – including ad boards – virtual

Physicians prefer virtual engagements for advisory board engagements largely because they don’t need to spend several days away from patients and family traveling to a meeting that likely only spans a few hours. They still want to contribute their expertise, but not at the expense of other important commitments.

There’s good reason to tailor HCP engagement to physician preferences. According to Ipsos, “The use of digital channels is here to stay, but pharma needs to learn to personalize digital tactics to meet HCPs’ needs using a synergistic mix of channels, designed to target the right HCPs at the right time in the right way.”

Pharma companies don’t need to do away with in-person engagements, but the choice of virtual or not should be a matter of what best supports the end goal. The venue is secondary to how insights are captured and integrated into strategy.

Data-driven insights will fuel [a data-driven] approach and allow for pharma to track and shape their strategies accordingly. – Ipsos

Make the most of in-person opportunities with virtual elements and reporting

When in-person is the right choice, you can ensure participants are prepared to be productive. Lack of this preparation – and the time wasted trying to stay on track or getting everyone up to speed – is a consistent pain point for medical affairs and commercial teams.

Creating a space to share goals and set intentions before an in-person opportunity is respectful to all participants. Establishing priorities and offering relevant literature or data in one location means everyone arrives at in-person meetings ready to contribute. Your team will be closer to advancing your goals with actionable insights.

Within a robust insights management platform, pre-event agendas and post-event consensus-building are opportunities to get answers to key questions rather than a fragmented collection of email threads that might never reach important stakeholders. Creating a stronger scientific narrative is easier when everyone can access every observation rather than just a slice of the whole conversation.

Give your team the ability to course-correct rather than start over

Impediments to launch or milestone achievements don’t follow your schedule. After investing months preparing for an in-person event, last-minute changes like new clinical data can derail your carefully planned interaction. However, insights management technology enables you to send updates, share new data or other information, and even add pre-work before an advisory board meeting. If something changes after the meeting, you can follow up efficiently or add a new virtual advisory board to understand how changes impact your work.

Read the post on our site:
https://within3.com/blog/live-meetings-insights-management-technology

Listen Instead: How do in-person conversations work with an insights management platform?

We’re joined by Caroline Schaffrath Demarco, Director of Insights Strategy and Innovation at Within3, who explains that pharma social media listening can grant teams access to a layer of insights they might otherwise miss.

By capturing unscripted and unprompted reactions to data releases and presentations, social listening can help organizations make more informed decisions and reduce the “fear of missing out” from limited resources on the ground during the event.

Listen to learn how social listening in pharma helps teams follow the legitimate scientific exchange around congresses, enables them to capture conversations and reactions that happen beyond the walls of the event, and even provides a way to look back in time and understand changes and fluctuations in trending topics.

Show guide:

Social listening and medical congresses [00:01:10]
Caroline explains how social listening can provide valuable insights into the reactions and opinions of attendees and stakeholders during medical congresses.

The value of looking back [00:05:08]
Caroline discusses the importance of being able to look back at previous congresses and how social listening can provide real-world data and evidence.

Social media as a source of real-world data [00:09:10]
Caroline explains how social media can be seen as a source of real-world data and how social listening can help build the real-world evidence story.

Benefits of social listening for pharma and life science companies [00:11:20]
Caroline explains how social listening can provide valuable insights into the reactions and opinions of attendees and stakeholders at medical congresses.

Importance of socializing data and shaping scientific narrative in real-time [00:12:11]
Caroline discusses the importance of socializing data and shaping scientific narrative in real-time during medical congresses.

Advice for companies not using social listening as part of their congress strategy [00:12:45]
Caroline advises companies to engage a team they trust and find a strong technology partner to help filter and extract relevant insights from social listening data.

Within3 Questions: Eavesdropping on congresses? The secret to pharma teams’ success

If you’ve heard more about insights management lately, it’s no surprise: the topic is at the forefront of many industry conversations. We’ve compiled some guidance to help you as you look for an insights management vendor.

Amid an increasing awareness that a lack of insights can threaten critical business processes, pharma teams need a way to integrate fragmented technologies and unify disparate processes into a more cohesive strategy.

Some innovative teams are investing in insights management platforms explicitly built for the life science industry. But pharma leaders want to know: how will another technology investment work with the tools I already have and need to use? What does my team need to know? And how will a new solution support security and compliance?

Selecting the right insights management platform begins with asking the right questions. If you’re considering a solution, it’s critical to get a clear understanding of what a long-term partnership with a prospective vendor will look like.

While some tools will solve part of your insights management challenges, few will help you move closer to an end-to-end solution on their own. Here’s how to determine if the solution you’re evaluating has everything you’re looking for.

Does the company have a strong strategic vision?
Investing in technology means finding a solution that helps you now and will support you as your organizational needs change. What are the company’s plans to address emerging industry trends, and how does the vendor roll out new features to customers?

How is customer support defined?
Does the platform you’re looking at include support for your critical projects, or must you purchase an additional support package? Does customer support only include tactical and technical questions or are clients set up for ongoing strategic success?

What’s the timeline for return on investment?
Understanding how technology will help you and within what timeframe can help you make an investment decision. Ask if the vendor has processes to ensure your team will get the most out of the platform.

How does the vendor ensure compliance?
Questions about data security and privacy should be the top priority. Don’t forget to thoroughly understand how any solution helps you stay compliant.

