Published on: Jun 9, 2021 2:43:03 PM by Jenny Herritz
Updated on: November 7, 2024
In the first critical months a biopharmaceutical product is in-market, stakeholders need accessible, reliable information to make solid assessments and identify potential course corrections. Without a data strategy in place well before launch, data can come from a lot of different systems and it is difficult, if not impossible, to make sense of it. This can lead to unsubstantiated decisions and missed opportunities.
When should you develop your data strategy and how do you do it? We recommend developing a practical strategy as early as 18 months prior to launch. This is intentionally early in an effort to prevent “Shopping Cart Syndrome.” A data strategy should be in place before people in the organization feel pressured to rapid-buy solutions that ultimately don’t meet the information needs of the organization.
We’re not talking about a monolithic head-in-the-clouds strategy project. Instead, develop your data strategy incrementally, consistently adjusting it as the business evolves. Use it to onboard and align new stakeholders and to prevent siloed decision-making and susceptibility to compelling vendor pitches that result in duplicative solutions. The goal is to establish an appropriate level of discipline around managing cross-functional requirements, harmonizing solutions, adhering to timelines, and making investments in expensive technology and third parties.
Below we’ve provided a Commercial Data Infrastructure Checklist for you to consider as you contemplate your data strategy.
✔️ What factors are critical to the success of your launch? How will you gain visibility into your progress toward achieving those factors?
✔️ What cross-functional expectations does the organization have regarding the availability, usage, and support of the data? How will you prevent “information silos” or competing sources of truth?
✔️ As the drug manufacturer, how will you gain visibility into how your drug is being prescribed and adopted in the field? Are the data elements you need to gain insight into the channel and prescribing patterns part of the evaluation process and contracting with your channel partners?
✔️ Are there purchased data sets that will enhance your understanding of prescribers and thought leaders, the dialog regarding the disease state, or the unmet need your drug seeks to fill?
✔️ Have you thought through what “data ownership” means to your organization? What “data ownership” means to your channel and data partners and how their stance affects your usage/portability of that data?
✔️ Have you planned the scope and implementation timing of your analytics program to align with business milestones and data availability?
✔️ Do you have a team established to coordinate between your organization, the implementation of commercial systems, and the data requested of channel partners?
✔️ What is your vision for supporting and enhancing analytics in the organization? Do you expect to build this capability in-house, outsource it, or evolve it over time?
✔️ What criteria will you use to evaluate potential vendors and solutions?
Are you able to check everything off this list? If not, we welcome any questions you have:
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Jenny is a Principal with SVA Consulting, a member of the SVA family of companies. In her role as a business and technology advisor, Jenny specializes in helping companies achieve their goals by effectively leveraging their business systems and information.
