This paper examines key success factors for effective collaboration in the pharmaceutical industry. In an industry where speed to market is critical and where informed and timely decisions can have large financial implications, collaboration is a key factor to ensure value is delivered. Consequently, considerable investment is being made by pharmaceutical companies to enable project teams to work more effectively together across departmental, functional, company and geographic boundaries.

1. Winning strategies for effective
collaboration in the
pharmaceutical industry
Charles Rowlands and Amy Morgan
are founding partners of RM Consulting, an international business consultancy focused on providing management support services to the
global pharmaceutical, biotechnology, chemical and healthcare sectors. Jointly they have more than three decades' experience and have
worked on numerous strategy development and market assessment projects in both developed and developing economies.
Gary Hawksworth
is BTs head of marketing for the pharmaceutical sector. He has 25 years' experience of communications technologies with 7 years exclusive
experience in supplying solutions to the pharmaceutical industry.
Keywords collaboration, collaborative tools, communication, e-tools,
information technology, pharmaceutical industry
Abstract This paper examines key success factors for effective collaboration in the
pharmaceutical industry. In an industry where speed to market is critical and where informed
and timely decisions can have large financial implications, collaboration is a key factor to
ensure value is delivered. Consequently, considerable investment is being made by
pharmaceutical companies to enable project teams to work more effectively together across
departmental, functional, company and geographic boundaries. Investment in collaboration has
varied tremendously across companies - both in the level of investment and in the degree of
success. It is against this background that British Telecom (BT) commissioned RM Consulting
(RM) to research the key strategies for effective collaboration. A major finding of the research
was that while technology is a strong enabler to better collaboration it must be intuitive, easy to
use and enable natural people interaction for widespread adoption. The correct technology can
allow richer social collaboration and more intuitive usability. Journal of Medical Marketing (2006)
6, 83-93. doi:10.1057/palgrave.jmm.5050027
INTRODUCTION in technological solutions but also
As a leading provider of collaborative in areas including corporate
solutions for many years, BT has culture, social networks and trust
developed a deep understanding of between individuals.
the particular collaboration issues The objective of the research
faced by the pharmaceutical industry conducted by RM was to review how
— and how they may be overcome to well collaborative practice is
generate business improvements, embedded in today's pharmaceutical
improve cost management and deliver industry. The study focused on the use
increased shareholder value. BT are of tools in normal working practice
acutely aware that the answer to and their relation to the culture and
improved collaboration not only lies behaviour within the
© 2006 Palgrave Macmillan Ltd 1745-7904 Vol. 6, 2 83-93 Journal of Medical Marketing
www.palgrave-journals.com/jmm

2. Rowlands et al.
organisation. Research was based on internally to seek the improvements
30 in-depth interviews conducted with needed to meet the expectations of
a representative sample of executives financial investors. Productivity gains at
from a wide range of functional areas each phase, however small, have an
across 11 of the top 20 pharmaceutical amplifying effect — they do not just add
companies. up, they multiply.
Companies have invested heavily in
new discovery technologies
WHAT IS COLLABORATION? characterised by the convergence of
The definition of collaborative working life sciences and information
varies greatly from person to person technology. We are entering a period
and from company to company, but in where the promise of these 'new
its simplest form, secure collaborative sciences' will begin to deliver, but the
working uses information systems to application of new technology has
enable individuals or groups of created an added problem in terms of
individuals to work concurrently on the vast amounts of new data that
information, no matter whether they now need to be organised and
are dispersed or co-located. The result managed.
is that the working environment Enterprises that fail to use modern
behaves in the same way regardless of communication technologies and who
geographical location, communication do not leverage their intellectual capital
channel or device. and knowledge-base of their workers,
Collaboration is already integral to limit the potential for collaboration and
corporate life in the pharmaceutical run the very real risk of falling behind
industry — employees rely on e-mail, the competition. The knowledge-
telephone and videoconferencing; they intensive nature of pharmaceutical
are also leveraging the capabilities of R&D makes the ability to capture,
the digital workplace to share communicate and exploit knowledge a
knowledge and information with people key determinant for success.
across the enterprise and with external
networks. Despite heavy technology
investment in this area however, not all INCREASING COMPLEXITY
pharmaceutical companies have The research-based pharmaceutical
realised the true potential of their industry has long been one of the
collaborative tools — much money has most complex and resource-intensive
been spent but crucially, many in the world — but complexity is now
companies have omitted to invest in increasing at a spectacular rate. In
encouraging personal interaction, the order to maximise the quality and
result being poor uptake and severe speed of the discovery and
limitations on true collaborative development process, companies are
working. dramatically increasing the
collaboration within the different parts
of R&D as well as their reliance on
WHY COLLABORATE? external partners.
In an environment of rising costs and This collaborative approach is the
increasing demands on productivity right way to do business, but it adds a
and innovation, the challenge for level of complexity to both intra- and
today's pharmaceutical company is to inter-functional interactions. Multiple
do more with less. Having sought units within an organisation must
economies of scale and product collaborate across the extended
pipeline boosts through mergers and enterprise, ie not only with each other,
acquisitions, pharmaceutical but also with external partners.
companies are being forced to look

