Shire: Improving Time to Market with an End-to-end Digital Supply Chain

This video provides an in-depth case study of Shire’s implementation of Veeva Vault PromoMats, focusing on how the biopharmaceutical company leveraged the platform to overcome operational challenges stemming from recent mergers and acquisitions (M&A) and accelerate the time to market for promotional content. Shire’s primary hurdle was managing numerous legacy systems and disparate processes, which created a "double burden" for users and hampered efficiency. The strategic decision to implement Vault PromoMats centered on establishing a single source of truth for all users, providing a unified point of contact, and standardizing the underlying commercial processes. This foundational standardization was the key driver in speeding up the delivery of market-ready materials.

The implementation was specifically designed to improve the quality and efficiency of the Commercial, Medical, and Legal (CML) review process. By consolidating the CML workflow within Vault PromoMats, Shire established one standard operating procedure (SOP) across the organization, replacing fragmented legacy processes. A significant functional benefit derived from the system is the ability for users to download and reuse previously approved content. This capability allows commercial teams to repurpose available materials, shifting their focus from the sheer quantity of content production to ensuring the high quality and strategic relevance of the materials being produced.

A major theme highlighted in the case study is the critical importance of change management during the transition. The speaker stressed the need to carefully set user expectations, clarifying that the new system was not a direct replacement for the legacy platform (Zinc Maps), but rather an introduction of new functionality and fundamentally altered processes. Successful adoption required comprehensive training to fully empower users to navigate and utilize the new platform effectively. Furthermore, the change management plan needed to account for shifts in support structures, including changes to the internal support desk operations.

Looking ahead, the case study emphasizes the strategic value of integrating Vault PromoMats with Veeva CRM. This integration is expected to yield greater asset traceability, allowing Shire to accurately monitor how often their materials are used in the market, providing crucial business intelligence. Operationally, the integration significantly speeds up the connection for the field force, ensuring they receive necessary commercial materials much faster. From a regulatory standpoint, the integrated system enhances compliance by enabling the rapid withdrawal or recall of any materials from the market, guaranteeing that only fully compliant and approved content is available for use by sales representatives and other commercial personnel.

Key Takeaways

• Standardization Post-M&A is Crucial: Mergers and acquisitions often result in a proliferation of legacy systems and processes, creating operational friction. Implementing a unified platform like Vault PromoMats is essential to consolidate these systems and eliminate the "double burden" placed on end-users.
• Establish a Single Source of Truth: Centralizing all promotional content and associated review data within one platform provides a unified point of contact for users and ensures process consistency, which is foundational for accelerating time to market.
• Consolidate the CML Review Process: Adopting a single, standardized operating procedure (SOP) for the Commercial, Medical, and Legal (CML) review process across the enterprise drastically improves efficiency and reduces review cycle times compared to managing multiple legacy workflows.
• Prioritize Content Reuse for Quality: The ability to easily download and reuse previously approved content allows commercial teams to repurpose materials. This strategic shift enables users to focus on enhancing the quality and strategic impact of the content rather than spending time on redundant creation efforts.
• Change Management Must Define Scope: When replacing a legacy system (e.g., Zinc Maps), change management must explicitly communicate that the new platform introduces new functionality and processes, rather than simply being a like-for-like replacement. This manages user expectations regarding functional changes.
• User Empowerment Through Training: Comprehensive training is the most important factor in setting user expectations and ensuring full adoption. Users must be fully empowered and comfortable with the new platform's functionality to maximize the investment.
• Integrate for Enhanced Asset Traceability: Integrating Vault PromoMats with Veeva CRM provides critical business intelligence by enabling greater asset traceability, allowing the organization to monitor material usage frequency and effectiveness in the market.
• Accelerate Field Force Deployment: The integration between the content management system and the CRM platform speeds up the delivery of approved materials to the field force, ensuring sales teams have the most current and compliant assets available immediately.
• Ensure Regulatory Compliance via Recall Capability: A key compliance benefit of the centralized system is the ability to quickly withdraw or recall non-compliant or expired materials from the market, ensuring that only "market-ready" content is actively used by the field force.
• Address Support Structure Changes: Successful implementation requires aligning internal support structures, including the support desk, with the new system architecture and functionality to provide effective user assistance post-launch.

Tools/Resources Mentioned

• Veeva Vault PromoMats: The core platform used for managing and reviewing promotional content.
• Veeva CRM: The system integrated with Vault PromoMats to facilitate asset deployment and traceability for the field force.
• Zinc Maps: The legacy system that Vault PromoMats replaced at Shire.

Key Concepts

• Time to Market: The speed at which promotional materials are reviewed, approved, and deployed to the field force and market.
• CML Process (Commercial, Medical, Legal Review): The mandatory regulatory review workflow for all pharmaceutical promotional content.
• Single Source of Truth: A centralized repository where all data and content reside, ensuring consistency and accuracy across the organization.
• Asset Traceability: The ability to track the usage, deployment, and effectiveness of promotional materials once they are in the market.