ANALYTICAL & LAB EQUIPMENT
Akshay Kapadia CEO of Conexus Solutions
A carefully crafted tool In this Q&A, Akshay Kapadia CEO of Conexus Solutions talks about the Veeva and Salesforce split and how the Veeva platform meets the specific CRM requirements of the healthcare sector Why was the split between long-time collaborators Veeva and Salesforce such a big deal for life-science companies?
The Veeva and Salesforce relationship has been a defining force in life sciences customer relationship management (CRM) for more than 15 years. When Veeva launched in 2007, it built its CRM on Salesforce’s Force. com platform, designing it specifically for the processes and compliance requirements of life sciences companies. This was a pivotal shift that helped move the industry away from traditional on-premises installations and toward a cloud-based, SaaS model. Veeva’s product was an excellent fit for life sciences, and its adoption accelerated quickly. It captured approximately 80 percent of the market in a decade.
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The product now sits on a Veeva designed architecture. For the first time in years, organisations are able to choose a CRM and platform that have been designed specifically for their needs as healthcare specialists. It’s a moment of disruption, but also a chance to reimagine what CRM can deliver – not just as a sales tool, but as a driver of intelligent customer engagement.
What does the life sciences industry need from a CRM that might differ from a standard CRM?
The pharmaceutical and life sciences (P&LS) industry has fundamentally different needs from traditional retail or B2B industries when it comes to CRM. These differences are deeply tied to the way the industry operates, the regulatory landscape, and the
unique roles of its stakeholders. Here are some of the key distinctions: 1. A complex selling model: In most industries, the customer who is sold to is also the one who pays for and uses the product. In pharma, the model is far more complex. The healthcare provider (HCP) is the one who ‘sells’ the product they prescribe but doesn’t buy or consume it. The patient consumes the product but typically doesn’t pay for it. The payer (insurance or government) covers the cost, but neither prescribes nor uses the medication. This dynamic creates a multi-layered engagement model that standard CRMs aren’t built to manage. 2. Regulatory compliance requirements: Standard CRMs operate in relatively