3. Winning strategies for effective collaboration
Exacerbating these complexities is project concept' that now dominates
the challenge of size. Consolidation the way R&D is progressed on a
within the industry as well as organic worldwide scale.
growth, have created extremely large,
global and decentralised organisations.
Consequently, infrastructures are CURRENT COLLABORATIVE
stretched to the limits, inefficiencies are PRACTICE
amplified and simple tasks such as Pharmacos have organised their
access to data, become cumbersome. collaborative technology platforms
Paradoxically, these very large around an intranet and groupware
organisations still rely on high- model. An intranet offers the best and
innovation work and intensive small fastest solution for information to be
group collaboration. A serious and dispersed and permits workers to
growing challenge for today's interact, connecting them and their
pharmaceutical company is therefore ideas across organisational
to re-create a small-company boundaries. Groupware is software
environment within the larger that groups or teams use together
organisation without harbouring over computer networks and the
'knowledge silos'. internet. The study examined the use
of collaborative tools in normal
THE VIRTUAL TREND working practice and Table 1
summarises current opinion based on
Team working has become the
interview responses.
predominant way of working at all
Study results confirmed the fact
levels — and teams are becoming
that we are inherently visual beings —
increasingly 'virtual' with members
we want to see as much as we want
often dispersed across multiple
to hear. Combining verbal and visual
geographical locations. Increased
exchange of information was found to
decentralisation has significantly
increase the 'richness' and add value
changed the nature of project working.
to the collaborative experience (Figure
Previously, organising and tracking
1).
project work could easily be done by
When it comes to sharing
physically moving around on site to
information, there is much variation
see all team members — individuals
across organisations. Limited
could simply exchange information and
connections between current
brainstorm together in the same room.
asynchronous tools such as e-mail,
Nowadays, with team members highly
shared workspaces and knowledge
distributed, managers have to visit
portals result in information silos.
project resources virtually — project
Some organisations have carried out
working and management is therefore
an integration of knowledge bases
becoming increasingly focused around
and added complex search engines;
internet-based collaborative tools.
however, little attention has been paid
A virtual project is a collaborative
to the user 'front end' creating a
effort towards a specific goal or
barrier to use.
accomplishment which is based on
collective yet remote performance.
This need to work both together and
apart has driven the need for
BARRIERS TO
management tools that enable COLLABORATION
communication and coordination at a As companies grow and as the
distance. The global structure of teams amount of information generated
has grown to support the 'virtual increases, fewer
© 2006 Palgrave Macmillan Ltd 1745-7904 Vol. 6, 2 83-93 Journal of Medical Marketing

