Generation Veeva | Meet Annalisa: At Home with Veeva

This video provides a personal account from Annalisa, an Associate Consultant in the Veeva Consultant Development Program (CDP) in Europe, detailing her experience transitioning from an office-based role in Barcelona to a fully remote working environment in Italy due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The video serves as a testimonial highlighting Veeva's corporate culture, resilience, and commitment to maintaining team cohesion and professional development despite significant operational disruption. It frames the initial challenge of losing the dynamic, open office environment—which fostered spontaneous idea exchange, product knowledge sharing, and social activities like weekly team lunches—against the successful adaptation to remote operations.

The core narrative focuses on how Veeva managed to replicate essential aspects of its collaborative culture virtually. Annalisa emphasizes that while the physical setting changed, the frequency and quality of interaction did not significantly diminish. Key activities like team meetings transitioned seamlessly to Zoom, and the company actively organized virtual social events, including remote lunches, coffee breaks, cooking classes, and welcome drinks for new joiners. This adaptation ensured that consultants, particularly those new to the program like Annalisa, continued to feel supported and integrated into the "big orange family."

A significant theme is the resilience of the Veeva consulting model and the benefits derived from the shift to remote work. Annalisa describes the remote environment not as a limitation, but as a "huge opportunity." It forced consultants to adapt to new routines, learn how to better manage work-life balance, and take on increased responsibilities, suggesting a rapid acceleration of professional maturity within the CDP cohort. The ease of organizing quick support calls with colleagues underscored the strong internal relationships and accessible support structure, which are critical components for consultants working on complex pharmaceutical and life sciences projects. Ultimately, the video portrays Veeva’s ability to maintain a strong sense of community and effective professional development, even when its workforce is distributed across different locations.

Key Takeaways: • Veeva Consultant Development Program (CDP) Structure: The video confirms that the European CDP is typically an office-based program (specifically mentioning the Barcelona office), emphasizing the value Veeva places on in-person collaboration for rapid knowledge transfer and cultural integration among new consultants. • Operational Resilience in Consulting: Veeva successfully transitioned its high-touch consulting operations to a fully remote model, demonstrating strong infrastructure and organizational flexibility necessary to support complex client engagements in the regulated life sciences sector without interruption. • Maintaining Virtual Team Cohesion: The company prioritized replicating social and collaborative office functions virtually, utilizing tools like Zoom for both formal meetings and informal interactions (lunches, coffee breaks, welcome drinks), which is crucial for retaining talent and maintaining morale in high-pressure consulting roles. • Accelerated Professional Development: The shift to remote work acted as a catalyst for professional growth, forcing new consultants to develop stronger self-management skills, adapt to new routines, and take on greater individual responsibility for managing their work-life balance and project deliverables. • Importance of Accessible Support Systems: Annalisa highlighted the ease and speed with which she could organize "quick calls" with any colleague for support, indicating a culture of open communication and readily available mentorship, which is essential for consultants navigating complex Veeva implementations. • Cultural Integration via Remote Means: Despite physical distance, Veeva effectively maintained its "big orange family" culture, successfully integrating new joiners through organized remote activities, proving that strong corporate culture can be sustained and transmitted digitally. • Strategic Value of Work-Life Balance: The remote environment provided consultants with an opportunity to "better manage the work life balance," suggesting that flexible work arrangements are viewed internally as a valuable benefit that contributes to consultant satisfaction and long-term retention. • Focus on Knowledge Exchange: The initial description of the Barcelona office emphasized the "exchange ideas, opinions, experiences and also product knowledge," underscoring that continuous, dynamic learning is a foundational element of the Veeva consulting methodology that needed to be consciously preserved in the remote setting.

Tools/Resources Mentioned:

• Zoom: Used as the primary platform for switching formal meetings and informal social gatherings (lunches, coffee breaks) to a remote format.
• Veeva Consultant Development Program (CDP): The structured entry program for new consultants in Europe, which is typically office-based but successfully adapted to remote work.

Key Concepts:

• Veeva CDP: A talent pipeline designed to train and integrate new consultants into Veeva’s specialized consulting services, focusing on deep product knowledge and industry expertise within the life sciences sector.
• Remote Consulting Adaptation: The successful organizational and cultural shift required to deliver high-quality, complex consulting services (such as Veeva CRM implementation and optimization) while operating in a distributed, remote environment, emphasizing the need for robust virtual collaboration tools and strong internal support networks.