From Execution to Strategic Enablement

What would be the impact to your organization if you could reduce territory sizes by 90%? Would your CRM field users experience change if they were armed with the exact data they need to call on the right targets? At Veeva European Commercial & Medical Summit, two Veeva Align customers discussed how they are helping reps be more effective by focusing on their territories.

Astellas cuts alignment times by 83% and reduces territory sizes by more than 90%

Astellas moved to Veeva Align to become more sophisticated about customer interactions, reduce alignment complexity, and prepare the organization for intelligent multichannel engagement.

While the team understood the inherent value of the Veeva Align-to-Veeva CRM integration, it demanded real-world proof of business outcomes. One of the key requirements was to shorten the time required to conduct territory alignments. The Astellas team presented measurable results at Summit that showed how the business became more agile and efficient with Align:

Astellas achieved these results while undergoing the largest in-country territory restructuring in a decade. Align helped Astellas’ reps become more effective as it reduced territories from an average of 15,000 accounts down to 1,500 for key account managers and 500 accounts for individual sales reps. These are quite remarkable results that will help Astellas reps focus on the most important customers.

Although the Align implementation coincided with a large restructuring, it was deemed to be one of the fastest and easiest alignments Astellas has conducted. Unlike the experience prior to Align, there were no errors or issues reported from the field. One presenter, Svenja Buerger, CRM Expert, Germany, said, “We can now perform more sophisticated alignments and, as an alignment administrator, I feel more effective in my role.”

Download the Astellas presentation to learn more.

AbbVie eliminates 500,000 unnecessary accounts

AbbVie was looking to better support commercial goals by setting up the right alignments. It was forced to rely on a mix of different alignment solutions, with no local control and many technical challenges. Reps were often forced to scroll through dozens or more customers in their territory who were not important sales targets, making their jobs inefficient and frustrating.

AbbVie implemented Veeva Align to create a more sustainable and efficient process. Align yielded impressive results, reducing territory sizes by 90% and eliminating 500,000 unnecessary accounts in the UK alone. By removing accounts, AbbVie allowed its reps to focus on their priority customers.

David Andrew, project lead for Veeva CRM discussed AbbVie’s implementation of Align, the configuration, and the rationale for alignment rules. During the test phase, the team quickly realized that Veeva Align operates as expected and transitioned the focus to quality of the alignment output rather than system functionality.

Download the AbbVie presentation to learn more.

From organizational agility to strategic enablement

Six of the top 25 pharma companies now use Align, in addition to numerous other companies. Many of them were initially looking to employ it as an execution tool to become more agile and responsive. After using Align regularly, they have realized that it also allows them to evolve their focus from execution to strategic enablement.

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