Veeva Systems CEO: Modernizing Manufacturing | Mad Money | CNBC

This video features an interview with Peter Gassner, founder and CEO of Veeva Systems, on CNBC's Mad Money, discussing the company's significant growth and strategic direction within the life sciences industry. Jim Cramer positions Veeva as a leading cloud-based software provider for pharmaceutical, biotech, and life sciences companies, highlighting its role in enhancing pharmaceutical sales effectiveness, capturing clinical trial data, and ensuring compliance with government regulations. The conversation underscores Veeva's impressive financial performance, including tripling products, quadrupling revenues, and sextupling profits over five years, achieving its billion-dollar revenue goal a year ahead of schedule.

Gassner elaborates on Veeva's expansion strategy, likening it to the successful models of Salesforce and Adobe, by developing both a "development cloud" and a "commercial cloud" tailored for the life sciences sector. A central theme is the industry's ongoing digital transformation, moving away from outdated paper-based processes that have historically burdened highly regulated fields. He emphasizes that while life sciences is a serious, $1.6 trillion business focused on improving human life, many critical procedures, especially those related to patient safety and regulatory compliance, have remained manual. Veeva's mission is to modernize these processes with cloud software, making operations more efficient and improving job satisfaction for professionals in these companies.

The interview also explores Veeva's strategic move to expand its market beyond traditional life sciences. Gassner introduces "Quality One," a product designed to address similar paper-based and client-server burdens in the manufacturing and distribution processes of other regulated industries, such as cosmetics, chemicals, and consumer packaged goods. This expansion signifies a broader recognition of the need for specialized cloud solutions in any sector where careful manufacturing and distribution are critical and subject to stringent oversight, indicating a vast untapped market for Veeva's expertise in regulated enterprise software.

Key Takeaways:

• Dominant Cloud Software Provider: Veeva Systems is a leading cloud-based software company specifically serving the pharmaceutical, biotech, and life sciences industries, demonstrating sustained growth and market leadership. Its offerings span critical functions like commercial operations, clinical trial data management, and regulatory compliance.
• Strategic Expansion and Growth: Veeva has achieved remarkable growth, tripling its product offerings, quadrupling revenues, and sextupling profits in five years, reaching its billion-dollar revenue target ahead of schedule. This growth is fueled by a strategic expansion into both "development cloud" and "commercial cloud" solutions.
• Digital Transformation in Life Sciences: The life sciences industry, despite its forward-thinking nature in research, has historically relied heavily on paper-based processes for regulatory compliance and operational procedures, particularly concerning patient safety. This presents a significant opportunity for digital modernization through specialized cloud software.
• Regulatory Compliance as a Driver: The inherent regulatory complexity of the life sciences sector (e.g., FDA, EMA, GxP) necessitates robust, compliant software solutions. Veeva's success is partly attributed to its ability to help clients navigate and comply with these stringent government regulations, moving away from inefficient manual systems.
• Replicating Successful SaaS Models: Veeva's strategy mirrors the expansion models of tech giants like Salesforce and Adobe, by continuously innovating and expanding its product portfolio within its niche, thereby deepening customer relationships and increasing its total addressable market.
• Modernizing Manufacturing Beyond Pharma: Veeva is extending its expertise beyond core life sciences with its "Quality One" product, targeting manufacturing and distribution in other regulated industries such as cosmetics, chemicals, and consumer packaged goods. This indicates a broader market need for cloud-based solutions to replace outdated paper and client-server systems in quality-critical environments.
• Impact on Employee Efficiency and Satisfaction: Modern cloud software not only enhances operational efficiency and compliance but also improves the daily work experience for professionals in life sciences, allowing them to focus more on their core mission of making medicines and less on administrative burdens.
• Vast Untapped Market for Regulated Software: The discussion highlights a significant market opportunity in providing specialized, compliant cloud software for any industry with complex, regulated manufacturing and distribution processes that are currently hampered by legacy systems.
• Importance of Industry-Specific Solutions: The success of Veeva underscores the value of deeply understanding a specific industry's unique challenges, regulatory landscape, and operational needs to develop tailored software solutions that generic platforms cannot adequately address.

Tools/Resources Mentioned:

• Veeva CRM: A leading platform for pharmaceutical commercial operations.
• Veeva Vault: A suite of cloud applications for content and data management across R&D, clinical, quality, and commercial operations.
• Quality One: A new Veeva product aimed at modernizing quality and manufacturing processes in regulated industries beyond life sciences (e.g., cosmetics, chemicals, CPG).
• AWS (Amazon Web Services): Mentioned as a common cloud migration target, implying Veeva's own cloud infrastructure is robust and modern.

Key Concepts:

• Commercial Cloud: Software solutions focused on sales, marketing, and customer relationship management within an industry.
• Development Cloud: Software solutions supporting research and development, particularly in areas like clinical trials and regulatory submissions.
• Digital Transformation: The process of adopting digital technology to fundamentally change how an organization operates and delivers value.
• Regulatory Compliance: Adherence to laws, regulations, guidelines, and specifications relevant to a particular industry, crucial in life sciences for patient safety and product efficacy.