Craig Ackerman and Tray Chamberlin, Alexander Group07.19.22
The healthcare industry has always been slow to embrace technology and digital solutions. Case in point: EHR systems have been in existence since the 1970s but have only become widely adopted in healthcare in the last 10 years. Despite dragging their feet, commercial healthcare organizations are finally starting to transform digitally, not only in the way they interact with customers and support their sellers, but the solutions they offer to clients.
During the pandemic’s early stages, the healthcare community struggled. Physicians turned to FaceTime to get technical support on products they were using; clinicians embraced telehealth solutions to see their patients; and Teams, ZOOM, and WebEx became the preferred communications tools within and outside of hospitals. The physical world of the hospital turned into a quasi-virtual world. One of the most important lessons learned from the pandemic is that digital healthcare is here to stay.
Clinicians have found their own set of reasons to embrace technology. Digital methods have enhanced operations and care by reducing medication errors, improving hospital staffing accuracy, and facilitating preventative care. Thanks to the pandemic, clinicians have grown more comfortable interacting digitally with vendors, and some actually prefer it. A study conducted by Alexander Group found that hospital executives utilize vendor websites as their preferred option for obtaining product information.
In harmony with patients and clinicians, healthcare vendors value technology for their own unique purposes. E-commerce, digital marketing, and service portals all have helped vendors increase customer engagement and drive sales. Data and analytic insights have also been a handy tool to deploy methods such as behavioral targeting, predictive analytics, and application software. Patients, clinicians, and healthcare vendors have all shifted their preferences toward digital methods. There is no turning back now.
While this is a tried-and-true method, it does not align with evolving customer expectations. Alexander Group’s survey found that a company’s brand and product offering are ranked four times higher in importance than a convincing sales representative when it comes to making purchasing decisions. Commercial organizations must loosen their grip on the idea of traditional sales representatives, and instead focus their efforts on building their brand and digital capabilities. Customers are not asking for exclusively digital interactions, but instead for an omnichannel experience that allows customers to determine how, where, and when they want to interact.
To successfully build a digital organization, it’s important to determine a destination, lay out a roadmap, and start to make changes. With a detailed vision and desired future state, the organization can align on a common goal. From there, the organization must create a multi-year change plan and launch work streams that will help it reach this goal. To put this plan in action, leaders can deploy small-scale applications or step-ladder change to prepare for adoption of future ways of working. Leveraging change agents and success stories is helpful to fund, scale, and expand the corporate transformation.
Digital commercial roadmaps can include many initiatives including marketing automation, lead generation, virtual case coverage, and e-commerce. Digital transformation is not only necessary to support evolving customer expectations, but is imperative to the success of digital health products in which many medtech companies are investing. To ensure both current and future success, healthcare can no longer rely on the classic commercial and delivery models. The industry must ride the digital wave in order to survive.
Craig Ackerman is a principal in the Alexander Group’s Atlanta office and leads the firm’s Medical Device practice. Areas of focus in his consulting work include market segmentation, customer coverage models, sales process effectiveness, sales job design, quota setting, and incentive compensation design. Craig works with sales organizations to develop actionable go-to-market strategies across many industries, including medical devices, biotechnology, financial services, and high technology. Before joining the Alexander Group, Craig held leadership positions in sales and marketing with major telecommunication and distribution companies, and as a management consultant with a Big 5 firm. Craig has extensive expertise in business process improvement, operational support systems ,and customer acquisition strategies. He earned a bachelor of science degree from Florida International University and an MBA from the Goizueta School of Business at Emory University.
Tray Chamberlin is a principal in the Alexander Group’s Atlanta office and co-leads the Healthcare practice in Pharmaceuticals and Health Tech. During his tenure with the firm, he has worked on projects in sales compensation, business strategy, sales deployment, sales coverage, and quota development. Tray’s experience with Alexander Group spans international markets, as well as companies across several of the firm’s key industries, including medical device, pharmaceuticals, life sciences, financial services, BPO, and technology services. Tray is also a member of the firm’s Pharma/Medical Device practice. Before joining the Alexander Group, Tray worked as a senior manager in a technology sales organization, where he partnered with Fortune 500 clients to optimize technology project outcomes. These clients represented multiple industries including healthcare, government services, financial services, consumer goods, and logistics. Tray was specifically responsible for sales strategy and analytics as well as handling key global accounts. Tray earned an MBA from the Scheller College of Business, Georgia Institute of Technology, as well as dual bachelor’s degrees from the University of Georgia’s Terry College of Business and the Grady School of Journalism. Tray also holds a Lean Six Sigma Black Belt certification and is a Certified Sales Compensation Professional (CSCP), WorldatWork.