4. Rowlands et al.
Table 1: Attributes and issues surrounding the use of current collaborative tools
Mode of Attributes Issues
collaboration
Phone/Mobile Telephone has become the gold standard Mobile phones make individuals too accessible and
by which other communication services are measured impact negatively on the 'life-work' balance.
Participants multitask during audio meetings,
Teleconferencing Most common form of conferencing Easy access - no even leave the room Unable to share non-verbal
dedicated room required cues Prior introduction helps build relationships
among participants
Instant messaging Real time messages Requires response
Bridges the gap between voice and e-mail Lack of archiving facilities on current systems
Affords users the ability to communicate, Lack of discipline leads to inappropriate and over-use. E-
E-mail coordinate activities and share information. Easy mail overload. E-mails often 'dumped' without action.
access - part of the desktop environment Difficult to manage version control Legal ramifications of
wording
A mechanism to share and distribute Changes working processes
information, documents and/or objects. Promotes Users need to 'buy-into' concept of sharing information.
Shared workspace/ concurrent team working and facilitates decision- Information requires management throughout lifecycle to
making. Access can be controlled. Can be extended to maintain its value
E-Rooms third party users Users lack training and confidence to maximise utility
M&A activity brings together different technology
implementations
Forces information and knowledge to be captured in Conversion of legacy data
standardised format -'future proofing Fragmented and 'siloed' systems
Data repositories Can be mined, visualised and the results published for Lack of 'metadata '
others to use Huge amounts of data generated daily in the post
Data suitable for validation purposes genomic era. Relies on proactive user pull - search
tools not intuitive
Highly effective for sharing information and Security, sensitivity and confidentiality
Intranet knowledge with a large, dispersed audience Most intranets do not yet facilitate the creation of
Best place to house tools vibrant communities and have not succeeded in
Portals provide a single point of access and can be decreasing the friction of information transfer
tailored to audience requirements between different groups
Net meeting Allows users to work from the same document in In the absence of visual link, there is a lack of
real-time interpersonal cues for building trust between team
Easy access - users sit at own workstations members
Multiple party participation Language barriers - poor English skills lead to some par-
Commonly used in conjunction with videoconferencing ticipants being hesitant to raise questions
Excellent vehicle for bringing geographically Time wasted in set-up
dispersed teams together. Ability to share both Imperfect visual image
Videoconferencing verbal and non-verbal cues Visual cues allow Time delays can lead to misinterpretation of verbal
foreign language speakers to be better understood communication and body language
Participants on camera cannot multitask or leave Not easily accessible - need to coordinate the booking of
the room suites across participating sites
Expensive - notably higher bandwidth applications
Face-to-face Technical tools cannot substitute the traditional human Geographical distribution means that face-to-face is
face-to-face way of sharing information around a table expensive - in cost and in time
Best way to build relationships and team moral Full Co-location required for routine face-to-face
range of communication skills Coordination of travel around other commitments
people have time to read the all collaborative efforts within their
literature or are able to personally company, only 10—15 per cent of
interact with those outside their intellectual capital has been captured
particular programme. This leads to in any structured format and that the
isolated projects, the inability to stay rest resides on paper, in lab
current and the repetition of effort. notebooks and in researcher's heads.
One study respondent claimed that
despite

5. Winning strategies for effective collaboration
Face-to-Face
Audio + Video + Web
video conferencing +
web meeting
Audio + Video
“Richness”
video streaming
video conferencing
Web Audio + Web
email, instant net meetings
messaging, e-rooms,
Audio white boards,
telephone, discussion groups
mobile
Connectivity
Figure 1: Combination of verbal and visual information exchange
Collaborative tools on the market Respondents to the study reported
today make it easy to coordinate large that all too often the selection and
groups by enabling team members to introduction of collaborative tools
post questions, work jointly on failed to take into account the practical
documents, schedule meetings and business needs of their work function.
track progress toward goals. But not Consequently, there was a mismatch
every company is positioned to take between expectations and reality. A
advantage of these tools. The danger further point raised, was that many of
for many is overspending on the tools were complicated or
technology implementations without cumbersome requiring users to switch
making the cultural and organisational between multiple applications -
adjustments necessary to derive any resulting in limited uptake. Finally,
benefit from them. Major barriers to implementation of new packages was
collaborative working embedded in more often than not poorly managed
current behaviour include: with little follow-up to initial training
programmes. Unsurprisingly
• Inherent dislike of sharing information
widespread adoption of collaborative
- 'knowledge is power'
tools has to date, not met with the
• Low perceived 'value' in sharing
information expectations of IT departments or top
• Mistrust of those who individuals have not management.
met in person
• Concerns over who will have access to
IMPACT OF CORPORATE
shared
information CULTURE
• Geographical distribution of workers Corporate culture plays a critical role
• Resistance to change in ensuring greater collaboration, yet
• Effort required — an added burden to daily the fact remains that in today's large
routine pharmacos, there are too many
• Corporate culture leading to competitive people, too much information and too
rather than collaborative working styles little time devoted to overcoming the
• Poor team working skills and lack of barriers to information sharing in
leadership order to create a true collaborative
• Lack of training
environment. Compounding
© 2006 Palgrave Macmillan Ltd 1745-7904 Vol. 6, 2 83-93 Journal of Medical Marketing

