Your System Requires Attention

“Your Sonos System Requires Attention” was the subject of the email I received last Tuesday. Sonos announced that the older versions of their speakers will no longer be supported and may not work after May 2020 due to future software updates that are no longer compatible with the early versions. Thank you to all the early adopters like myself that voiced their strong opinions and by Thursday, we received an email from the CEO of Sonos stating they will provide updates to the original versions and they will work…but may not receive the latest technology features due to limitations in the hardware. So, on Tuesday, I had some very expensive book ends for my shelves, and by Thursday I’m back to an awesome speaker system with a possible disappointing surprise in late May of 2020. I may or may not be in the market for some new speakers. I’m not excited about the fact that I may not have the latest features on my Play 5s and Play 3s, but it isn’t the speaker company’s fault. They didn’t sell me an evolving sound system service, they sold me on cool speakers in 2011. Bottomline, technology will continue to evolve.

This experience hits me pretty close to my work life as I see this evolution every day in the life sciences industry.  Pharma and Medical Device manufacturers and their service providers have invested heavily in technology over the years to gain efficiencies and ensure compliance. The cost incurred to maintain those systems on a daily basis isn’t monumental, but the cost to keep them supported and compliant takes a lot of thoughtful effort, time, and unexpected costs. Originally software solutions, and the companies that provide them, were designed on the capabilities of technology when they released a specific version with no guarantees or insight for future requirements. Similar to my speakers, they work now, but maybe I will need to reinvest in the future. Should I expect the company to magically evolve into a sound/content application service provider? Not likely as that is not what they were good at originally nor was that the way the business was designed to operate.

For life science companies, sometimes getting to the latest version of an on-premise solution is just as complicated or even more difficult than replacing the system(s) altogether. The industry is evolving. The focus on innovation is clear, the ability for top pharma/medical device companies as well as SMB (small medium businesses) to perform with agility is a requirement to be successful in this day and age. The industry relies on service providers to act and perform with the same agility that their stakeholders are asking of them. 

I have been in the technology industry for over 10 years serving the life science industry, but new at Veeva Systems. This past week, I attended our global kick off for 2020/21 and I am very excited and proud to be a part of a company with a culture that is committed to customer success.  Veeva's focus and dedication on building the Industry Cloud for Life Sciences is amazing. I am so proud to be a part of an organization that is 100% committed to their vision and values and continues to prove it over and over again and I'm loving it!

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