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Insights Directly in CRM Drive Smarter Rep Actions

Veeva Creator Series interview with Arno Sosna: Insights Directly in CRM Drive Smarter Rep Actions
The Veeva Creator Series consists of regularly published interviews with Veeva product leaders and strategists highlighting the backstories that led to key Veeva CRM innovations. This month, we interview Arno Sosna, Veeva General Manager for CRM, about Veeva CRM MyInsights.

What exactly is Veeva CRM MyInsights?

It is a new way to visualize data, designed specifically for field teams, to help drive actionable and informed behavior. MyInsights is embedded directly within Veeva CRM where it becomes part of a rep’s normal workflow. They’ll be able to view important information in real-time even as they are going about their normal activities, such as call scheduling, account planning, order management, and so on. This is possible because everything happens directly in Veeva CRM so there is no need to sync between systems. I’m particularly excited about MyInsights, it’s one of the most exciting innovations we’ve introduced recently.

Please elaborate on the business context. Why do companies need something like CRM MyInsights?
We are dealing with the familiar problem of interpreting data from transactional systems. Generally, when using transactional software, users generate data but they receive no information about how effective they are. We know that reps are keen to understand business outcomes but have only limited ability to evaluate their own effectiveness. MyInsights is Veeva’s solution to address this – it provides reps with real-time, tailored information about their own accounts and territories in a visually intuitive manner.

Why not just use existing analytics solutions?
One of the challenges with the current analytics landscape is that it takes a one-size-fits-all approach. Analytics tends to be optimized for data analysts who need a standardized user interface that focuses on KPIs. However, providing a heavy-duty business intelligence (BI) solution to everyone from field reps to district managers to executives is not optimal because it is not the right tool for each person’s job. So, MyInsights is not intended to replace other BI tools but rather address an unmet need for a specific segment of users – the field reps and their first line managers.

What unique data needs do field reps have?

Unlike data scientists, reps don’t need huge national data sets. Instead, they require highly specialized views that are uniquely tailored to their territory and they need this information in real-time as they are out in the field. In the old days of CRM, this was not possible because account screens were optimized for data entry instead of data visualization. At Veeva, we have flipped the paradigm and MyInsights is the latest example of this transformation.

The nice thing is that this innovation can be extended to partners, who also receive the same capabilities. Systems Integrators are building new reporting capabilities while agency partners are taking advantage of standard HTML and JavaScript to create great visualizations. Of course, tech partners, such as data science companies, now have the opportunity to deliver more insights and recommendations into account-level and territory-level dashboards. This can show the impact of the rep’s behavior to help them become more effective. So I’m really enthusiastic about the possibilities for innovation here.

What prompted us to build this type of data visualization?
One thing that stood out was that in our conversation with customers was that while they have robust analytics tools available to them, their reps often struggled with how disconnected those big BI apps are for them. We saw an opportunity to give the field tailored visualizations directly in their CRM.

Many customers I have spoken with are excited about MyInsights because they understand that this is will help reps get the information they truly need. We’ve already seen broad adoption, from the largest companies down to some very small ones.

What further innovation do you foresee down the road?
We’re going to continue to invest in MyInsights. The holy grail is the ability to query not only CRM data, which reps can now do, but also sales data. This could potentially create the ultimate view that reps need: a view of how their activities in CRM impact sales performance. Just imagine empowering reps with the ability to see the direct impact of their activity, such as sending emails, on prescription sales. Eventually, they can even compare themselves against an optimum benchmark their company has set. It’s really thrilling to think of the potential.

What is the one thing customers should know about MyInsights?
MyInsights represents a completely novel way of tackling data visualization and reporting. The ability for customers to view their data the way they want and thereby receive real-time, actionable insights is pretty unique. Reps will be able to take immediate action with the new information they receive. It fundamentally transforms CRM from a data entry tool to something much bigger – CRM finally becomes a sales effectiveness tool.

We’re constantly updating CRM MyInsights with advanced new dashboards. Check out some examples of what is possible.

About Arno Sosna
Arno Sosna has been with Veeva over six years. He is responsible for the definition and direction of all Veeva CRM products, ensuring that Veeva delivers the best-in-class solution for each global region with a focus on streamlined usability, rich functionality, and end-to-end customer success. His favorite thing about being at Veeva are the company’s values of speed, customer success and employee success. “We live these values. They are not just empty bullet points on a website.”

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