6. Rowlands et al.
this issue has been M&A activity which tasks more efficient), the goal now is
often brings together two culturally to enable processes to perform at a
diverse organisations with conflicting higher level.
working practices and different We are in the midst of a fundamental
technology implementations. paradigm shift as new technologies
The typical hierarchical nature of bring integrated voice, video and web
pharmaceutical companies also hinders solutions to the pharmaceutical
collaborative efforts. Senior executives desktop. Emerging collaborative
can be territorial, defensive and even solutions now offer the user the ability to
closed — team collaboration can coordinate seamlessly between tools
therefore become difficult as individuals without the need to switch between
have to work around managerial 'egos' systems. Information can be shared in
and sensitivities. In addition, an integrated and synchronised manner
information hoarders will always exist allowing decisions to be made on the
and with a lack of incentives that most up-to-date information (Figure 2).
encourage joint working, personnel This so-called 'contextual
often feel that it is not within their collaboration' represents an integration
interests to collaborate — they become of tools into a unified interface -
economical vith information, thus allowing teams to communicate
impeding collaborative efforts. quickly and instantly from a single
In many cases, collaboration is at environment. The goal of contextual
odds with the company's corporate collaboration is to make online
culture so implementation will be collaboration as simple and as intuitive
disruptive. Shifting a corporate culture as possible allowing more proactive
from being competitive to being goal management and more focused
cooperative is not easy, it requires work processes. The technological key
leadership from top management and will be the adoption of a converged
changes at all levels of the infrastructure which delivers the ability
organisation. This remains a big leap for voice and other collaborative tools
for many companies where individuals to work seamlessly together.
are still rewarded for controlling
knowledge and highlighting their own
achievements, rather than for sharing WHAT DID WE LEARN FROM
knowledge and focusing on team THE STUDY?
accomplishments. Study findings highlighted the fact that
collaboration is primarily about
behaviour and not technology.
FUTURE COLLABORATIVE Collaboration strategists must
PRACTICE overcome organisational, cultural and
Since the 1990s, collaboration behavioural issues such as persuading
strategies have revolved around tools people to work differently, establishing
with little attention being paid to user incentives and performance measures
needs and behaviour. Simply giving that foster greater information sharing
users the perfect tool for each situation and cooperation. Additionally,
is not always the correct strategy — community building efforts are valuable
this just leads to the proliferation of to create synergies across processes
tools for each situation and results in and functions. This approach provides
higher levels of IT complexity (and users with peripheral vision of what
costs). Today the focus is on how else is going on that might influence
people work within processes — it is no their own work practices. In this
longer a personal productivity respect,
endeavour (e.g. saving time or making
individual

7. Winning strategies for effective collaboration
Object
Conversation Sharing
(VoIP) e.g. Documents,
Databases
CONTEXTUAL Shared
Presence COLLABORATION Workspace
Aggregation of
Awareness
shared objects
& tools
Figure 2: Unification of tools
collaboration becomes a re-distributes the information.
cornerstone of knowledge Effective collaboration requires the
management and enterprise right mix of both synchronous and
learning strategies. asynchronous tools used in an
appropriate and linked manner.
WINNING STRATEGIES FOR
EFFECTIVE COLLABORATION
Ensure contextual collaboration
The right tool The research found virtually no linking
Selecting the right tool for the right of asynchronous and synchronous
task is a critical consideration and will collaboration tools to date — the
result in a positive collaborative convergence of voice, video and data
experience. Important considerations networks means that technology is no
include the size of the audience, the longer a barrier to prevent this from
intended level of interaction and the happening. The future is 'contextual'
immediacy of the required response where collaborative tools will exist in a
(Tables 2 and 3). Chat and instant linked and integrated family allowing
messaging are forms of synchronous users to switch seamlessly between
communications where each user systems from a single desktop
responds to the other in real time. In environment (Figure 3). This integrated
contrast, discussion forums and e-mail environment will serve as a managed
for example, are asynchronous repository providing document and
communications. Some amount of record management combined with
time may pass before a person communication tools, e.g. corporate
responds to a message and/or re- directories will link to
uses, re-purposes or
© 2006 Palgrave Macmillan Ltd 1745-7904 Vol. 6, 2 83-93 Journal of Medical Marketing

