Anette leads the Pharma and Healthcare industry for the International region and has been with Publicis Sapient for 11 years. She is responsible for growing and managing a client portfolio, shaping the digital business transformation programs with her clients and leading international cross-functional teams. She is excited to have the opportunity to work with her customers on shaping a culture and operating model that creates solutions, giving people a healthier and longer life. Anette is located in Zürich, Switzerland.

The COVID-19 crisis and its impact on the health industry has been at least of the same significance that the Financial Crisis had on the Finance industry leading to an exponential acceleration of digital business transformation. While the COVID-19 crisis has affected everyone, the health industry has been in the eye of the storm.

Looking, for example, at the pharma industry, their drug development process was affected by delays in clinical trials as hospitals could often not focus on trial execution. Additionally, travel restrictions prevented participants from traveling to trial locations. This has led to an increased interest in virtualization approaches in the clinical trial space, and we have seen many companies embrace digital as a way to keep pace with innovation. As a result, clinical research has seen a reform. In the pre-COVID19 world there had been a fierce competitive race in the drug development process, however, we’re seeing partnerships and collaboration amongst former rival companies emerging.

Whereas we have already seen pre-COVID19 healthcare professionals demanding meaningful digital interaction possibilities with pharma companies, this has now become a key focus area, too. For example, creating service portals, digital conference formats or virtual solutions to empower sales representatives. 

From a healthcare provider’s perspective, the impact has been significant.

We also discovered that patients would like HCPs to have online access to their records. And the behavior shift has been most significant in the age group 65+.

Many companies have embraced Salesforce technologies to transform different aspects of their business over the past year. In terms of clinical trials, we have seen companies leverage Marketing Cloud to simplify their recruitment efforts and ensure diversity within their trials, while serving as a communication solution. Many are also leveraging Service Cloud to serve as their core support engine, as well as to gather the data sets required for their patients.

Salesforce Health Cloud is tapping into this demand of patients to be able to allow HCPs to provide online access to their records, digitally manage their medical appointments and treatment journeys, and get access to telehealth services.

One exciting project we have led is around the creation of a new patient centric solution in Germany. One forward thinking hospital was selected to pilot a new platform. The hospital chose Salesforce as the core technology provider to integrate with their existing information systems and enlisted Publicis Sapient to bring the vision to life. After exploratory discussions with various stakeholders, a solution was created and deployed which leverages multiple technologies. Salesforce Health Cloud was brought in to serve as the core platform with custom front-end development. MuleSoft was deployed on the back end to interface with the hospital information systems and other players along the patient treatment journey. Community Cloud was also used to provide customer-facing services. 

With this approach, hospitals can improve planning and offer more personalized treatment and interactions, resulting in a higher level of patient care.

In order to partner together successfully, we need to connect early and often to identify challenges and create tailored solutions. One opportunity we can leverage is building demos together and co-presenting to our clients through a unified approach.

Our two companies were built on similar cultural values. Both companies lead with inclusive collaboration that is open and honest. This free exchange of information and communication transparency allows us to better work together and embrace the core philosophy of continuing to put our customers and their needs at the center of each engagement.