Tact.ai and BASE life science Partner to Help Field Teams Digitize and Accelerate New Models of HCP Engagement

Tact.ai, the human-friendly CRM company, and BASE life science, a specialist in sales and marketing innovation for pharmaceutical and life sciences companies, announced a new partnership designed to help life science brands improve engagement with health care professionals (HCPs).

The model and ways pharmaceutical companies interact with HCPs have been dramatically altered since the start of COVID-19. While restrictions are changing daily for who can enter hospitals and facilities, the preferred methods of communication and contact preferences among HCPs may have changed for good. In a study from McKinsey analyzing feedback from 900 physicians throughout five European countries, there was a drop of 70 percent in the average number of in-person contacts between HCPs and pharma reps from the previous year. The study also included a survey conducted in May 2020 -- and again during Sept. later that year -- on engagement preferences of HCPs by pharma companies, pointing out that while 16 percent want more interaction with reps, nearly 20 percent do not want to receive emails from pharma brands at all. While 28 percent were interested in hearing about perspectives on adapting to more digital and remote ways of working from pharma companies, 27 percent were not interested in hearing such perspectives. The study also noted that nearly 15 percent are not willing to accept regular visits from pharma companies at all.

One clear takeaway is that the existing commercial model may need adjustments and that there may not be a one-size-fits-all approach applicable for HCP engagement.

Tact’s AI-powered platform helps global pharma brands capture these preferences in a frictionless way and sync them into CRMs so every customer interaction can be tracked, analyzed and implemented in each motion a rep takes with HCPs. Its Tact Assistant offers field teams a unified front-end for all their tools, designed with advanced pre-call-planning capabilities, activity and data entry on-the-fly and other productivity tools to help reps increase target coverage and effectiveness. Reps can utilize voice, text or touch to capture customer feedback, log activities immediately and receive insights and notifications that help them deliver personalized interactions, on any channel. Tact was named as a Voice-Driven Sales App Sample Vendor in Gartner’s Hype Cycle for Life Sciences Commercial Operations, 2020 (a Gartner subscription is required to access this report).

“When effectively deployed, such implementations can improve individual productivity by offering a more accessible alternative for documenting sales activities and outcomes, thus freeing up more time for selling,” Gartner reports.

Along with its ability to help commercial teams, Tact.ai also helps Medical Affairs teams with its solution for medical science liaisons(MSLs) and those looking to foster better engagement with key opinion leaders, patients or HCPs. Tact Portal offers a secure, personalized and branded workspace to enable asynchronous interactions, allowing customers to get to the information and education they need, on their own schedule, outside of an email or face-to-face meeting.

“We designed the Tact platform to meet the needs of sales organizations in many industries, but few industries have experienced an acceleration in innovation as rapidly as life sciences,” said Chuck Ganapathi, founder, and CEO of Tact.ai. “BASE is one of the unique experts in the field and work exclusively with world-class customers and solution providers focused on helping enrich life sciences. We’re very excited about this partnership and collaboration, to both better understand the changing needs of the industry and to help deliver solutions that increase engagement with their customers.”

BASE has been coaching life sciences organizations through this transition. BASE is an innovative and forward-thinking technology, product, and service consultancy specialized in creating real business value from digital platforms and data. Working with Tact.ai, BASE will show how to connect with the customer they want to reach by understanding the wants and needs of every contact in a deeper way.

“Base has always been at the forefront of technology,” said Baptiste Mercier, Head of the Customer Engagement Practice at BASE life science. “As the first Veeva partner in the Nordic region and later the one of the first IQVIAOCE implementation partners, we have always sought out the most innovative technologies for life science – with Tact.ai as another brilliant example. The life science industry is awash in data, which provides the raw fuel for the application of AI, but Tact.ai provides the technology to make this data immediately and practically useful.”

The preeminent advisor to life science brands, BASE’s specialties include customer engagement, quality, regulatory, compliance, and clinical data management. Headquartered in Denmark, BASE has offices in Switzerland, Spain, and Germany to go along with Tact.ai’s European headquarters in Paris, France.

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Sources:
Gartner “Hype Cycle for Life Science Commercial Operations,2020,” Animesh Gandhi, Michael Shanler, 6 August 2020

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