Keep taking the tablets
pharmafile | October 13, 2011 | Feature | Sales and Marketing | ipad, tablet pc
Online giant Amazon has just launched Fire, its rival to Apple’s trendsetting iPad, upping the ante in the ‘tablet’ market. Amazon hopes to break Apple’s grip on the tablet market with its much cheaper, but smaller rival.
There has been strong interest in pharma using iPads for sales reps since they were first launched in April 2010, though their adoption is by no means universal. The appeal of the iPad (and other tablets to a lesser extent) is undoubtedly not just because of its ability to communicate complex medical detailing information, but because of its sheer novelty value and appeal as a gadget.
There aren’t any figures for just how far iPads and tablets have penetrated into the salesforce market, but it is clear that some companies see them as a major boon for the sector. Abbott is one company which went public with its adoption of iPads.
In December 2010 it announced that its US salesforces would be issued with 1,000 3G-enabled iPads following a successful pilot.
Then in March this year the Pharmalot blog reported on Novartis chief executive Joe Jimenez’s evangelism for the technology.
Jimenez is reported to believe the gadgets will allow sales reps to detail more doctors, save hundreds of hours in administrative time, and make their sales reporting more accurate.
A leaked internal note from Jimenez stated that iPads would allow reps to save 250 hours over the course of the year and allow the entire salesforce to to make an ‘‘incredible 35,000 additional customer visits each year”.
Jimenez concluded: “I know other teams around the world are also making good progress leveraging new technologies to better serve customers. I’d love to hear about more examples – tell me what you’re doing in your area below.”
Popularity with doctors
So what evidence is there to suggest that iPads and other similar devices are helping reps get their message across?
A new survey of US doctors has shown that more than a third have seen reps using an iPad or tablet, but are not overly impressed with the results.
Healthcare market research company Manhattan Research has conducted a survey of electronic-savvy doctors (which it calls ‘ePharma Physicians’). Published in August, the survey found that 38% of doctors surveyed had seen a sales rep use an iPad or other tablet in a face-to-face meeting, but many found it had not enhanced the presentation.
The survey found:
• iPads and other tablet initiatives need to be ‘optimised’: Only one-third of ePharma Physicians who saw sales reps with iPads or other tablets found the experience to be better than with materials or devices such as print materials or laptops.
• Enthusiasm for iPad or other tablets with reps varies by speciality: General surgeons, infectious disease or HIV physicians, anesthesiologists and Obs/Gynae were the specialist groups most likely to agree that sales reps should use tablets for detailing discussions.
• In contrast, dermatologists and rheumatologists were less inclined to feel that tablets are needed for rep meetings.
• Some companies are leading the way in terms of iPad reach: To date, the manufacturers with the highest reach in terms of ePharma Physicians seeing their sales reps with an iPad were Pfizer, AstraZeneca, Merck and Abbott.
“iPads are all the rage for pharma at the moment, which makes sense given the potential of these devices to support intelligent, nimble sales conversations,” said Monique Levy, vice president of research at Manhattan Research.
“Unfortunately, some of the detailing programs that are being rushed out the door are sub-par – really no better than something you’d see on tablet PCs six years ago. Doctors won’t waste their time with these.”
European CRM vendors
In Europe, companies supplying CRM for pharma salesforces have now adapted their software to work on iPads, including cloud-computing specialists Veeva, who have signed up a number of companies to their iRep system on the iPad, including Astellas’s pan-European salesforce. Larger rival Cegedim is also investing heavily in the platform.
In April, Novartis declared itself the first life sciences company in Italy to implement Cegedim’s CRM system, MI for iPad.
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