8. Rowlands et al.
contact information and with the with captured ad hoc interaction
additional use of presence information, and collaboration. The move
individuals can check if people are towards contextual collaboration
available to take calls allowing a strong continues to be adopted to improve
link to be forged between data and the productivity, reduce coordination
people responsible for creating it. costs and better connect people to
Contextual collaboration has the peers and teams.
potential to cross the divide between
electronic data and human knowledge
Create the culture
by linking information to people and by
Pharmaceutical companies need to
creating an environment for human
develop and reward a culture of
interaction. In this respect, contextual
openness and sharing. Training is
collaboration mimics the richness of
required — users must be familiar with
co-located small-team working by
and comfortable using the tools. Over
combining process rigour for
time, end-user confidence and
compliance
familiarity will evolve and the
sophistication of the workspace will
Table 2: Considerations for the selection of
collaborative tools
grow accordingly. With adequate
training and support, the result will be
Criteria E-mail Instant Shared a constant cycle of positive
Messa- Work-
ging space reinforcement and continuous
Synchronous No Yes No enhancements in productivity.
Employees need an incentive to
Asynchronous Yes Potential Yes contribute to the system; rewards
could be either financial or
Data sharing Medium Low High
psychological (eg peer recognition). In
Ease-of-use High High Medium addition, users must realise a net gain
from the system and the value of
Accessibility High High High sharing information through
collaboration must be reinforced. A
Response Yes Yes No
required
major failing is that the majority of
Audience size Good Excellent Excellent
pharmaceutical companies do not yet
1-5 reward or include collaboration in
Audience size Good Medium Excellent personal objectives — and without
5-25 incentives, behaviour will not change.
Audience size Good Poor Excellent
>25
Table 3: Considerations for the selection of collaborative conferencing tools
Criteria Tele- Video-conference Net Meeting Face-to-face
conference
Visual cues No Yes No Yes
Presentation of data No Sometimes Yes Yes
Collaboration environment Low High High High
Ease-of-use High Medium-Low Medium High
Accessibility High Low High Low
Equipment cost Low High Low Zero
Network cost Low High Low Zero
Other expenses (e.g. travel) Low Low Low High
Meeting size 1-5 Good Excellent Good Excellent
Meeting size 5-25 Medium Medium Good Excellent
Meeting size >25 Poor Poor Good Excellent

9. Winning strategies for effective collaboration
Figure 3: Potential connectivity from the desktop
Measure the impact access to relevant information and
Collaborative tools are likely to be sources of expertise, could result in 2
adopted more widely within months decreased discovery time and
pharmaceutical companies and their US$6 million saving. One respondent
use will become more routine if claimed that researchers within their
employees and executives understand company were spending more than
how much time and money can be 15 per cent of their time searching for
saved. data and information which has led to
Calculation of a hard savings figure bad and slow decision-making.
for the return-on-investment (ROI) on
collaborative tools is hampered by the
multitude of budgets and cost centres Promote the benefits
involved. Broad estimates from the Effective collaboration strategies
study suggest that by avoiding the enable individuals and teams to be
need for four people to travel and more productive within processes, with
meet face-to-face once a month over success being measured via
the clinical development period, the improvements in process outcomes
saving in terms of man-hours is in and more sustained levels of
excess of 1 year and around US$0.4 innovation. Productivity improvements
million in terms of costs (costs can be delivered as both hard,
included in the calculation: airfare quantifiable benefits (already
estimations, hotels, meals, car services, discussed) and as soft benefits. Soft
taxis, salary downtime costs, sundries, benefits are perhaps always the most
etc.). Similarly, by improving discovery under-appreciated since they are
productivity by 3 per cent through difficult,
easier
© 2006 Palgrave Macmillan Ltd 1745-7904 Vol. 6, 2 83-93 Journal of Medical Marketing

