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The following authors contributed to this publication:
- Fran Paradiso-Hardy, Head, Global Medical Communications & Engagement, Astellas
- Brian Falcone, Strategic Business Unit Lead, MedThink SciCom
- Evelyn DeSantis, Director, Research and Publications, phactMI
- Jennifer Riggins, PharmD, President, JSR Medical Affairs consulting and Partnership and Technology Strategist, phactMI
- Donnie Wooten Jr., Head Strategic Medical Content & Omnichannel, Organon
- Clare Jackson, Independent Conultant
- Sarah Clark-Pfister, Senior Director, Head of Medical Excellence and Operations, Global Medical Affairs Rare Disease, Novo Nordisk
- Wendy Fraser, Executive Director, Field Medical Center of Excellence and Global Scientific Training, Merck & Co, Inc.
- Maureen Lloyd, Executive Director, LLOYDMJMC LLC.
- Kate Pietrovito, Senior Director, Clinical Operations, Varian, a Siemens Healthineers Company
- Karen Raines, Medical Information Lead JAPAC, Amgen
- Jessica Santos, Global Head of Compliance & Quality and Data Protection Officer, Oracle Life Sciences
The views expressed in this paper are those of the authors and do not represent their organizations.
Executive Summary
When making clinical decisions, healthcare professionals (HCPs), patients, and payers rely on multiple sources and channels to gather insights into medical data and information. An omnichannel approach enables organizations to coordinate communications across functions, ensuring stakeholders benefit from a personalized, integrated, and holistic experience across these multiple modalities.
Advancing communication using an omnichannel approach is essential due to a rapidly evolving healthcare and medical communication landscape, the increasing volume and complexity of scientific information, and shifting stakeholder preferences for accessing and receiving this information. With this coordinated strategy, Medical Affairs can deliver accurate, unbiased medical content to the appropriate audience through their preferred channels and formats at the optimal moment.
The journey toward true omnichannel engagement will be iterative—involving a gradual evolution as new technological solutions, strategic approaches and innovative processes are adopted—catalyzed through closer cross-functional collaboration. Development remains a high priority for many life sciences organizations but achieving it will be as much about a shift in mindset towards stakeholder-centricity, as it will be about technological capabilities.
This white paper seeks to demystify the term “omnichannel engagement,” outline a pathway to achieving it, clarify the role of Medical Affairs within a broader collaborative framework, establish a vision for the future, and identify the key elements needed for long-term success. It is intended for Medical Affairs professionals across all levels and functions, particularly those involved in brand strategy, external stakeholder engagement—including HCPs, patients, and payers—and medical communications.
About This White Paper
This white paper draws on the collective expertise of ten leading professionals in scientific communications and stakeholder engagement, as well as members of the Medical Affairs Professional Society. Their areas of specialization include medical and scientific communications, omnichannel engagement, digital strategy, and field medical operations.
Key Learnings:
- What omnichannel engagement is—and what it is not, and why cultivating a stakeholder-centric mindset is crucial.
- How the organization-level approach to external engagement is evolving from fragmented, separate activities to an integrated cross-functional strategy, the value this approach brings to organizations, and how the role of Medical Affairs is key.
- The elements needed for future success—such as technologies, modular content, and advanced analytics—before omnichannel goals can become a reality.
Challenges and barriers to implementing a true omnichannel engagement model, along with solutions being developed by various teams. - How MedTech companies are advancing toward omnichannel engagement, with early adopters already reaping the benefits.
- Expert insights on emerging trends, including how omnichannel engagement efforts are likely to evolve with advancements in technologies such as AI.
Introduction
Regulations and the Role of Legal
The expectations of convenience among external stakeholders when engaging with life science organizations have increased in recent years, driven partly by technological advances post-pandemic and the growing number of available communication channels. (5) (6)
At the same time, external stakeholders—such as healthcare professionals (HCPs), patients, and payers —face mounting pressures themselves. HCPs are burdened with rising time constraints and face growing competition for their attention. Patients are taking a more active role in managing their healthcare, and with increasing quantities of information available (including misinformation), finding accurate and appropriate information can be challenging. Not least, payers are under growing pressure to derive and demonstrate maximum value from products. (6)
When these factors are combined with an increasingly complex clinical development pipeline, a crowded publication landscape, a competitive launch environment, and increasingly limited in-person access to HCPs, the need for an improved engagement and communication model becomes clear.
An omnichannel engagement model addresses these challenges by putting the needs of end stakeholders at the center. The goal of omnichannel engagement is to create a personalized experience that is holistic across the company. This requires a coordinated approach across channels and functions that connects individuals with relevant, accurate, and unbiased medical information—delivered at a time that suits them in the channel and format most convenient to their needs. (7)
However, achieving omnichannel engagement is no small task in an industry that has historically been deeply siloed by functional area, with Medical Affairs, Commercial, Corporate and R&D functions operating separately and employing uncoordinated engagement models. To help tackle the challenges, cross-functional collaboration has reached an all-time high and continues to grow. (8) (9)
For the better part of a decade the Commercial function within many organizations has taken the lead in improving and personalizing stakeholder experiences, and in recent years, consulting firms are reporting that efforts are bearing fruit. As reported by McKinsey & Company in 2022, industry leaders implementing analytics-enabled omnichannel engagement models have achieved 5%–10% improvements in stakeholder satisfaction and HCP experiences. (2)
Demystifying Omnichannel Engagement
In the life sciences industries, the term “omnichannel engagement” is often misunderstood. It has yet to be fully realized by any organization in the industry, which may come as encouraging news for those just beginning this journey. Industry executives may equate omnichannel with the use of digital platforms, while others perceive it as offering a wide mix of communication channels. However, this would be more accurately described as achieving progress with multichannel communications rather than being omnichannel (see Figure 2).
Multichannel vs. Omnichannel
Multichannel takes a problem-centric approach, with teams often pushing communications one way—toward external stakeholders—without interactivity and across fragmented channels. A multichannel framework has several disadvantages, as the lack of coordination among touchpoints can lead to:
- Inconsistent messaging
- Frustration or burnout from multiple logins, touchpoints, or seeking the relevant information channel
- Unconnected channels or lengthy waiting times to receive requested information or engagement
What is Omnichannel Engagement?
In contrast, omnichannel engagement focuses on seamless, consistent communication aligned with stakeholder expectations integrated across all touchpoints (see Figure 2 below and the example on the following page). This approach aligns well with stakeholders’ perceptions of an organization as a unified entity rather than a collection of separate functions and their expectations of an integrated approach.
True omnichannel engagement represents a strategic approach that places stakeholder experience at its core, through integration of digital, in-person, and other non-digital engagement channels. Omnichannel is about creating a personalized stakeholder experience where the right information reaches the right individual at the optimal moment, delivered through their preferred channel, format, and cadence to enhance engagement effectiveness. It also includes access to peer-to-peer engagement and allows stakeholders the autonomy to choose their level of participation.
