Bayer: Customer Data Strategies on the Impact of Speed

This video provides an expert perspective from Bayer on optimizing customer data strategies within the pharmaceutical industry, focusing specifically on the critical balance between the value derived from data speed and the organizational appetite for consuming that speed. The speaker outlines how Bayer has successfully navigated this challenge by redefining data access workflows for commercial teams and ensuring enterprise-wide consistency in data consumption. This strategy is rooted in shifting away from traditional, reactive data management toward proactive, high-quality data integration, which significantly impacts commercial operations like sales force effectiveness and product launch readiness.

The core of Bayer’s strategy involves segmenting the data challenge into two components: "value from speed" and "appetite for speed." Achieving value from speed meant providing sales representatives with access to a fuller universe of data, fundamentally changing their daily workflows. Instead of the old-school method of creating unverified customer data and cleaning it later, the new approach empowers reps to search for and download a clean, verified profile from the outset. This immediate access to high-quality data accelerates integration timelines, particularly when onboarding new data sources like data aggregators or specialty pharmacies, and ensures the commercial team is better and faster prepared for critical events such as new product launches or the creation of new call plans.

However, the speaker emphasizes that high-speed data delivery is only effective if the organization is prepared to consume it responsibly—the "appetite for speed." This necessitated implementing checks and balances within the systems consuming customer data, recognizing that data quality is only as good as its consumption by the systems interfacing with end-users. This focus on governance allowed Bayer to challenge the status quo in internal systems that were still consuming data at a slower rate or inconsistent frequency. The ultimate goal was to ensure all downstream systems consumed data at a similar frequency, establishing a common data language across the entire enterprise to maintain integrity and operational synchronization.

This holistic approach highlights that technological capability (the speed of data delivery) must be paired with organizational readiness and robust data governance (the appetite for speed). By standardizing consumption frequency and ensuring clean data profiles are the starting point for commercial activities, Bayer created a more efficient, compliant, and commercially agile environment, maximizing their investment in customer reference data and related enterprise platforms.

Key Takeaways: • Balancing Speed and Governance: Successful data strategy requires balancing the commercial value derived from rapid data access (value from speed) with the organizational capacity and control mechanisms for consumption (appetite for speed). • Transforming Sales Workflow: Pharmaceutical sales representatives should transition from a reactive model—creating unverified data and cleaning it later—to a proactive model where they search and download clean, verified customer profiles immediately. This shift drastically improves data quality at the source. • Accelerated Integration: High-speed access to quality customer data significantly reduces the time required to integrate critical third-party data sources, such as data aggregators or specialty pharmacies, into core operational systems. • Enhanced Commercial Readiness: Rapid data access prepares commercial teams faster and more effectively for key strategic initiatives, including new product launches and the development of optimized call plans and targeting strategies. • Data Quality is Consumption-Dependent: Customer data is only valuable if it is consumed correctly by the systems interfacing with end-users; therefore, governance must focus heavily on the consumption layer, not just the delivery layer. • Challenging Internal Status Quo: Organizations must actively identify and challenge internal systems that are consuming customer data at a slower or inconsistent frequency, as these bottlenecks undermine the investment in high-speed data pipelines. • Establishing a Common Data Language: A primary goal of data strategy should be ensuring that all internal systems consume data at a similar frequency and adhere to a common data language, which is essential for enterprise-wide synchronization and regulatory compliance. • Governance through Checks and Balances: Implementing robust checks and balances is crucial for systems consuming customer data to ensure responsible usage and maintain data integrity throughout the organization.

Key Concepts:

• Value from Speed: The tangible commercial benefits derived from having immediate access to high-quality, verified customer data (e.g., faster integration, better call plans).
• Appetite for Speed: The organizational readiness, governance, and system capacity required to consume high-speed data consistently and responsibly across the enterprise.
• Fuller Universe of Data: Providing commercial teams with comprehensive access to all relevant customer reference data, moving beyond siloed or incomplete records.

Examples/Case Studies:

• Bayer's Sales Workflow Transformation: The shift from "old-school way of creating unverified data and then trying to clean it at a later point" to "doing a search and downloading a clean profile to begin with," illustrating a successful implementation of data quality at the point of entry.
• Integration Acceleration: The ability to reduce the time required to integrate data from external sources like data aggregators or specialty pharmacies, improving operational agility.