Power to the People
Empowered by the Internet, consumers wield much more control over the patient/physician conversation. Forced to manage with
managed care, doctors demand fast service and solutions from pharma, and have no time for sales reps. And with easy availability
and near total transparency of data, payers have further eroded pharma's already fraught negotiating position.
As these changes rapidly transform the healthcare ecosystem—and the ground has only just begun to shift—the pharma industry
has been caught flat-footed. And not just with too many sales reps on the street. It's a much deeper issue than that. In fact,
pharma organizations are structurally ill-suited to the Speed of Change environment.
Pharma companies need to slim down rapidly, and organize themselves in such a way that will maximize critical skill-sets that
will make true market impact (i.e., drug discovery, development, and differentiating sales and promotion—that's it).
The Speed of Change will require pharma to transform in three ways:
- In Information Technology
- In Sales & Marketing
- In R&D
In coming issues of Pharm Exec, I will demonstrate just what needs to be done to develop a truly long-lasting, meaningful, and long-term new commercial model
in the world of Speed of Change.
Bill Drummy is the CEO of Heartbeat Ideas. He can be reached at billd@heartbeatideas.com
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