Digital transformation in pharma slow moving, study suggests

The study, undertaken by marketing consultancy Simon-Kucher & Partners shows that 59% of pharma, medtech and consumer healthcare companies still lack a fully defined digital strategy. Healthcare companies define their strategies using different models. In 56% of cases, a dedicated digital team defines the strategy, while in another 42%, a new or existing commercial team takes on this role. Typically, digital health strategies are initiated by companies’ headquarters; only in rare cases do individual countries or business units act independently. Almost 90% of those surveyed say their company’s headquarters defines the strategy for all business units, and 66% report that the headquarters takes over planning for all geographic levels. However, the case that a strategy is applied at both geographical and organisational levels, only occurs to 14% of respondents who already have a defined strategy. Over half of the companies in this category see themselves as digital front runners in the industry. Most healthcare companies with dedicated digital teams are satisfied with their defined strategies. However, they often fail to implement and apply them effectively due to a lack of resources and insufficient staffing capacity. In contrast, when integrated commercial teams take care of the issue, 5% of the companies surveyed said they were dissatisfied.