Medtech is Due for a CRM Revolution

Turning Data Entry into Insight

By Jeff Gorski, Senior Director, Commercial Strategy, Veeva MedTech

When the term “CRM” is raised, most medtech companies think of a large-scale tech deployment that promises to tie together operations and data across multiple functional areas within the organization. Ideally, this singular solution will drive smarter account planning and execution, seamless coordination between the field and marketing, unlock efficiencies, and supercharge revenue growth.

In some ways, medtech has captured some of that promise, but the results remain mixed, and the full potential remains unrealized.

Legacy CRM systems are largely industry-agnostic. They require a complicated mix of configuration, loosely integrated applications, and significant support to build and maintain, usually with the help and high cost of consulting firms. Despite this administrative burden, many medtechs are not seeing the expected benefits.

CRM has become a point of tactical data entry rather than a point of insight. A point of friction rather than a catalyst for dynamic, intelligent market strategies.

Now is the time for a new approach.

Focus on Medtech

As medtech modernizes and accelerates revenue growth through strategic technology investments, leaders should consider how their CRM solution supports the market. General, industry-agnostic CRM providers must compromise on functionality that is “good enough” for every industry. This leaves life sciences companies with gaps that require additional configuration, customization, and maintenance to manage the strict requirements and compliance guidelines. Any gap in these areas can leave a company exposed, for example, when marketing content delivered through sales channels is not thoroughly vetted and substantiated with science.

A purpose-built CRM solution shores up these gaps and ties together activities across sales, medical, and marketing teams allowing for simple exchange of content and data. It provides more relevant insights to sales teams, so they see value beyond data entry and allows marketing a more direct view into how field content is working. Medical teams also become more strategic as they align more cohesively with commercial teams.

Veeva focuses exclusively on the life sciences industry to develop purpose-built solutions. Product developments are engineered in partnership with our global CRM customers (more than 500) and built off the data, software, and best practice processes introduced over the past 15+ years, creating the foundation for life science-specific commercial excellence.

Path to AI

AI is all the buzz today, and with good reason. McKinsey and PwC project that AI will contribute $15-25 trillion in new economic value by the mid-2030s. Many software providers have jumped in to help customers realize value, often with mixed results. To date, only 5% of organizations have seen a return on investment.

This is typical of new technology; the true potential comes as we learn how to scale and focus on the right set of problems to solve. Veeva takes a pragmatic approach with its life science-focused platform and common data architecture specific to industry. By removing the burden of complex networks of suppliers and data and providing a simplified approach, organizations can better harness both structured and unstructured data to drive meaningful results.

One example is the unique connection between content, data, and AI that Veeva provides. Veeva recently introduced AI agents that will help check the quality of content as it’s reviewed, allow sales reps to ensure accuracy and compliance in free text call notes, and generate optimized actions when pre-planning sales calls.

Connecting siloed teams

The power of a dedicated industry platform goes beyond data and AI. Internal operations, physicians, and patients all see a boost. In today’s world, medtech organizations often struggle to understand fundamental questions about how they engage. Was a clinical lead in my physician’s office last week? Are marketing and sales aligned on the best messaging based on customer journey? Is my interaction maximizing ROI?

Veeva’s industry-focused Vault Platform connects sales, medical, and marketing through an approach tailored for medtech. With shared data, content, and AI agents coordinating and streamlining complex industry processes and ensuring customer centricity has never been more seamless. For example, customers who send compliant emails through Vault CRM see open rates three times higher than with other platforms, while maintaining integrity to claims and supporting data.

The time to act is now

Medtech is ready for change and should partner with technology providers committed to delivering ROI and improved efficiency. Industry focus, pragmatic development, and solutions that bring teams together are critical for medtech to drive speed to market, revenue, and efficiencies.

Learn more about how key advantages of a purpose-built CRM solution position your medtech organization for long-term success.