Mastering the Transition: The CRM Rivalries Reshaping Healthcare

Author's Update: Since this article was published in July 2024, the CRM landscape has rapidly evolved with significant advancements from Salesforce and Veeva System, underscoring the fast-paced nature of AI development in the industry.

Salesforce recently launched Agentforce, an AI-powered solution delivering customizable autonomous agents that integrate with any enterprise data to act across sales, service, marketing, and commerce. Announced on October 29, 2024, Agentforce enhances the Life Sciences Cloud by enabling AI agents to autonomously resolve customer cases, qualify leads, and optimize marketing campaigns. It will address life sciences challenges by deploying medical virtual agents that manage patient engagement, schedule physicians, handle care requests, oversee clinical trial management, and generate contracts based on clinical studies. This integration allows life sciences organizations to boost efficiency, improve patient outcomes, and ensure compliance.

Veeva has expanded its AI strategy by not only continuing to leverage external trusted partnerships for AI capabilities but also by developing proprietary AI features directly within its Vault CRM platform. Announced at the Veeva Commercial Summit Europe on November 20, 2024, Veeva introduced Vault CRM Bot and Vault CRM Voice Control, set to launch in late 2025. These GenAI-driven tools are designed to boost field productivity and streamline user interactions, demonstrating Veeva’s commitment to integrating advanced AI technologies through both collaborations and in-house innovation. This dual approach highlights Veeva’s strategic efforts to enhance its CRM offerings amidst the evolving demands of the life sciences industry.

The rapid developments from both Salesforce and Veeva within just four months of the article’s publication illustrate the dynamic and competitive nature of AI advancements in CRM solutions. With Agentforce available today for organizations to leverage, Salesforce reinforces its leadership in AI-enhanced CRM capabilities, offering organizations robust and mature AI tools that deliver substantial benefits. In contrast, Veeva’s upcoming AI features in Vault CRM represent significant progress but are scheduled for release in late 2025, demonstrating that Salesforce currently holds a leading position in the AI-enhanced CRM landscape.

Organizations planning their AI investments and CRM strategies should carefully evaluate their specific needs and technological goals. Salesforce’s mature AI ecosystem provides immediate opportunities for enhanced automation and data-driven decision-making, while Veeva’s forthcoming AI innovations offer promising options for future growth and strategic alignment. Balancing these developments will be crucial for organizations aiming to leverage AI effectively to maximize operational efficiency and maintain a competitive edge in the life sciences sector.

At Klick, we have the opportunity to work with marketers and IT professionals in life sciences, platform companies, and point solution providers. This perspective gives us insight into a significant change that might not be on everyone's radar: the upcoming split between Veeva and Salesforce. It marks a major shift in CRM technology as these two giants move from partners to competitors.

We have prepared this document to explain what’s changing, highlight strategic opportunities, and lay out a framework for action.

Market Dynamics and Product Evolution

Veeva's rise in the healthcare CRM sector stems from its focus on the industry's unique needs and strategic use of Salesforce's vast innovation ecosystem. This combination allowed Veeva to build robust, sector-specific features on Salesforce's advanced technology platform and extensive customer network.

Veeva launched Vault CRM in April 2024 for new customers, and many companies have already gone live on it. Salesforce, meanwhile, plans to leverage existing technologies to meet the specific needs of health and life sciences companies and demonstrate its commitment to filling the gap that Veeva's departure might create.

New Product Launches and Strategies

Veeva CRM is transitioning its technological base and introducing Veeva Vault CRM on the Vault platform. Being unified within the same Vault eliminates silos across customer-facing teams, enabling them to work from shared customer data, content, and essential processes—all to provide a seamless, customer-focused experience. Vault CRM has expanded to include their first iteration of Service Center and marketing-automation capabilities and a roadmap of capabilities such as patient engagement. Current Veeva customers can choose to migrate to the Vault CRM Suite, an end-to-end solution that unifies sales, marketing, medical, and service teams on a single platform. Despite Veeva’s strong market presence and industry relationships, clients are curious if the new platform will improve their ability to turn industry insights into advanced technology solutions.

Salesforce is positioning its Life Sciences Cloud to transform how the industry engages patients, HCPs, and care ecosystems. While the Salesforce Life Sciences Cloud currently offers products for clinical and patient enrollment and patient services, it is actively developing additional capabilities, such as customer engagement with HCPs and KOL management, further enhancing its comprehensive offering. The Life Sciences Cloud will help pharmaceutical and medical technology organizations personalize patient and HCP engagement and streamline clinical operations using data, automation, and AI. Salesforce also plans to expand its capabilities to create a seamless, comprehensive platform.

