Bridging the Gap Between Adobe AEM and Veeva Vault

This video provides an in-depth exploration of bridging the technology gap between Adobe AEM (Adobe Experience Manager) and Veeva Vault, specifically Veeva Vault PromoMats, using Xpediant Digital's XpConnect® platform. The main purpose is to demonstrate how this integration streamlines the digital asset supply chain for pharmaceutical and life sciences companies, enabling automation, improving user experience, and significantly reducing time to market for promotional content. The discussion highlights the critical differences and value propositions between a basic connector and a comprehensive integration and automation platform, emphasizing the benefits of modular content and multi-channel authoring within AEM.

The presentation begins by outlining the common problem of highly siloed systems between creative platforms like Adobe and regulatory content management systems like Veeva Vault. This siloed environment leads to manual processes for asset creation, curation, MLR (Medical, Legal, Regulatory) package preparation, and publishing, resulting in significant costs, frequent rejections, and slow speed to market. The speakers, Demitri (Sales Director) and Greg (CGO), set the stage by discussing the importance of a formalized business case to assess the value of integration solutions, drawing an analogy to choosing a new truck based on specific requirements. Roohi (Director of Product) then dives into the technical details and a live demonstration of XpConnect®, showcasing its capabilities.

The core of the video focuses on XpConnect® as an integration and automation platform that goes beyond basic bidirectional connectivity. It enables configurable workflows to handle different document types (web pages, emails, IVAs) and their specific routing needs within Veeva Vault. A key feature demonstrated is the Modular Content Builder, which allows authors to create reusable content fragments in AEM, combining assets synced from Veeva Vault with text, and then deploy these fragments across multiple channels while maintaining channel-specific styling. The platform automates the creation of MLR-ready packages, including PDFs, HTML source files, and associated metadata, and facilitates the review process by allowing AEM authors to directly view annotations made by MLR reviewers in Veeva Vault, drastically accelerating resubmission cycles.

Key Takeaways:

• Addressing Siloed Systems: The primary challenge in pharmaceutical content creation and distribution is the highly siloed nature of creative platforms (like Adobe AEM) and regulatory content management systems (like Veeva Vault), leading to inefficiencies and increased costs.
• Connector vs. Platform: A basic connector provides bidirectional connectivity between AEM and Veeva Vault, allowing for basic asset and metadata transfer. An integration and automation platform, like XpConnect®, builds on this foundation by adding layers of automation, configurable workflows, and advanced features for multi-channel authoring and MLR package creation.
• Streamlining the Digital Asset Supply Chain: The platform aims to streamline the entire process from creative design and content authoring to MLR review and publishing, reducing manual effort and accelerating speed to market.
• Modular Content for Reuse: Leveraging modular content in AEM allows for the creation of reusable content fragments (e.g., claims with supporting images) that can be deployed across various channels (web, email, IVA slides). This significantly improves content leverage and reuse, reducing the need to build 65-85% of assets as one-offs, which can save large clients tens of millions annually.
• Multi-Channel Authoring in AEM: The XpConnect® platform enables AEM to serve as a single authoring platform for all channels, including websites, emails, and IVA (Interactive Visual Aid) presentations, eliminating the need for custom coding for each channel.
• Automated MLR Package Creation: The system automates the creation of MLR-ready packages, including generating PDFs of web pages, attaching distribution packages (HTML, assets), populating metadata, and linking component assets, which is crucial for regulatory compliance.
• Accelerated MLR Review Cycles: The platform facilitates a more efficient MLR review process by allowing AEM authors to view annotations made by reviewers in Veeva Vault directly within AEM, streamlining updates and resubmissions. This can reduce typical rejection cycles from 3-4 down to fewer.
• Veeva Vault Integration: The solution integrates deeply with Veeva Vault PromoMats, supporting features like autoclaims linking for HTML documents, ensuring that claims are validated and linked to supporting documents within Veeva.
• Veeva CRM Integration: Approved emails and IVA presentations can be automatically pushed from Veeva Vault to Veeva CRM for distribution to sales representatives in the field, ensuring compliance and consistency.
• Cost and Time Savings: Using an authoring approach with AEM and an integration platform can reduce the time taken to create content (e.g., IVA slides) by approximately 30% compared to custom coding, leading to significant cost savings and improved efficiency.
• Ongoing Innovation and Support: Opting for a productized solution over custom-built connectors ensures ongoing updates, innovation, and support, which is critical given the frequent changes in platforms like AEM and Veeva.
• Importance of Business Case: Companies are encouraged to formalize a business case process to accurately assess the value and ROI of integration solutions, considering functional requirements, operational improvements, and long-term support implications.

Tools/Resources Mentioned:

• Adobe AEM (Adobe Experience Manager): Content management system used for authoring and managing digital experiences.
• Veeva Vault: Cloud-based content management platform for the life sciences industry.
• Veeva Vault PromoMats: Specific module within Veeva Vault for managing promotional materials and MLR review.
• Veeva CRM: Customer Relationship Management platform for pharmaceutical sales and marketing.
• XpConnect® Platform: Xpediant Digital's integration and automation platform for connecting AEM and Veeva Vault.
• XP OmniChannel Framework: A starter kit/framework (templates and components) for creating emails and IVAs within AEM, built on XpConnect®.
• Adobe XD: Design and prototyping tool (mentioned in a Q&A as a potential upstream tool).

Key Concepts:

• MLR (Medical, Legal, Regulatory) Review: The critical process in the pharmaceutical industry where promotional and medical content is reviewed for accuracy, compliance, and adherence to regulations (e.g., FDA, EMA).
• Modular Content: Content broken down into reusable, channel-agnostic components that can be assembled and styled for different digital channels, promoting consistency and efficiency.
• Bidirectional Connectivity: The ability for two systems to send and receive data from each other.
• Distribution Package: A collection of files (e.g., HTML, CSS, images) that constitute the source code of a digital asset, often required for MLR review and distribution.
• Autoclaims Linking: A feature in Veeva Vault that automatically identifies and links claims within a document to their supporting evidence or references.
• IVA (Interactive Visual Aid): Digital presentations used by pharmaceutical sales representatives on tablets (e.g., iPads) to engage with healthcare professionals.

Examples/Case Studies:

• Asset Reuse Statistics: The speakers noted that many clients build 65-85% of their assets as one-offs, never to be used again. One large client creating 8,000 new assets annually, used only once, represented a cost of $45-60 million, highlighting the immense waste from lack of content reuse.
• MLR Rejection Rates: Typically, 3-4 rejections are common before an asset or composite asset is approved through the MLR process due to manual errors and lack of integrated feedback.
• IVA Slide Creation Time: Using the AEM authoring approach with the XP OmniChannel framework reduces IVA slide creation time by approximately 30% compared to traditional custom coding.