The State Of Digital Excellence In The Global Pharmaceutical Industry, 2021

Organizational Readiness for Digital Excellence Dips

While COVID-19 catalyzed digital transformation across the pharmaceutical industry, it also brought an element of paralysis. As more local and regional commercial leaders got involved, digital teams finally saw the demand they were waiting for, but couldn’t respond in a coherent way and lacked capacity to participate in all the conversations they were asked to have. However, they did step up their planning—and their attention to realigning strategic plans and drawing up road maps saved organizational readiness from dropping by more than four percentage points. We found that:

• Pharma companies could be more ambitious. Assessing the digital opportunity open to a pharma firm and the disruption that transformation is likely to enable is a useful proxy for the company’s ambition. Most of the firms surveyed say that they are undertaking this work to some extent (see Figure 5). But the fact that only 6% strongly agree that their firm has performed these assessments indicates that few pharma firms excel at demonstrating digital ambition by preparing to capitalize on the opportunities that are on offer. There’s also room to improve at the other end of the scale: nearly one-third of respondents say that their firm has not performed such an assessment at all.
• Continuous improvement slowed even as planning improved. Strategic planning—whether in the form of short-term road maps or a more forward-looking overarching plan—rose to its highest levels since our first study of digital excellence in pharma in 2014, putting the industry average on the cusp of moving from Good to Excellent (see Figure 6). However, continuous improvement, handover, and (worryingly) vision all saw notable declines, indicating where future improvements are likely to be most needed.
• Clear plans facilitate clear communication. Three-quarters of respondents agree that the digital/ MCE team leading the digital transformation is working from a clear road map of digital capabilities. Having a clear digital road map in place vastly increases the chances that the team leading a pharma firm’s digital transformation will be able to effectively communicate its ideas, plans, and activities. Two-thirds of pharma companies are effectively communicating these outputs.
• Senior backing for digital is strong, but functional buy-in lags. Some 81% of respondents agree that the leadership team supports the digital/MCE team, frequently endorsing and committing to its role, vision, and responsibilities. But marketing, sales, and medical affairs leaders have yet to fully throw their weight behind the digital/MCE team: 56% of the respondents agreed that functional leaders actively support the digital road map and ensure that their teams stay committed to it, but one in five saw no functional buy-in.
• Digital organizations continue to grow. Organizational readiness—which encompasses planning, leadership, assessment, implementation, and resourcing—is a key metric to assess whether firms are prepared to pursue digital excellence. However, the industry appears to be less ready for digital transformation in 2021 than it was in 2018: pharma companies are evenly split between digital leaders and digital laggards (see Figure 7).
• Investment is expected to increase. The average digital budget declined slightly, from just under $7 million in 2018 to $6.3 million in 2021, but overall the tide has risen (see Figure 8). In contrast to our 2018 report, no firm reported a budget of less than $200,000; at the other end of the scale, the number of digital budgets exceeding $30 million increased by seven percentage points. Moreover, respondents’ expectations for their next annual budget were generally positive: nearly half expect their budget to increase, and one in five anticipates a rise of more than 15% (see Figure 9).