'Most pharmas not ready for AI in customer engagement'

 Pharma is interested in using artificial intelligence in their digital dealings with healthcare professionals and patients, but most feel unprepared to forge ahead with the technology.

That is the conclusion of the latest edition of the Digital Reality Check survey – carried out by Graphite Digital – which found that only 13% of digital decision-makers in pharma said they were very prepared for AI adoption to power this type of digital experience.

Obstacles to being prepared include data privacy, integration with existing systems, and the high cost of adoption, according to the report, which is based on polling of 100 pharma industry digital leaders. Compliance concerns and a lack of expertise are also holding back progress, with 77% of those polled saying they were "somewhat prepared" to deploy AI in digital customer engagement.

That is because the transformation to digital in this area looks very different, according to Michelle Killick, senior director of global transformation design at Pfizer, who contributed to the report.

"This is more than ever, not about striving for perfection from the outset, this requires a mindset to dive in, test, learn and iterate," she commented. "This technology is changing faster than perhaps anything we have seen before."

Asked where AI is having the biggest impact in digital engagement, around half (49%) of respondents said it was in data analytics and customer insights, suggesting that pharma "is leaning on AI to make sense of complex datasets and uncover actionable trends," said Graphite Digital.

Meanwhile, just over a third (36%) of the executives pointed to personalisation and patient journey optimisation as the second-ranked area of impact, just ahead of the use of conversational AI and chatbots (34%).

"Pharma is making early moves to apply AI to customer experiences – not just in R&D, but in how it engages HCPs and patients," said Graphite Digital chief executive Rob Verheul, who cautioned however that at the moment "it feels like the 'ugly duckling' phase: some trials and prototypes, but a long way from the integrated, value-add experiences needed."

Looking to the future, the top areas of investment were enhancing data-driven insights and analytics (68%) and digital marketing and advertising (66%), as well as AI-powered content creation (62%).

Many are also investing in the delivery elements of the customer experience, such as customer engagement and support (50%), although only a quarter (26%) are focusing on user experience (UX) and digital design, which Graphite Digital says "suggests untapped potential."

Verheul said: "There's huge potential here. With the right focus and collaboration, pharma can move past the barriers and start delivering meaningful, AI-powered experiences that truly serve its customers."

https://pharmaphorum.com/news/most-pharmas-not-ready-ai-customer-engagement