Pharmaceutical companies typically hold 3-4 meetings for field staff per year to update the sales and marketing strategies, new products to market, re-staff certified on compliance and regulatory procedures and may provide new hardware or software for sales force productivity . These meetings usually
Coinciding with the fourth of either the calendar or fiscal year. Sometimes these meetings in small groups over several weeks of time organized with major professional teams travel to different places are used for training initiatives and live presentations. In some cases, instead of a multitude of smaller meetings, the entire sales force, marketing team and the internal aspects of the sales organization is summarized in one place. With medium and large businesses, this can mean hundreds or even thousands of employees in a single session. It is not difficult to imagine the cost of travel, accommodation and training facilities for the meetings of this size. In addition, the amount of time lost in transit and from any place of the meeting from hours to a full day.
Often in the meetings and to face the direction of the company training face more prominent presentations cookie cutter, re-certification, testing and planning firms in the long term. It is often much content included in the major meetings on the ground, very little of it has little effect. With online collaboration applications and training, companies were able to eliminate some of their expensive travel and education, spent their employees with training to better distribute their time and efforts to maximize the time in meetings much of the content have more influence, and provide practical and time training their employees on the floor. Also during the year, small groups of employees are submitted regularly to the training at central locations such as the company’s headquarters or regional offices. These smaller meetings, often with highly targeted content, or recycling, could easily be held online. The advantages are the same with the potential in these cases, the sales staff on the ground and under, on a day out of their territory.
In addition to face-to-face training, could be supplemented or replaced by the Webinar training, pharmaceutical employees participate in training often asynchronous with the introduction of new products, learning new indications for existing products or completing training on updates to the CRM software, just to name a few topics. Often, these types of training before traveling to meetings with large or small groups, ready to build a knowledge base about the subject before more people gathered for training and testing certification. The incorporation can be much more effective, adding to provide an interactive learning solution on the net.
The jump
Pharmaceutical companies are using CRM (Customer Relationship Management) or SFA (Sales Force Automation) software for years, and directly through online collaboration software seems the next logical step. Many industries have committed to continuing education online or as part of their model of vocational training or as its backbone. The figure below provides a breakdown of the training provides an overview of more than 500 companies surveyed hundreds of coaches from 2006-2007. In this study, there was a decline of almost 14 percent in face-to-face training by enterprises and an increase in almost identical training Webinar (Wainhouse Research, 2007, p. 3). other training materials have remained relatively stable in the same study shows a trend in favor of the overriding benefits of training web conferencing and collaboration, as graphically depicted (Wainhouse Research, 2007, p. 3)
Figure 1 In 2006 – 2007 Delivery Method
Training in a study on the training of personnel 533
For pharmaceutical companies, face to face training has been a staple of the industry for decades and some say it is a necessary component because of the need for sales practice, and certify new posts are pushed on the market. Although there is something to do to sit in front of someone who said his “detailed” it to a product with a new marketing message, taking it to marketing messages and include regulation, there are important reasons to assess the role of online courses . In a study by Wainhouse Research in 2007 showed about 500 trainers from different vendors and client organizations in a wide range of areas, a variety of reasons for the implementation of Web-conferencing for training. The following figure shows a graphical representation of the results of a study component. Some of the reasons the bottom of the list may be more important for pharmaceutical companies, reflect the responses of the study. The possibility, experts and content to bring targeted to the public, for example, are both important to the pharmaceutical formations where cut the direct contribution of key opinion leaders in one area and messages are both important elements for understanding and communicating complex issues.
Figure 2 Why study participants cited for
Use of Web-based training.
(Wainhouse Research, 2007, p. 5)
While savings in travel costs for the meetings is the number one reason most companies deploying Web conferencing solutions for training, there are several important reasons other than those arising directly on the bottom line.
Factors affecting the pharmaceutical industry more than others, are:
O The cost of travel, accommodation and meeting.
o Saves time away from home.
o Including subject matter experts (opinion leaders).
o provision of content to meet the specific regulatory requirements.
The associated cost to all employees, or to meet with customers is high, especially if the participants of air travel and stay for a longer period. In a case study on various web conferencing solutions for in-person meetings to compare alternatives, put online a savings of 66-95% compared to face-to-face (Webconférence-test. com, 2007). Pharmaceutical companies could replace significant savings through the implementation of web conferencing solutions to achieve even a part of their face-to-face.
Saves time away from the representatives of the impact of home sales to a certain degree, but this factor is a major influence on the area sales manager, often away from home as much as 80% of the time, either in the field with officials or meeting with them and upper management. Often, the meetings could be transmitted easily manager-manager through web conferencing applications. Managers use regular telephone conference, but the vast majority of the strategy and review meetings take place person, which often involved travel to all parties to a central location.
