Data Residency for Veeva Systems

This video provides a focused analysis of the critical challenge of data residency for pharmaceutical and life sciences companies utilizing Veeva Systems, particularly as they pursue global expansion. The core context established is that the industry is at a "new frontier," driven by recent global events like the pandemic, which have necessitated platform modernization and a search for growth opportunities in previously untapped international regions. However, this expansion is frequently hindered by complex and "tight data regulatory environments" across different jurisdictions, making growth a difficult proposition.

The progression of the video centers on presenting a solution that reconciles the need for global commercial growth with strict local data protection requirements. The solution involves a strategic collaboration between Veeva Systems, the leading regulated enterprise software platform for life sciences, and InCountry, a data residency platform. This partnership is positioned as the mechanism that enables life science companies to grow their business and expand into new markets without the constant worry of adhering to disparate local data protection mandates.

Specifically, the video highlights InCountry's role in distributing and localizing Veeva Systems deployments across more than 90 countries. This capability ensures that data generated and processed within the Veeva environment—which often includes sensitive commercial, medical affairs, and clinical data—remains compliant with the specific data regulations of the country where the data originated or is being utilized. By ensuring data localization, the solution allows pharmaceutical and biotech firms to leverage the full benefits of their Veeva investment—such as optimizing commercial operations and managing clinical data—while simultaneously maintaining strict adherence to regulatory and internal policies worldwide. The overall message emphasizes that compliance should not be a barrier to global market entry and operational efficiency.

Key Takeaways:

• Post-Pandemic Modernization Imperative: The life science industry is undergoing a significant shift, with global events accelerating the need for platform modernization and aggressive pursuit of new international markets.
• Regulatory Roadblocks to Growth: Global expansion is often stalled by the complexity of navigating diverse and stringent local data protection requirements, which can make market entry and sustained operation challenging.
• Veeva Ecosystem Compliance: For companies heavily invested in Veeva Systems for commercial and clinical operations, ensuring data residency is paramount to maximizing the platform's utility during international scaling.
• Data Localization as an Enabler: The core strategy for overcoming regulatory hurdles involves localizing Veeva Systems deployments, ensuring that data is stored and processed within the borders of the relevant country.
• Global Reach via Partnership: The collaboration between Veeva Systems and InCountry provides a streamlined mechanism for achieving compliance, enabling distributed deployments across over 90 countries globally.
• Mitigating Data Protection Risk: By localizing data, companies can confidently expand into new territories without risking non-compliance with local data protection laws, thereby safeguarding operations and avoiding potential regulatory fines.
• Sustaining Operational Benefits: Ensuring data residency compliance allows life science companies to continue leveraging the full operational and commercial benefits of Veeva Systems, such as enhanced CRM capabilities and streamlined regulatory workflows.
• Focus on Commercial Expansion: The solution directly addresses the needs of commercial operations teams seeking to enter new markets, providing the necessary infrastructure to manage customer data and sales processes compliantly.
• Streamlining Internal Policy Adherence: Beyond external government regulations, data localization helps companies adhere to internal data governance policies that often mandate where specific types of sensitive data must reside.

Tools/Resources Mentioned:

• Veeva Systems
• InCountry

Key Concepts:

• Data Residency: The requirement that specific types of data, often sensitive or regulated information, must be stored and processed within the geographical borders of a particular country or jurisdiction.
• Tight Data Regulatory Environments: Refers to the complex and often restrictive legal frameworks (like GDPR, CCPA, and various country-specific laws) governing data protection, privacy, and cross-border data transfer, particularly challenging for the highly regulated life sciences sector.
• Distributed Veeva Deployments: The concept of configuring and operating Veeva CRM or other Veeva modules across multiple localized instances globally, rather than relying on a centralized data storage model, specifically to meet data residency requirements.