In light of increasingly digitalized pharmaceutical sales processes, much has been said in recent years about Omnichannel as the key to improving HCP (Healthcare Professional) engagement. However, in our view, few companies have succeeded in effectively implementing these strategies. We examine the main challenges and how they can be overcome.

The pharmaceutical industry has an Omnichannel problem: while many companies have implemented Omnichannel frameworks in response to the changing information behavior of HCPs—accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic—results often fall short of expectations. Instead of achieving improvements, companies face increased complexity, new challenges in data quality, internal processes, and their MarTech infrastructure.

Lack of Organizational Integration

The reasons for the failure of Omnichannel strategies are diverse. First, the approach is not equally suitable for all types of organizations and depends on the company’s size, customer structure, and digital maturity of its marketing and sales teams. Even when an Omnichannel approach fits the company, a lack of organizational integration frequently leads to failure. Frameworks are often implemented without sufficiently considering underlying conditions. As a result, interfaces and communication channels are missing, and campaigns are developed in isolation from existing processes, failing to achieve real impact in practice.

5 Reasons Omnichannel Strategies Fail and How to Overcome Them

To address these challenges, we have identified five common hurdles in our consulting practice and outlined possible solutions:

1. Local Implementation of the Global Omnichannel Framework

A major challenge lies in aligning a global Omnichannel framework with local or regional requirements. Regulatory specifics often hinder efforts to leverage efficiency gains through global blueprints, and replacing effective local processes frequently leads to acceptance issues among market leads and sales reps.

Solutions:

• Involvement & Co-Creation: Early engagement of local teams, e.g., through a co-creation approach, ensures local compliance requirements are integrated and the global content hub is used effectively.
• Multi-Market Landscape Assessment: Conduct targeted analyses to understand local market requirements, involving Medical, Legal, and Compliance departments to address regulatory specifics.
• Local Change Management: Implement a robust change management program to help teams recognize the value, understand necessary changes, and effectively design local campaigns.

2. Data Management & Data Governance

Successful Omnichannel strategies rely on accurate and robust data management. Before implementation, pharmaceutical companies must ensure solid data structures and strong data governance in their commercial systems, especially CRM systems.

Key Aspects:

• Single Source of Truth (SSoT): Define which data source is authoritative when managing conflicting information across multiple systems.
• Data Policies and Standards: Implement clear policies for data access, security, retention, and regulatory compliance, including validation rules for consistent data entry.
• Data Flow: Establish well-defined ETL (Extract, Transform, Load) processes to ensure reliable data transfer across systems.
• Data Integration & Analysis: Integrate data sources seamlessly to enable unified analyses and reports while breaking down silos.

3. MLR Approval as a Bottleneck

Bottlenecks in the Medical, Legal, Regulatory (MLR) approval process delay channel activations, impede content readiness, and disrupt the HCP journey. Expanding formats and channels under Omnichannel approaches creates challenges for review teams due to capacity gaps and limited knowledge of digital mechanisms.

Solutions:

• Early Planning & Resource Management: Involve MLR teams early to align resources and prioritize projects.
• Automation & Standardization: Use digital tools like AI-based solutions to automate routine checks and workflow platforms for greater transparency.
• Training & Feedback: Provide compliance training, clarify roles, and establish feedback loops to streamline reviews.

4. Organizational Change Management

Implementing Omnichannel strategies impacts processes, roles, and workflows beyond marketing. Insufficient support for employees in affected regions or departments leads to low acceptance and inconsistent execution.

Solutions:

• Incentives & KPIs: Introduce reward systems for successful adoption and use of Omnichannel frameworks. Measure user acceptance through clear and fair KPIs.
• Change Agents & Support Teams: Assign Omnichannel Champions to promote strategies and support teams during the transition.
• Pilot Projects & Gradual Rollouts: Test strategies through pilot projects to identify obstacles before scaling company-wide.

5. Measuring Campaign Performance

The sheer volume of data, inconsistent metrics, and lack of benchmarks make it difficult to evaluate campaign performance across regions and markets. This can lead to false expectations among stakeholders and hinder campaign optimization.

Solutions:

• Centralized Data Integration: Use Customer Data Platforms (CDPs) to unify data sources for a 360° customer view.
• Regular Customer Feedback: Collect feedback via NPS surveys, Voice of Customer analyses, and sentiment analysis to track campaign perception.
• Dashboards & Real-Time Reporting: Implement trackers and dashboards for real-time monitoring and quick campaign adjustments.
• A/B Testing & Experiments: Use A/B tests and multivariate analyses to refine content and messaging across channels.
• Long-Term Metrics: Measure Customer Lifetime Value and Customer Retention Rate to assess the long-term impact of Omnichannel strategies.
  
  

Omnichannel: Neither a Silver Bullet nor a Quick Fix

The measures above can help overcome common pitfalls in Omnichannel transformation. However, companies must actively address how Omnichannel impacts their organization, processes, and people, and whether a global Omnichannel framework is even appropriate or whether conventional sales models might be more effective in certain areas. Omnichannel is neither a silver bullet nor a simple tool that can be layered onto existing structures.

Making Your Organization Omnichannel-Ready

When properly implemented, Omnichannel marketing can be a highly effective strategy for engaging HCPs by delivering the right information at the right time while meeting compliance requirements. However, this requires creating the right organizational, procedural, and personnel foundations.

In the past, too much focus has been placed on the technical aspects of Omnichannel implementation, neglecting its integration into the broader organization. To address this, a holistic approach that considers the entire organization and allows time to prepare people and structures for Omnichannel is essential.

Companies that pursue Omnichannel strategies should start aligning their organizations sooner rather than later. msg industry advisors support you on this journey. Our experts bring broad and long-standing industry expertise in marketing and sales and guide you through every step of integrating your Omnichannel and change management strategy.