Veeva : Equipping Life Sciences Field Teams for Flexibility

Today's HCPs are, as an old movie quote goes, like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're going to get-whether it's a rep-friendly doctor who wants physical reprints to a no-see practitioner who loves to text.

The data also shows distinct populations of HCPs with different preferences for accessing information. For example, 37% of American HCPs under 35 use social media platforms, like Doximity, that are built for medical professionals. However, for HCPs over 55, this number drops to 25% .

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To reach as many HCPs as possible, life sciences companies need the flexibility to switch between different engagement strategies based on changing HCP preferences and field conditions. For this reason, Veeva is enhancing the Veeva CRM desktop experience, which enables headquarters to adapt their approach to the field's needs at any given moment.

So what's the thinking behind this product direction, and how does it affect Veeva CRM users? In a recent webinar, Veeva leaders from across product management, customer success, and services shared their perspectives. Here's what they have to say:

We know that Veeva is focusing on the desktop experience. Are you expecting the industry to move towards fully digital reps?

Povilas Petkevicius, Vice President of CRM Product Management: We believe that face-to-face interactions will continue to be a very important channel for the industry. Today, over 90% of all Veeva CRM interactions are completed on a mobile device. So face-to-face interaction with an iPad isn't going anywhere. And the iPad continues to be a key component for Veeva CRM platform strategy looking forward.

However, there are user groups who spend a significant portion of their time on activities where mobile devices might be limiting their productivity. They need real-time network connectivity, a larger screen, a keyboard, a mouse, better multitasking support, and better ergonomics when engaging with customers digitally. We're talking about medical teams, key account managers, market access professionals, some specialty reps, and of course, digital reps. For these groups, we believe that laptops and desktop computers might be the better device.

We're redesigning the Veeva CRM desktop experience to meet the specific needs of these groups-and really, the needs of any Veeva CRM user who may ever need to use a laptop or a desktop computer. Our focus is to provide the best user experiences, whether in the field or in a home office setup, to drive productivity for all Veeva CRM users.

That's a great perspective, thank you. Neil, you work with many Veeva CRM customers. What are customers saying about this new direction for Veeva CRM?

Neil Walker, Senior Customer Success Manager: As customer success managers, we've heard a definitive need to have more dynamic views in Veeva CRM, views that display content about the day-to-day tasks and insights for users on the desktop computer. It's a lot of excitement, I would say.

We also have promising user results from a few customers who've already moved to this new desktop experience. As an example, we've found that configuring the same process from the old desktop interface within the new interface can significantly reduce the number of clicks it takes to perform the same tasks. It's a straightforward way of improving productivity.

What are some differences between the old version of Veeva CRM for the desktop and this new version?

Neil: The new desktop experience moves Veeva CRM Online to the Salesforce Lightning user interface: a more flexible, streamlined, and process-driven look and feel. With Lightning, you can start providing your teams with that all-encompassing view of their day-to-day tasks. You can show them customer highlights and key analysis-wherever they need it and when they need it.

We also have role-specific business apps, a great example of the tailored capabilities available on desktop computers. Each app is designed for the business processes of a specific team but can be customized to match how your organization works.

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There are also more entry points for reports and dashboards right in the user workflow, so you can make sure your teams have the information they need to make the right decisions. It's not just the native reporting in Veeva CRM Online, either, but Veeva CRM MyInsights visualizations as well. So you can bring whatever external data your teams need into their Veeva CRM workspace.

Povilas: The new desktop experience doesn't stop at just Lightning, either-we're also building a companion desktop application called Veeva CRM Desktop. Veeva CRM Desktop will help us provide capabilities beyond the limitations of a browser application, specifically in the areas of content and remote meetings. When using CLM with Veeva CRM Desktop, your teams can present compliant content with automatic engagement tracking either in-person or via any remote meeting platform, including Veeva CRM Engage Meeting, Microsoft Teams, and Zoom.

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It sounds like this will be a more streamlined experience for CRM users. How do people get started with this new desktop experience?

Neil: You're going to have to migrate your Veeva CRM org to Salesforce Lightning if you haven't already, and we have a lot of resources to support you in the transition.

Will the Lightning migration be a pretty intensive project? Alex, can you speak to that?

Alex Catto, Services Engagement Manager: The good news is that the migration won't impact most things in Veeva CRM. The only impact is really on the Veeva CRM Online user interface. Everything else, like the mobile app, offline mode, system API integrations, business data, Salesforce security, system security automation, and business processes, remains the same.

All the standard Veeva components will be automatically switched to be Lightning-compatible in the Lightning Ready upgrade that's going out in the Veeva CRM 21R3 release. This upgrade does not replace the need for migration, however, as your customizations and configurations still need to be migrated. During the Lightning migration project, we focus on updating your page layouts, tabs, buttons, links, and custom pages to be compatible with the Lightning interface.

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Our indicative timeline for migrating a single org with limited customization is around five weeks-of course, the actual timeline will depend on your specific needs, but you see that we can progress quite quickly.

I'm sure a lot of our customers are excited to hear that. For those who are thinking of getting started with the Lightning migration, what are some considerations they should keep in mind?

Neil: First of all, you want to get the right team. You'll need input from business leadership to work out where you can get the most value from the new desktop experience.

You're also going to need your Veeva and Salesforce IT specialists to make sure that you can make the most of both platforms.

And finally, you're going to need your user experience champions, test users who will give their input based on their day-to-day work. They're going to be able to sign off on any user testing you may need to do, and they can show you how they'll benefit from the transition.

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Alex: You'll also need to define your deployment strategy. Do you want to go for a "big bang" approach where all countries have access to Lightning at the same time? Will you do a small pilot first? Or is it something in between?

Any final recommendations?

Povilas: Yes, the technical migration to Lightning opens up the complete set of new capabilities to help your users be more productive. The platform capabilities are significantly better and different from what Salesforce Classic used to offer you, and we're excited for you to see what we've been working on for yourself.

Neil: And we're happy to help you with your Lightning journey. You can start by contacting your Veeva account team and learning more about taking that first step with us. There's certainly a lot to think about, and we are here to support you.

Start your journey to the new Veeva CRM desktop experience on our Veeva CRM Desktop Experience site.

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^{1"Meet the millennial physicians - young, mobile, and harder to reach," Clarivate, February 2018.
2"Millennial Physicians Are More Active on Their Smartphones," Clarivate, 2018.}