10. Rowlands et al.
Table 4: Critical factors for successful collaboration
Critical Success Factors for Tools
Simplicity - tools developed for large groups of people need to be easy to learn as well as simple and intuitive
to use
Accessibility - tools must fit seamlessly within the desktop environment
Customisation - different groups have different needs for tools and information
Integration - tools should ideally sit within an integrated and linked environment enabling the user to move
seamlessly from one tool to the next
Relevance - tools must be relevant to the context of the user’s work as well as meet specific business
objectives
Connectivity - tools must afford easy access to others (team members and beyond)
Reliability - tools must work in the manner expected and systems must be maintained
Critical Success Factors for Creating a Collaborative Environment
Culture - a corporate culture f sharing and openness
Rewards - for demonstrating effective team working and collaborative behaviour
Training - appropriate and timely
Leadership - team leaders must provide authority and example on collaborative behaviour
Resource - must be allocated at the team level to direct the use and continuous optimisation of the
collaborative workspace
Define roles and responsibilities - at all levels from the implementation team down to project teams
themselves
Reinforce benefits - the impact of collaboration needs to be measured while promoting the benefits at the
same time
if not impossible, to quantify difficult to work in a modern
with precision and include: corporate environment without
them.
• Enhanced creativity and innovation
• Faster and more informed decision-
making
CONCLUSION
— 24/7 availability of information means
Collaborative solutions now represent
that a core business tool that global
decisions are based on current not pharmaceutical companies need to
expired fully embrace in order to compete in
data today's global marketplace. The major
• Increased transparency across the finding of the study was that successful
organisation implementation of collaborative
• Improved management of project teams solutions requires a deep
• Increased reach — including remote understanding of user needs
workers combined with the deployment of the
and multi-geographies appropriate intuitive tools (Table 4). In
• Minimisation of travel requirements —
addition, it is crucial that implementation
improved quality of life for workers
is supported by an organisation-wide
• Elimination of downtime
'change management' programme to
help employees adapt their working
In short, the soft benefits that accrue behaviours and styles to fully exploit the
from the use of collaborative tools may benefits of collaborative working.
be hard to quantify but they are no
less real than the hard benefits. It
would be difficult to write the business
case for telephone or e-mail systems
but it would be equally

11. Winning strategies for effective collaboration
New tools and communication that is relevant, current and fluid.
infrastructures are now on the horizon Online collaboration will make
that will enable true contextual significant steps towards being as
collaboration. With the convergence of simple and as intuitive as working vith
voice, video and data networks, more people in the same room.
pharmaceutical companies will realise To truly embed collaborative working
increased value through deploying IP behaviour however, requires a
collaborative solutions — including IP fundamental change in corporate
telephony (VoIP), unified messaging, culture and working behaviours and
voice mail and audio, video, and web styles — to succeed the benefits of
conferencing. These personal tools will collaboration and knowledge sharing
enable workers to communicate must be continually reinforced from the
anywhere, anytime, with local and top down. A successful collaborative
remote colleagues, without leaving the framework is a driver for cultural
comfort and efficiency of their change and is a vehicle for
workspace. Individuals will be able to pharmaceutical companies to realise
work with live information the full potential of their greatest asset -
their people.

12. RM Consulting is now part of Parioforma Limited, an independent
business consultancy headquartered in London, UK.
For further information on our services or for an informal discussion on your
information and/or research needs please don't hesitate to contact us:
 Either by telephone on +44 (0) 207 225 3538; or by
 Email at: charles.rowlands@parioforma.com
LONDON OFFICE ASSOCIATE OFFICES
Intrix Corp, Darien
USA
Connecticut
Charles Rowlands
Senior Partner
Eastern
IMRP, Moscow
55 Prince’s Gate Europe
Exhibition Road
London SW7 2PN
United Kingdom Brazil Intrix Corp, São Paulo
Tel: +44 (0) 7803 907577
www.parioforma.com
Japan TRN, Tokyo