What’s the solution’s impact on strategy?
Many tech solutions help organize or store information. But pharma teams need a way to extract insights – real turning points that change behavior – from the wealth of information they collect. Ask vendors how their solution will help your team reduce the time spent on tactical tasks so you can focus on strategy and how any product features will move you toward a deeper understanding of your competitive landscape.

Read the post on our site:
https://www.within3.com/blog/questions-to-ask-your-insights-management-vendor

Listen Instead: 5 important points to understand about your insights management vendor

Listen Instead: Hearing every voice – Galapagos initiative puts the focus on patients

In most pharma engagements, the focus is on traditional KOLs – prominent physicians with hefty publication credentials. But teams are increasingly aware of the value added by other types of healthcare providers, including nurses, technicians, pharmacists, and other allied health professionals.

In our latest podcast, Kristin Kaderli, senior director and client strategy lead at Within3, shares the benefits of engaging these experts within an insights management platform, including increased diversity of perspectives and more nuanced insight into the patient experience.

For pharma teams that want to improve outreach to allied health audiences, Kaderli suggests creating a standing panel of allied health experts to provide quick feedback on materials, guidelines, and protocols. Or, consider engaging with trade groups for nurses, pharmacists, and other professionals. These groups can offer a platform for dialogue and collaboration, helping to gather insights from a wider range of professionals.

Timestamps
The importance of engaging health professionals outside of the traditional physician role [00:00:00]
Discussion on the value of engaging allied health professionals and their unique insights in patient care.

Example of a multi-pronged advisory board [00:01:34]
Exploration of a case where allied health professionals were surveyed to gather feedback on treatment protocols and guidelines.

Recommendations for engaging allied health professionals [00:06:44]
Suggestions for creating a standing panel of allied health professionals and engaging with industry trade groups to gather diverse perspectives.

The importance of engaging health professionals outside of the traditional physician role [00:11:35]
Discussion on the impact of diverse professionals and settings on business decisions, treatment, and access.

Engaging colleagues and health professionals at different stages [00:12:06]
Exploration of the two stages of engagement: feedback on changing protocols and ensuring patients receive appropriate treatment.

The importance of engaging the right people at the right time [00:12:40]
Highlighting the significance of involving the appropriate practitioners at various points in the process.

Within3 Questions: How to improve engagement with allied health professionals

You can read the entire post on our blog: https://within3.com/blog/big-pharma-industry-trends

The twin levers of technological advancements and patient expectations are changing the pharmaceutical industry. Last year, we started tracking and sharing big pharma industry trends alongside resources for additional information about how they affect you and your day-to-day. Now, we’re looking back at 12 months of reports to see which topics have the strongest impact.

The key takeaway? These prevailing trends chart a course for a more patient-centric, equitable, and innovative industry.

Hybrid healthcare delivery: the symbiosis of virtual and in-person care

COVID-19 catalyzed the rapid adoption of telehealth and other digital health tools. Initially necessitated by social distancing measures, the benefits of virtual care quickly became apparent to patients and healthcare providers (HCPs).

Addressing social determinants of health: a patient-centric paradigm

The increasing recognition of social determinants of health (SDOH) among patients, especially younger demographics, is ushering in a patient-centric paradigm. Patients now acknowledge that access to healthy food, living conditions, and socioeconomic factors significantly affect overall well-being.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is revolutionizing the pharmaceutical industry, playing a pivotal role in drug development, clinical trial optimization, and patient care.

Pursuit of healthcare equity: battling inequality and enhancing diversity

The imperative to address healthcare inequality and promote diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) is gaining momentum. Racial bias and inequality pose significant challenges to drug development and patients.

This trend underscores several crucial aspects:

Economic costs of inequality

The economic impact of healthcare inequality is substantial, costing the US healthcare system billions annually. This underscores the urgency for life science companies to take decisive actions to address DEI across all stages of product development.

Improved clinical trial diversity

Diversity in clinical trials is essential for ensuring treatment effectiveness across different populations. Overcoming barriers to participation, building trust between patients and physicians, and leveraging technology are vital steps toward achieving this goal.

Role of technology in bridging gaps

Technology bridges healthcare gaps for underrepresented communities, including AI and digital tools. Technology creates a more inclusive healthcare ecosystem by addressing structural issues and enhancing trust.

Embracing transformation: the road ahead

The pharmaceutical industry is at a pivotal moment, poised for transformative change driven by these prevailing trends. Hybrid healthcare delivery models, recognizing SDOH, AI-powered innovations, and pursuing healthcare equity are shaping a future where patient outcomes are improved, and healthcare becomes more accessible, personalized, and inclusive. As the industry navigates these trends, collaboration between stakeholders, responsible adoption of technology, and a steadfast commitment to patient well-being will be essential in realizing this transformative vision of healthcare.

Listen Instead: Transforming pharma – a year of top trends shaping the industry's future

Medical affairs teams face an overwhelming abundance of data. While deriving insights from multiple data sources remains a challenge, the true value and impact of insights management lies in the cross-functional sharing and use of actionable insights by other functions in the organization. In a recent survey, 76% of industry leaders said that the way data and insights are shared and stored within their organization has created separate data silos, obstructing generating or sharing insights efficiently. In this 30-minute talk, we'll explore the benefits and challenges of cross-functional insights management and discuss best practices to empower your medical affairs team to select emerging technology for maximum impact.

Demonstrating value and impact with technology tools in medical affairs

Within3 is the world's leading insights management platform for life science companies, from early-stage research and development to product launch. We provide actionable insights to empower better decision-making.

Within3

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