Data Analytics: Present and Future of the Health Sector

Q: How representative is the healthcare industry in Multiplica’s multisectoral approach?

A: Multiplica is a Spanish company that joined the market 20 years ago to help companies migrate to the digital world through design and web strategies. As technology and networks have advanced, so has Multiplica. Now, we help clients to be relevant within the digital world. There are several ways in which we do this but there are two main paths. The first is focused on digital transformation, where we help our clients with end-to-end solutions. We do preliminary research to evaluate what the company needs. We also help them to create digital experiences, from marketing and automation to customized content. 

The health sector is one of our priorities, with a particularly strong focus on the pharmaceutical industry. On the last five years, that industry took digitalization more seriously. However, being a highly regulated industry with high compliance standards and with traditional sales process, digital transformation has not been that smooth and even necessary. When the pandemic hit, communication with doctors was limited. Most labs began to implement their digital multichannel strategies but they were disorganized. Since March, some pharmaceutical companies started migrating their tools to more smart ones, that way they can implement multichannel strategies, which does not deliver the best result. It seems like the industry still does not understand the digital realm well. Doctors are already overwhelmed, as they went from receiving five or six emails from a lab to receiving 150 emails a week and invitations to dozens of webinars. Laboratories began to lose relevance as they saturated doctors with information. 

At Multiplica we help Big Pharma companies to keep up with the times by understanding how each doctor operates, which channels they use to consume information, at what times and what emotion is generated by reading their information. An oncologist and a gastroenterologist consume completely different information in different ways. Everything is focused on how, when and what information gets to doctors. We customize information according to the doctor's profile. Most labs or companies are adopting could solutions, specialized CRM, automation or machine learning tools and we help them get the most out of them, too.

Once we finish deploying the infrastructure, we start the optimization stage. We can make a hyper-segmentation according to the behavioral habits of each doctor and how and what content they consume. We call this segmentation 20/20 which, in addition to taking into account the traditional factors, we now include variables from the digital realm and the HCP Journey to achieve a relevant interaction for digital marketing teams but also for the sales representatives. Labs can thus address personalized messages to doctors, which makes their brand their main referral. 

Q: Multiplica has worked with clients ranging from pharmaceuticals to hospitals. Why is the company the best ally for these companies?

A: We fully understand the needs, the pains and we know which tools and the process are needed to achieve a successful implementation. Likewise, we have the know-how regarding the industry, doctors and patients. We have experience and presence in the pharma sector and in different markets. Getting to know the doctor is super important and we are one of the few companies with a full understanding of the digital perspective. 

A few months ago, a big pharma launched a platform for patients of a very specific condition. It spent around MX$4 million (US$200,000) and by the fourth month of use, 100 percent of the users had dropped out of the platform. Many companies, especially in the health sector, launch digital projects without knowing the users, their context nor if the solution will solve their problem, which is really important. If a company has digital platforms that are not performing well, Multiplica has a multidisciplinary agile team with the ability to transform itself as the project progresses. We first understand and evaluate what the problem is, and then design an ideal solution to it.

Q: What is the potential of the healthcare industry to keep growing in Mexico and how are you collaborating on this goal?

A: Many pharma labs have been looking at us to speed up their sales. Due to the pandemic, sales have slowed down for all companies. We developed a platform called Sales Acceleration that seeks to bring together all sources of information, which are displayed in dashboards boost with machine learning algorithms for the sales force so they can decide which channel to use to get in touch with the doctor and the information they should send to them according to our recommendations pushed by our AI. This optimizes marketing strategies and makes it easier for the sales force to gain the physicians’ adoption.   

Multichannel strategies for pharma are one of the industry's priorities and everything is focused on mailing and Salesforce. Another factor to consider is marketing budgets. In the past, companies invested 80 percent of their budget in traditional media and 20 percent in digital. Today, it is completely the opposite.

Q: What should the health industry focus on in terms of training its sales force and how do you help?

A: With labs, we believe the role of sales representatives will continue to be crucial. In a study we carried out to find the variables that most influence sales, we found that the most important is the relationship of the sales representatives with the doctor. Although we are all migrating to a digital world, these relationships remain vital. Human connections are an essential part of the sales process.

Older generations in the sales force are striving to adopt technological tools. However, many of the top salespeople are those who have better personal relationships, although they have not fully adopted technology. We help companies change their mindset and help them to learn about new technology tools and how to use them, to make the entire digital transformation model work.

Q: What are Multiplica’s near-term goals in the healthcare industry?

A: We want to penetrate the industry completely with a digital transformation vision. We want to increase the technological and digital maturity of laboratories regarding their relationship with doctors. We are also developing AI technologies so we can help patients adhere to their treatment, control diseases and therefore contribute reducing the country’s burden for diseases. Big data and data analytics will be one of the main pillars of our strategy in the long run.

Multiplica designs solutions using customer insights, experience design and customer intelligence. The company uses technology to automate sales and marketing.