Includes experts and key opinion leaders, as they often are pharmaceutical sales representatives called, in the process of learning to the employees the opportunity, knowledge and perspectives of experts in clinical medicine to acquire areas for their daily activities. It is often difficult, performances on stage and seminars by some experts in this schedule face-to-face due to the limitations in their practice and travel requirements. With Web conferencing, the resources that these experts easy access to meeting participants without clinical busy schedules and can provide rearrange / or academic commitments.
The provision of suitable content is a must for the pharmaceutical industry. With additional measures, both voluntary and within individual companies and some appointed by the governing bodies, the contents of the lectures and staff from more than tested before. The information is delivered to sales managers and representatives, has survived a number of different approval processes and provides “balance” to the consumer, the advantages and disadvantages are a possible specific product. For more information printed, mailed faxed or e-mail as “a run” or “not for retail sale” means information that improperly could or be misappropriated course materials are often “in the context of” materials that do not balance, as a small segment of the image of a product to treat a particular time. Most of the documents the type of training is a part of the asynchronous sent “home” or as preparation for the training face to face. By increasing the use of Web conferencing, this type of training, corporate training departments could maintain more control over the elements of training, online could be shared during a presentation, but not to be reproduced and sent / email in bulk .
Select solution
If a company decides to take the Web-conferencing as part of their strategy for training, the next step to a solution, choose the needs of coaches and players met. In a study by Wainhouse Research, some of the key factors that have made an easy-to-use available, reputation, customer service and transparency of the system.
Figure 3 In a study by Wainhouse Research, is expected here a distribution of attributes, the participants that their Web conferencing solution.
(Wainhouse Research, 2007, p. 6)
User friendliness and transparency of the system is very important that the majority will be the end users in the “non-tech employees. Most field staff have familiarity with the sales force automation or CRM system, but these applications are trained largely to the hiring so that employees in a position that effectively use in the field. As Web conferencing is concerned, the application is easy with minimal training for its adoption by employees and managers. Furthermore, as some attributes of the above-mentioned study, scalability and flat-rate pricing will be important, although they have not gained so much importance that the first application may be in a format driver, and then amplified to include the whole of society. There are many Web-conferencing options available, but not all options to the needs of a largely non-tech and possibly a different number of users are cut. Some solutions are to be “rich in functionality, be easy to use, while making other prices that have a hard project costs. Two of the most popular offerings, WebEx and GoToMeeting, with a focus on usability and predictable price structure, two characteristics that would be important in driving adoption.
Breaking Down Barriers to Adoption
The basic factor to decide on the use of the Web-conferencing for training, Push is the ability or inability to provide the same level of interaction, participation and effectiveness, which can be delivered through training have in person. A study by Wainhouse Research in 2007 showed that 51% of respondents rated Web conferencing as effective as training in the person of a different class of almost 36% as effective, and 70% of respondents in the same study more effective than asynchronous Web conferencing Education (Wainhouse Research, 2007, p. 1). Most web conferencing solutions available to share common characteristics such as attendance reports, screen-sharing, the ability to change presenters, capacity and integrated voice chat and instant messaging capabilities, among others. These functions with an emphasis on ease of use, which is essential coupled for less-technical users make web conferencing a viable alternative to asynchronous in-person training and a valuable addition to a training program.
Mid-level managers in the field as a whole, are very likely to be a cooperative solution training / reduce the burden of travel to their direct employees and to accept themselves. In addition, the ability to quickly run new employees and, without waiting for a planned training in person, would drop invaluable in pharmaceutical representative areas where gaps quickly can share and volume. It is not uncommon to wait for the staff on a training for weeks or even planned. At the same time, the managers and micro-traditionalists no doubt a skeptical view of a Web conferencing solution on a large scale as a direct replacement for the person training implemented. These people are probably Web conferencing as a loss of control as a value-added resources in view of the fact, it is likely that the cost is a barrier for certain parties. Consider the cost of the return on investment is an easy way to justify the use of a Web conferencing solution, since it is a huge amount of data in the form of case studies, sponsored both producers and providers Independent. In a study by Frost & Sullivan in 2005, one of the leading WebEx customers reached more than 465% ROI for their investments and use of WebEx, a learning, carried out the main advantages of the use of WebEx’s ability to increase the frequency of training, provide targeted content, and reduce the preparation time for training (Frost & Sullivan, 2005, p.6). Another example of a case study of the clarity with GoToMeeting showed has paid the company saving $ 5.000 to 10.000 per month, travel expenses and with the all-you-can-solution to meet the pricing “in less than two months (Citrix Online, 2006, p.2).
Change of address of the “venerable” the standards of training face-to-face meetings is an obstacle more difficult, especially when it comes to new employees in the industry. For the Home Office staff is not as big a problem, but for field service employees, especially sales, which have a tremendous amount of autonomy, the integration of Web Conferencing in the paradigm of education are more difficult. The resistance changes with the corporate culture to find the average experience of employees, the master of the various service and management training, development and the need for a more cost-effective solutions for training.