Balancing Remote working & compliant HCP Engagement in Pharma Industry

Remote work is changing everything, from how we approach work-life balance to the ways we communicate and even how we measure productivity & Pharma Sales Reps are no different than other industry. A remote job doesn’t have a one-size-fits-all description. It may take many various shapes based on a firm’s size, stage, and ideology, and it will evolve as the company grows.

It refers to a style of working that allows employees to work outside of a regular office setting.  Work does not have to be completed in a certain location to be effective, People have the freedom to plan their days in such a way that both their professional and personal life may flourish.

Instead of going to an office every day to work from a certain workstation, remote employees may complete tasks and meet their objectives wherever they choose. Under this definition, remote employees skip the daily commute to the office and work from wherever they please which gives them better work-life balance.

The popularity of remote work is skyrocketing all around the world. Although businesses have been sluggish to embrace remote work, the COVID-19 epidemic has unintentionally demonstrated how technology may enable employees to work at equal levels of productivity even when they are not in the office.

People may now work from home, in coffee shops, or co-working spaces thanks to video conferencing, screen sharing, intranets, and chat applications, allowing them to collaborate across countries and time zones. Recent research indicated that 70% of professionals work remotely at least one day every week, and 53% work for at least half of the week.

That suggests that the vast majority of office workers have attempted working remotely at some point. Employers are increasingly providing employees with the chance to work outside the workplace.

Read More: How AI Technology is Affecting Pharma: The Future of Medicine or a Tool for Big Pharma?

Of course, much of the increase of remote work may be traced to the equally rapid advancement of technology. Artificial Intelligence (AI) can aid in the implementation of a remote work strategy manage remote work techniques and boost workflow efficiency.

Video conferencing is one of the most useful tools for achieving smooth remote work. Out-of-office workers can see and chat to each other in real time from anywhere with an internet connection, making it the next best thing to a face-to-face meeting.

How do people work remotely?

Working remotely may be done in a variety of ways, but success requires the appropriate balance of culture, practices, and technology.

• Reliable Internet: Remote work depends heavily on fast and reliable Internet for video conferencing, real-time collaboration, and access to SaaS products.
• Communication and collaboration tools: Remote workers need to collaborate with each other via team chat, video conferencing, file sharing, and project management software.
• Strong culture: High-performing remote teams have cultures built on trust and teamwork, and are typically focused more on results than hours worked. This culture is built on the back of supportive management that understands the benefits that remote workers provide to their business.

There are certainly some downsides to working from home. Working from home, for example, will limit direct encounters between coworkers. However, the Internet has solved the problem. For the time being, individuals from all over the world may easily communicate and collaborate over long distances.

Another disadvantage is that external circumstances may cause some people to become distracted from their tasks. This necessitates employees being acutely aware of what they should and should not do in their paid positions.

For many people, working from home is far more convenient. Employees may save a significant amount of time and money by not having to travel as frequently, which means they will have more time for work and themselves. Traveling less will also assist to lessen traffic congestion and pollution in our environment.

Furthermore, working at home does not imply being inside all day; people can work in their garden or lawn, or wherever they feel most comfortable. Furthermore, employees are less stressed since they have control over when they work and when they rest. These factors will aid in delivering superior work performance. Digital work processes are becoming more prevalent, and some areas of daily work are unimaginable without them.

The step to making the permanent transition from a regular office employment to remote work is often lower than one might assume. Even without true home-based employment, new software solutions can bring huge advantages and process simplification in firms that were not created for this in the past.

Challenges of Remote Working in Pharma Marketing

However, this same may not be applicable to Pharma Sales Representatives as their work predominantly depends on how effectively they engage with healthcare practitioners (HCPs). This effective HCP Engagement predominantly determines how successful your appointments will be.

Eventually, determining your productivity for the allocated area. Improving your HCP engagement in a remote environment is very tricky place to be in. As physicians are very selective to respond to the communications sent to them.

As the data shows 80% of emails to HCPs go unread and using email as a primary communication channel may not be the wise choice to opt for effective communication. The entire success of a Pharma Rep for effective communication is based on how you reach out to them.

Based on research Physicians are most likely to check their mobiles for effective communication. And using a text-based solution is most ideal way to communicate with healthcare practitioners. Surprisingly, SMS provides 82% better engagement rates than the traditional email-based channel and can increase productivity significantly.

However, all these communications also need to be compliant to the policies and that is where solutions like Rich text Messaging shines. As using rich text messaging pharma reps can enable compliant text messaging services between pharma representatives and physicians for effective HCP engagement.

Read More: Use of technology in Pharma Marketing its trends in 2022

A Simple Solution to Overcome Challenges Faced in Pharma Marketing

Zing Communication Module provides frictionless HCP engagement through native text channel. This provides features such as compliant enabled text messaging that embraces existing channels of communication. Zing also enables features such as help providing resources & can be feed directly to the CRM.

The major feature of Zing that it does not requires additional sign-ups or installs for the HCPs and it’s a platform agnostic. This eliminates all barriers & resistance from physicians, as they don’t have to take any additional steps for frictionless communication.

A simple and easy to use solutions which removes the entry barriers are the key for successful communication with physicians and this is what helps pharma reps to establish the first remote communication with Physicians without meeting them and set the ground for the proposal for the product that they are trying to build.

In this remote era pharma sales reps also need to be smart and at the same time compliant enabled and solutions like Zing provides exactly like that to build effective pharma marketing in the remote era. This remote communication also helps in the post pandemic guidelines where reps are required to follow the protocol.