EMD Serono Simplifying the End to End Content Journey

This video features EMD Serono discussing their strategic initiative to simplify and unify their end-to-end content management lifecycle within the highly regulated pharmaceutical environment. The core objective of the project was to combine two traditionally separate major processes—the Medical, Legal, and Regulatory (MLR) review and approval process, and the storage and distribution functions handled by Digital Asset Management (DAM)—into a single, integrated solution. By leveraging Veeva PromoMats and its associated platform capabilities, EMD Serono sought to create a much more efficient "approval to distribution connection point," thereby accelerating time-to-market for promotional and educational materials.

The implementation of a unified content platform allowed EMD Serono to realize their vision of connecting the entire content journey, starting from the initial brand planning stages and extending all the way through to the final delivery of content into the hands of customers and patients. This integrated approach fosters simplification, enhances operational efficiency, and provides the necessary infrastructure to deliver the right content at scale to the appropriate customer segments. Furthermore, the use of internal portals was emphasized as a key mechanism to promote internal content distribution and maximize the reuse of approved assets across different markets and teams, thereby optimizing the return on investment in content creation.

The benefits derived from launching DAM, PromoMats, and internal portals together are observed across both internal operations and external market performance. Internally, the platform provides the ability to measure and analyze the flow of content, tracking its movement from high-level global campaigns down to specific local campaigns. This analytical capability extends to monitoring how local campaigns are distributed to different segmented customer groups within various markets. This comprehensive internal visibility supports data-driven decision-making regarding content strategy. Externally, the most significant benefit highlighted is the increase in "trace and track reporting." This enhanced reporting capability is crucial for regulatory compliance and allows the organization to feed back internal data on the effectiveness of content in the market, closing the loop between content creation, approval, distribution, and commercial impact.

Key Takeaways: • Unified Content Strategy: The primary strategic goal for EMD Serono was the consolidation of the MLR review/approval process (PromoMats) and the content storage/distribution process (DAM) into a single, cohesive platform, eliminating operational silos. • Optimizing Time-to-Market: Integrating the review and distribution functions creates a highly efficient "approval to distribution connection point," which is critical for reducing cycle times and ensuring that approved pharmaceutical content reaches the market rapidly. • End-to-End Content Visibility: The platform enables a connected content journey that provides visibility from the earliest stages of brand planning through to the final interaction with customers and patients, ensuring strategic alignment across the commercial lifecycle. • Scalability and Efficiency: The unified solution supports simplification and efficiency, allowing the company to deliver the right content at scale to segmented customer groups, which is essential for modern, personalized commercial engagement strategies. • Promoting Internal Content Reuse: Utilizing internal portals is a key tactic to maximize the value of approved assets by promoting internal distribution and reuse of content across different teams and geographies, reducing redundant content creation efforts. • Granular Campaign Analysis: The system provides robust capabilities to measure and analyze content flow, tracking the progression from global campaign concepts down to specific local executions and their distribution to targeted customer segments. • Enhanced Trace and Track Reporting: A major benefit is the increase in detailed trace and track reporting, which is essential for maintaining regulatory compliance (e.g., audit trails required by the FDA/EMA) and providing operational transparency regarding content usage. • Data-Driven Content Effectiveness: The platform facilitates the ability to feedback internal data on the market effectiveness of distributed content, enabling commercial operations teams to continuously optimize content strategy based on real-world performance metrics. • Strategic Platform Integration: The success hinges on the simultaneous launch and integration of DAM, PromoMats, and internal distribution portals, demonstrating the value of a comprehensive, rather than piecemeal, approach to content technology implementation.

Tools/Resources Mentioned:

• Veeva PromoMats
• DAM (Digital Asset Management)
• Internal Portals

Key Concepts:

• End-to-End Content Journey: The holistic process of content creation, review, approval, storage, distribution, and performance analysis, spanning from initial strategic planning to final customer delivery.
• Approval to Distribution Connection Point: The critical handoff point between the regulatory-approved state of a piece of content and its readiness for commercial deployment, which must be streamlined for operational efficiency.
• Trace and Track Reporting: Detailed logging and monitoring of content usage, distribution, and performance, essential for regulatory audits and measuring commercial effectiveness.