- Please discuss the 4 biggest trends in data for the life sciences.
The biggest data trends in Life Sciences today, in particular from a commercial perspective, include:
1) Access – getting access to new and growing data sources
2) Connectivity – using these new data sources to augment traditional data sources like purchased data or CRM data
3) AI – using artificial or augmented intelligence such as machine learning to interpret and integrate the data to evolve at a rate that matches the data’s growth (and variability)
4) Security – ensuring individual and aggregated data sources have privacy and security considerations
- What would be the one thing key for a Life Sciences company to do in 2018?
The adoption of big data and analytics strategies will continue across the Life Sciences industry in 2018. However, a larger focus should be placed on delivering additional value with advanced and predictive analytics. This will fundamentally change the way Life Sciences companies do business. With data intelligence platforms being leveraged to strengthen and guide go-to-market strategies, goals and incentives, Sales, Marketing and Medical Affairs functions will benefit from a more acutely data-driven approach to customer profiling, pipeline nurturing and overall customer engagement.
- What should a Life Science company look for in a data vendor?
Many data sources are becoming commoditized or even challenged by the democratization of healthcare data in the public realm. A data vendor can no longer just sell data. They have to sell solutions that provide interoperability with other solutions, and that provide an easy way (either directly or through a partnership) to extract value and insights from the data. Life sciences companies should look for solutions partners who can bring this added value. A great example is our partnership with DRG (Decision Resources Group) – where we have collaborated for a joint solution called Provider Market Access. The offering is a Healthcare Provider (HCP), Healthcare Organization (HCO)-centric analytics suite that combines the advanced capabilities of Zephyr Illuminate™ (our Insights-as-a-Service platform) with DRG’s rich market access data. Together we are helping our customers improve account planning, physician engagement and sales effectiveness by operationalizing this valuable data and creating pull-through effectiveness for commercial teams.
- What are the three best practices for leveraging big data and AI moving forward?
To succeed in this rugged healthcare landscape, Life Sciences companies must learn to put their trust in big data to work on every level. To do that, they need to leverage all the data available and, through machine learning, exact insights that impact their daily activities and their bottom line. To make this a reality, Life Sciences companies need to follow three simple rules:
- Take a global view. Look at all the data available to you –internal, external, proprietary, even those sources that may not seem immediately important.
- Leverage domain expertise. In particular where AI or “Augmented Intelligence” is concerned, it’s important to gather, clean and connect data with domain expertise. This is the first step to then extract insights and answers to questions you haven’t asked yet.
- Embrace the machines – AI/Machine Learning will help to decipher the data and give you real time intelligence for better decision-making
About Zephyr Health
Zephyr Health is a partner for Life Sciences companies who strive to organize and visualize global health data to better connect their therapies. To learn more, please visit www.zephyrhealth.com.