What is Life Sciences Cloud?
Depending on their business model, life sciences companies typically use Salesforce Sales Cloud, Health Cloud, or Service Cloud as their primary CRM. It breaks down like this:
- Sales Cloud
B2B companies without a need to store protected health information (PHI) - Service Cloud
B2B or B2C companies with a need for robust, omnichannel customer service - Health Cloud
B2C companies or healthcare facilities with large amounts of PHI and a need to deliver robust service experiences
Remember the launch of Health Cloud in 2016? Health Cloud was a version of Salesforce CRM tailored to healthcare providers, insurance companies, and other organizations’ unique needs with patient-focused business models. To some extent, this patient model fits the requirements of med dev and pharma pretty well, but it wasn’t one-size-fits-all.
Like many healthcare providers, life science companies aren’t reaching their goals for digital transformation. However, how they’ll get there requires different philosophies – and, as a result, other technologies. After all, unlike healthcare providers, life sciences companies are often operated like manufacturers. Where providers need unified patient models, life sciences companies need accessible data to support clinical trials, research, and development for successful commercialization.
As a result, there’s a masssive need for a medical device CRM and CRM built for pharmaceutical companies.
Life Sciences Cloud will introduce a version of Salesforce CRM specifically tailored to the needs of pharmaceutical and medical device companies. The main features aim to improve how med dev and pharma companies conduct commercial and clinical operations.
Commercial Operations
Salesforce Life Sciences Cloud seeks to modernize front and middle-office processes using real-time triggers that empower sales and marketing to engage with the healthcare ecosystem.
Data drives the entire commercial lifecycle of pharmaceutical or MedTech products, from contract compliance to item management, price control, and forecasting. Like other Salesforce products, automation will play a huge role, allowing:
- Contextual rebates, pricing, and discounts that are selling opportunities
- Personalized provider engagement
- Cost savings through operational efficiency
Clinical Operations
Life Sciences Cloud supports the research, development, and trials that lead to game-changing commercialized products with clinical operations features. It includes Salesforce Data Cloud’s segmentation power to identify potential candidates for new trials, therapy adherence, and other insights.
Life Sciences Cloud also drives compliance with various regulatory agencies, such as the US Food and Drug Administration. For instance, chain of custody management maintains the digital history of events needed to develop precision medicines and keeps patents safe throughout every stage of a clinical trial.
What use cases will Life Sciences Cloud Solve?
Thanks to the pre-built commercial and clinical components, we predict that Salesforce Life Sciences Cloud will solve common pharma and med dev use cases faster than ever. Here’s a quick list of use cases we’re looking forward to.
Commercial Operations
- Sales Engagement Personalization
- Sales Performance Management
- Direct Field Sales
- Distribution Channel Management
- Asset Management
- IoT Product Install
- Billing Management
- Installation and Maintenance
- Supply Chain Planning
- Quality Management
- Supply Chain Analytics
Clinical Operations
- Clinical Trial Management
- Participant Discovery
- Chain of Custody
- Clinical Planning
- Site Management
- Regulatory Management
- Product Complaints Management
- Device Quality Management
- Multi-Site Scheduling
- Medical Inquiry Management
- Self-Service Enablement
When Will Life Sciences Cloud be Available?
Some components are available today, while others will be available in the coming months. Most commercial operations features are already available. We’ll be updating this blog as availability changes.
Available Now
- Health Intelligence
- Medical Sales Emails
- Data Cloud for Health
- Chain of Custody
- Service Replies
- Sales Emails
Available Early 2024
- Advanced Therapy E-Signatures
- Participant Management
Available 2025
- HCP Engagement for Pharma
Conclusion
Salesforce Life Sciences Cloud promises to be a transformative tool for pharmaceutical and medical device companies. By providing specialized features for both commercial and clinical operations, Salesforce is addressing the unique challenges faced by these industries.
The automation capabilities and data-driven insights will likely streamline processes, improve compliance, and enhance engagement with healthcare providers and patients alike. With some features already available and more on the horizon, Life Sciences Cloud is set to be an essential asset for driving digital transformation and achieving operational excellence in the life sciences sector.
Stay tuned for updates on new feature releases and their impact on the industry.