AI Integration and Philosophy

Although their approaches differ, Veeva and Salesforce are both focused on incorporating AI into their CRM systems. Salesforce has embedded AI into its ecosystem, combining its proprietary AI layer with the flexibility for organizations to integrate their own AI models. Features like the Einstein Trust Layer and Einstein Copilot enhance predictive analytics and generative content creation, positioning AI as a core component of the Salesforce Life Sciences Cloud.

Veeva, on the other hand, leverages external partnerships to bring AI capabilities to its platforms. Having not previously built AI capabilities, opting to take this approach makes sense. Through collaborations with specialized partners, Veeva aims to integrate advanced AI features into its products, potentially accelerating the delivery of tailored, cutting-edge solutions. The Vault platform’s latest advancement is the Direct Data API, a new type of API designed to help customers easily replicate their data in external databases or for use with AI and enterprise data lakes.

Recently, Klick has become an AI-certified partner with Veeva. Our AI-powered tool automates claims review, streamlining MLR processes for enhanced compliance and efficiency with integrations into Veeva PromoMats.

Transition Timelines

Salesforce plans to introduce new capabilities, like HCP customer engagement, in the Life Sciences Cloud by September 2025. While parts of the platform are already available, this timeline allows for integrating advanced technologies.

Veeva is transitioning to Vault CRM, with migrations for existing clients starting in January 2025 using Veeva’s automated-migration tooling to move data and content seamlessly. Our recommendation is for clients to engage an approved partner for support during this transition. New clients can subscribe to the new Vault CRM and implement it immediately.

Strategic Implications and Decision-Making

Inaction is not an option for companies currently using Veeva CRM solutions.Current Veeva CRM customers will need to move off the Veeva CRM platform by September 2030. Decision-makers must proactively select the path that aligns with their business objectives and technological requirements. This involves evaluating the upcoming offerings, understanding the implications of these changes, and preparing for system migrations or integrations. Segmentation of Adopters

Once organizations identify themselves as early, stable, or late adopters, a migration timeline can be implemented.

Key Assessment Considerations

When evaluating the transition, organizations must consider several critical factors significantly impacting their investment's success and long-term value.

Enterprise Architecture and IT Stack Simplification: This evaluation goes beyond traditional CRM considerations, requiring an enterprise architecture approach to simplify the IT stack and improve efficiency. Decision-makers must consider how a new CRM system can strategically impact the business, align with broader objectives, and streamline IT operations.

Change Management and Adoption: Transitioning to new CRM systems requires a strong change management strategy, especially for field sales teams. Organizations must carefully plan for thorough training, workflow adjustments, and potential cultural shifts to minimize disruptions and ensure smooth adoption.

Technical and Integration Challenges: Technical debt and the complexity of existing integrations may pose significant challenges during transitions. Companies must assess their IT infrastructure, identify bottlenecks, and carefully plan integration with new systems to ensure compatibility and maintain operational continuity.

Future Roadmap and Strategic Alignment: Organizations must assess their long-term technology needs and ensure they align with the evolving capabilities of the Veeva and Salesforce platforms. This alignment is crucial for sustaining growth and adapting to future market demands, providing the CRM solution can scale and evolve as needed.

Cost and Licensing: Transitioning to or upgrading a CRM system involves costs such as migration, addressing legacy debt, acquiring new licenses, and training. Understanding these financial implications is crucial for budgeting and ensuring the investment aligns with expected benefits and business strategies.

Recommendations

Organizations should start a comprehensive assessment to build a solid business case for their future CRM strategy, evaluating technical readiness, financial impacts, and strategic benefits. Engaging experienced consulting partners is crucial during the next 6–12 months to prepare budgets, mobilize resources, and revise IT roadmaps.

At Klick Health, we maintain strategic partnerships with Veeva and Salesforce and have experience in consulting, implementing, and upholding best practices across these platforms. We offer a holistic perspective on how changes will impact your business strategies and omnichannel approaches. Feedback from major pharmaceutical companies highlights the industry's challenge of overly complex, costly, and difficult-to-modify technological infrastructures, prompting a need for simplification to enhance operational efficiency.

Instead of just streamlining systems, the true value lies in realigning technology with businesses' distinct operational needs and strategic objectives. We understand healthcare brands' operational languages and adhere to IT scalability standards. Our approach strategically enhances business impact, setting us apart in the industry.

The evolving CRM landscape presents unique opportunities and challenges. By taking proactive steps, organizations can stay ahead of technological advancements and leverage these changes for strategic advantage. Partnering with knowledgeable consultants provides the expertise and support necessary to make informed decisions and successfully transition to the new era of CRM.

Connect with our team to ensure your organization is well-positioned to navigate these changes and harness the full potential of Veeva and Salesforce's new CRM landscapes.