There were some very active conversations at the iPharma Connect conferences in Philadelphia this past week. Two in particular caught my attention:
Several examples of case studies of interactive selling with iPads, including a joint presentation by Novartis Vaccines and The CementBloc on iPad deployment and organizational change, and a nice presentation and moderated discussion from Jim Currie of PamLab.
Here are some eyebrow raisers:
* many of the District Managers who must train the sales reps on iPad usage have in fact never used a tablet or iPad for selling themselves
* physicians may be so impressed with iPad details they presume virtually unlimited information is magically available to show
* decisions on rolling out measurement vary across the industry
* some corporate boards are skeptical of iPad selling impact v. the investment
Another fascinating conversation was during a panel on "Patients Speak Out" where patient experts asked for pharmaceutical companies to provide more openness and transparency, even as they build relationships with patient advocacy groups.
For more of the tweets and reactions, see here:
There were
