Gaining Greater Strategic Value from Events

This video provides an in-depth look into how Teva, a global pharmaceutical company, strategically manages its massive volume of commercial and medical events to maximize go-to-market effectiveness. Events are positioned as a crucial component of Teva’s customer engagement model, particularly for launching new products and establishing market presence. The sheer scale of their operation is significant, with the company executing approximately 8,000 events annually, necessitating a highly streamlined and efficient management process to ensure operational success.

The primary challenge Teva faced was achieving harmonization across its diverse, global organizational structure. Operating across different business units—specifically generics, over-the-counter (OTC) products, and specialty/medical products—each unit historically ran its events using disparate approaches and processes. This lack of standardization created complexity and inefficiency. To address this, Teva sought a globally scalable software platform capable of unifying these varied processes under a single, cohesive system. The objective was to make the event management process as easy and streamlined as possible for all stakeholders, from global administrators to field-based sales representatives.

Teva ultimately selected Veeva Event Management, citing its suitability as the best-fitting software solution that offered full integration into their existing CRM infrastructure. The selection criteria were multifaceted, balancing user experience with regulatory necessity. A core requirement was empowering sales representatives in the field—who frequently use iPads—with an easy-to-use tool for organizing and executing events. However, the highest consideration, often overlooked until the end of the selection process, was the system’s capability to ensure complete transparency and regulatory compliance. Teva emphasized that while ease-of-use is critical for adoption, the system’s ability to manage compliance effectively was paramount and should be treated as the foundational requirement.

This case study highlights the critical intersection of commercial strategy, operational efficiency, and regulatory adherence within the life sciences sector. By integrating event management directly into their CRM, Teva aimed not only to simplify field execution but also to build a robust, auditable framework that supports their high volume of market activities while meeting stringent global compliance standards. The successful harmonization across disparate business units (generics, OTC, specialty) demonstrates a strategic move toward leveraging centralized technology to drive consistent, compliant commercial engagement worldwide.

Key Takeaways: • Strategic Importance of Events: Events are not merely logistical tasks but are considered crucial go-to-market activities, serving as the best method for presenting new products and driving customer engagement in the pharmaceutical sector. • Scale Demands Streamlining: Teva manages approximately 8,000 events per year, illustrating the immense operational scale required in large pharma commercial operations, which necessitates highly automated and streamlined management solutions. • Harmonization is Key to Global Efficiency: A major challenge for global organizations like Teva is harmonizing event management processes across different business units (generics, OTC, specialty/medical) that historically operate differently; a centralized platform is essential for consistency. • Integration with CRM is Mandatory: The decision to choose Veeva Event Management was heavily influenced by its capability to be fully integrated into Teva's existing CRM system, ensuring data continuity and maximizing the existing technology investment. • Dual Focus: Usability and Compliance: System selection must balance two critical requirements: ease of use for field representatives (e.g., mobile usability on the iPad) and robust capabilities for transparency and regulatory compliance. • Compliance as the Highest Consideration: While user experience drives adoption, compliance capabilities must be prioritized as the foundational requirement for any regulated enterprise software, ensuring auditability and adherence to global standards. • Empowering the Field: The chosen system must provide sales representatives with an easy, intuitive way to manage events directly from the field, minimizing administrative burden and maximizing time spent on customer engagement. • Centralized Platform for Decentralized Execution: Utilizing a global software platform allows a large organization to maintain centralized control, data integrity, and compliance standards while supporting decentralized execution across various international business units.

Tools/Resources Mentioned:

• Veeva Event Management: The specific software platform chosen by Teva for harmonizing and managing its global events.
• Existing CRM System: The platform into which Veeva Event Management was fully integrated (implied to be Veeva CRM, given the channel and context).
• iPad: Mentioned as the primary device used by sales representatives in the field, highlighting the need for mobile-optimized solutions.

Key Concepts:

• Go-to-Market Activities: Commercial strategies and actions taken to introduce a product or service to a new market, heavily relying on events for initial presentation and engagement.
• Harmonization: The process of standardizing disparate processes, systems, or approaches across different business units or geographies within a large organization to achieve consistency and efficiency.
• Transparency and Compliance: The critical regulatory requirement in the pharmaceutical industry to ensure that all commercial activities, particularly events involving healthcare professionals, are fully documented, auditable, and adhere to industry regulations.

Examples/Case Studies:

• Teva Case Study: Teva, a global pharmaceutical company, successfully implemented Veeva Event Management to harmonize the event processes for its three distinct business units: Generics, OTC, and Medicals/Specialty.
• 8,000 Events Annually: Specific data point illustrating the massive scale of Teva’s reliance on events for customer engagement and product promotion.