During the pandemic’s early stages, the healthcare community struggled. Physicians turned to FaceTime to get technical support on products they were using; clinicians embraced telehealth solutions to see their patients; and Teams, ZOOM, and WebEx became the preferred communications tools within and outside of hospitals. The physical world of the hospital turned into a quasi-virtual world. One of the most important lessons learned from the pandemic is that digital healthcare is here to stay.
The Shift to Digital Methods
The patients, clinicians, and healthcare vendors that comprise the healthcare industry each have different motives for making digital practices more permanent. Patients enjoyed the increased access to clinicians that telehealth options offered. Electronic health records and practice management systems gave patients greater visibility into their healthcare and the opportunity to communicate with clinicians more easily. Technology also helped fuel the expansion of retail clinics and wearable device options, allowing patients to take more control of their health.Clinicians have found their own set of reasons to embrace technology. Digital methods have enhanced operations and care by reducing medication errors, improving hospital staffing accuracy, and facilitating preventative care. Thanks to the pandemic, clinicians have grown more comfortable interacting digitally with vendors, and some actually prefer it. A study conducted by Alexander Group found that hospital executives utilize vendor websites as their preferred option for obtaining product information.
In harmony with patients and clinicians, healthcare vendors value technology for their own unique purposes. E-commerce, digital marketing, and service portals all have helped vendors increase customer engagement and drive sales. Data and analytic insights have also been a handy tool to deploy methods such as behavioral targeting, predictive analytics, and application software. Patients, clinicians, and healthcare vendors have all shifted their preferences toward digital methods. There is no turning back now.
Riding the Digital Wave
To keep up with this digital transformation wave, medtech companies must accelerate their digital vision. Most commercial spending currently is focused on in-person models and dependent on a traditional sales representative.While this is a tried-and-true method, it does not align with evolving customer expectations. Alexander Group’s survey found that a company’s brand and product offering are ranked four times higher in importance than a convincing sales representative when it comes to making purchasing decisions. Commercial organizations must loosen their grip on the idea of traditional sales representatives, and instead focus their efforts on building their brand and digital capabilities. Customers are not asking for exclusively digital interactions, but instead for an omnichannel experience that allows customers to determine how, where, and when they want to interact.
To successfully build a digital organization, it’s important to determine a destination, lay out a roadmap, and start to make changes. With a detailed vision and desired future state, the organization can align on a common goal. From there, the organization must create a multi-year change plan and launch work streams that will help it reach this goal. To put this plan in action, leaders can deploy small-scale applications or step-ladder change to prepare for adoption of future ways of working. Leveraging change agents and success stories is helpful to fund, scale, and expand the corporate transformation.
Digital commercial roadmaps can include many initiatives including marketing automation, lead generation, virtual case coverage, and e-commerce. Digital transformation is not only necessary to support evolving customer expectations, but is imperative to the success of digital health products in which many medtech companies are investing. To ensure both current and future success, healthcare can no longer rely on the classic commercial and delivery models. The industry must ride the digital wave in order to survive.
Craig Ackerman is a principal in the Alexander Group’s Atlanta office and leads the firm’s Medical Device practice. Areas of focus in his consulting work include market segmentation, customer coverage models, sales process effectiveness, sales job design, quota setting, and incentive compensation design. Craig works with sales organizations to develop actionable go-to-market strategies across many industries, including medical devices, biotechnology, financial services, and high technology. Before joining the Alexander Group, Craig held leadership positions in sales and marketing with major telecommunication and distribution companies, and as a management consultant with a Big 5 firm. Craig has extensive expertise in business process improvement, operational support systems ,and customer acquisition strategies. He earned a bachelor of science degree from Florida International University and an MBA from the Goizueta School of Business at Emory University.
Tray Chamberlin is a principal in the Alexander Group’s Atlanta office and co-leads the Healthcare practice in Pharmaceuticals and Health Tech. During his tenure with the firm, he has worked on projects in sales compensation, business strategy, sales deployment, sales coverage, and quota development. Tray’s experience with Alexander Group spans international markets, as well as companies across several of the firm’s key industries, including medical device, pharmaceuticals, life sciences, financial services, BPO, and technology services. Tray is also a member of the firm’s Pharma/Medical Device practice. Before joining the Alexander Group, Tray worked as a senior manager in a technology sales organization, where he partnered with Fortune 500 clients to optimize technology project outcomes. These clients represented multiple industries including healthcare, government services, financial services, consumer goods, and logistics. Tray was specifically responsible for sales strategy and analytics as well as handling key global accounts. Tray earned an MBA from the Scheller College of Business, Georgia Institute of Technology, as well as dual bachelor’s degrees from the University of Georgia’s Terry College of Business and the Grady School of Journalism. Tray also holds a Lean Six Sigma Black Belt certification and is a Certified Sales Compensation Professional (CSCP), WorldatWork.
