"Bitten by the Digital Bug"

I would be the last person you would trust your technological or digital development to.

Born with 2 left hands, my father used to say, understandable from his frame of mind, a highly skilled perfectionist who could repair and fix anything.

These past few weeks I have spent time in San Francisco, London and Boston and met many people and companies that are looking for the next gem in digitizing health care, new opportunities that will transform the pharmaceutical industry and healthcare.

One thing that struck me whilst interacting with the people leading these start-ups was the infinite optimism everyone demonstrates and the belief in their capabilities and innovative projects. Positive, optimistic spirit coupled with capabilities is a winning formula, certainly if you can start from scratch and do not have to go through a traditional set of processes and established habits.

As a person who is intrigued by progress and finding out new challenges and opportunities, I have been bitten by the digitalization bug.  Convinced even more when I realized it can have an immediately disruptive power and deliver benefits for companies and stakeholders such as patients.

The views expressed here are my own, and I am happy to share why I believe digitalization is a blessing for the pharmaceutical industry.

1. Quantum leaps achieved through history were mostly associated with technological breakthroughs. Consider the effects of fax, e-mail, mobile phones, the internet and the changes it has brought to how we operate. Digitalization is the next platform to transform healthcare
2. Transformation is all about sustainable growth and engagement internally as well as externally. Employee, customer and patient interaction will spark new types of improved outcomes to those utilizing one or compatible platforms
3. Learning when it happens at all levels in the organization unlocks energy, ideas and innovation to the benefit of all employees and customers. Each individual employee can find new ways to express him or herself and to master digitalization to the benefit of patient access, performance outcome and personal development.
4. New sources of data generation will develop through digitalization. In times where outcomes should be linked to concrete performance and budget utilization. More efficient use of private and public funds and resources will be the end result.
5. Adjacencies to innovative pharma products and new sources of business will develop.

I hope by now you are as convinced as I am that digitalization will be the biggest facilitator of further transforming the healthcare sector into being more innovative, productive and solution-focused for patients. It is likely you see even more advantages.

All good,  the question now is how to get started and ensure a fast-track adoption that makes this promise become a reality.

To my own colleagues I have suggested simply: listen, learn, experiment.

That means engage every employee of the organization into idea generation and develop projects that promote and foster learning. Experiments, for a period of time, serve as a learning ground, getting familiar with new tools and different engagement profiles. This entire period should not last too long, maximally a year as experiments and pilots will not make for the quantum leap you are looking for.

We organized pitches for the best experiments so that they were funded for piloting. We also started to organize hackathons and targeted visits with leaders of digital incubators/accelerators.

Very swiftly the entire organizational set up what was needed to embrace, and completely integrate, digitalization into our way of doing business, interacting with patient groups and customers on social media.

All internal functions were enthusiastic and ‘infected’ with the digitalization ‘virus’ so that everyone feels and belongs to this new reality. Undoubtedly integrity and ethics are at the heart of all we do and certainly these values facilitate and advance sustainable progress.

Good ideas and tangible projects can be generated by any of your employees. When it comes to quantum leap breakthroughs, company leaders need to step-up, take a risk, engage with outside partners able to make a difference, and not be a tourist within this landscape.  Convergence is the combination of multiple technologies through digitization. Simple technologies like geo-localization (GPS), messaging and mobile apps are familiar to us now and as such nothing exciting. But combine them to address an unmet need and you can build Uber, a multi-billion dollar global business.  

Co–creation, partnerships, working on new ecosystems are further variations of this theme and offer greater flexibility and opportunity. You won’t have to carry the weight of innovation entirely on your own shoulders.

My team is acting on a regional basis and we are focused on targeted investments with the right business partners - including The Factory, a digital health incubator in Berlin.

Exciting times are ahead for those who embrace uncertainty, ambiguity and change.

And do not forget to wake up with optimistic thoughts every day that you can help create a healthier life for patients.

I would love to hear your views.

M.