Looking Forward, What you Should Know about Veeva and the Vault Platform

This video provides an in-depth exploration of the future direction and key enhancements coming to the Veeva Vault Platform, specifically focusing on PromoMats. Presented by Jon Fisher, Senior Program Manager at Veeva Systems, the session, part of a MedComms Forum, aims to equip medical communications professionals with essential knowledge about upcoming features and evolving customer usage patterns. Fisher outlines Veeva's vision for PromoMats as an end-to-end content solution, moving beyond its traditional role as a review and approval tool to encompass the entire content lifecycle from creation and collaboration to digital asset management, publishing, and insights.

The presentation details the evolution of content management, emphasizing the journey towards a "transformative" state characterized by data-driven, dynamic, and personalized content across all channels, with PromoMats serving as the single source of truth. A significant portion of the discussion is dedicated to PromoMats' capabilities as a Digital Asset Management (DAM) solution. Fisher defines DAM not just as technology, but as a business process for organizing, storing, retrieving, and managing rights for digital assets, categorized into components (individual elements), composites (final tactics), and references. He highlights specific DAM features like rights management, auto image renditions, a robust API for integrations, and content performance dashboards, explaining how these features streamline workflows for agencies and clients.

A major strategic focus for Veeva is the introduction and adoption of Modular Content. Fisher explains that this initiative, accelerated by customer needs during the COVID-19 pandemic, aims to enable faster content creation and significantly reduce Medical, Legal, and Regulatory (MLR) review times. Modular content involves creating channel-agnostic, pre-approved content blocks that can be quickly recombined to build new assets. The roadmap for modular content includes enhancements to module creation, approval processes, API updates for integration with content authoring solutions like Adobe Experience Manager, and future capabilities for faster, risk-based MLR review based on the proportion of pre-approved content used. The video concludes by detailing upcoming user interface (UI) changes, referred to as "Action UI," designed to modernize the platform, improve productivity, and simplify user experience through fewer clicks and enhanced navigation.

Key Takeaways:

• PromoMats as an End-to-End Content Solution: Veeva PromoMats is evolving beyond a simple review and approval tool to become a comprehensive platform supporting the entire content lifecycle, from strategy and creation to publishing and optimization, serving as a single source of truth.
• Digital Asset Management (DAM) Capabilities: PromoMats offers robust DAM functionalities for organizing, storing, and retrieving digital assets. This includes managing rights and permissions, creating auto image renditions for various channels, and providing a powerful API for system integrations.
• Streamlined Agency Workflows: Agencies will increasingly be required to upload source files (e.g., InDesign files) into PromoMats, enabling automatic recognition and linking of component assets, and will leverage PromoMats' component libraries to reuse approved assets, thereby increasing efficiency and reducing recreation time.
• Automated Digital Publishing: A newer feature allows for automatic publishing of approved content to the web, generating a persistent URL. This ensures that all digital channels (emails, websites, social media) always reflect the latest approved version and enables immediate content takedown if necessary.
• InDesign Auto Linking for Efficiency: The platform supports InDesign auto-linking, allowing creative teams to upload an entire InDesign package. PromoMats automatically generates a viewable rendition and identifies/links all component assets within the file, streamlining the upload and reuse of creative elements.
• Brand Portal for Content Discovery: Brand Portal (or Medical Portal in MedComms) provides a user-friendly interface for sharing and discovering content with different audiences, such as global affiliates, sales teams, or for training purposes, effectively replacing disparate shared drives or internal communication portals.
• Strategic Shift to Modular Content: Veeva is heavily investing in modular content, driven by customer demand to accelerate content creation and reduce lengthy MLR review cycles (which can range from 30 to 100 days). This approach uses channel-agnostic, pre-approved content blocks.
• Modular Content Process and Roadmap: The modular content strategy involves preparing modules (assembling approved assets with rules), using modules (manual or integrated via API with authoring tools), and enabling faster MLR review (visualizing approved vs. new content, leading to risk-based reviews). Key releases in 2021 focused on module creation, API updates, and linking for MLR.
• User Interface Modernization (Action UI): Upcoming UI changes aim to provide a more modern, intuitive, and productive user experience. Enhancements include a redesigned layout, prominent notifications, an action bar for frequently used actions, a consolidated document info panel, and a simplified annotation toolbar with persistent filters.
• Value-Added Features, Not Extra Costs: All discussed innovations, including DAM features, modular content capabilities, and UI updates, are enhancements to the existing Veeva PromoMats product and do not require additional licenses or payments, underscoring Veeva's commitment to continuous product improvement.
• Proactive Adoption and Training: Customers and agencies are encouraged to proactively engage with Veeva's communication and training programs (e.g., certification, partner programs, in-app notifications) to prepare for the upcoming changes, particularly the mandatory Action UI rollout by December.

Tools/Resources Mentioned:

• Veeva Vault Platform
• PromoMats (Veeva's content management solution)
• MedComms Networking / NetworkPharma.tv (Host/Organizer)
• Zoom.us (Meeting platform)
• LinkedIn (Speaker's contact method)
• Adobe Experience Manager (Example of a content authoring solution that can integrate with Veeva modules)
• InDesign (Adobe software for creative design, specifically mentioned for auto-linking)

Key Concepts:

• Digital Asset Management (DAM): A business process and technology solution for organizing, storing, and retrieving digital assets, and managing their rights and permissions.
• Modular Content: The strategy of creating pre-approved, channel-agnostic content blocks that can be quickly recombined to build various digital assets, aiming to increase efficiency and reduce review times.
• MLR (Medical, Legal, Regulatory) Review: The crucial approval process in life sciences for all promotional and medical content to ensure compliance with industry regulations.
• Action UI: Veeva's term for its modernized user interface, designed for improved aesthetics, efficiency, and user experience.
• Component Assets: Individual elements (e.g., images, text blocks, logos) that make up a larger piece of content.
• Composite Assets: Final, complete pieces of content or tactics (e.g., a visual aid, an email, a website page).
• References: Supporting scientific or regulatory documentation linked to content.
• Brand Portal / Medical Portal: A feature within Veeva Vault that allows for curated sharing and discovery of content with specific audiences in a user-friendly manner.