For life sciences organizations, IT challenges are as common as they are complex. Recent research reveals that 7 in ten organizations struggle with data silos and 80% say that improving data management is a high priority.

According to panelists from our recent FiercePharma webinar , Reimagining HCP Engagement Strategies for a Digital-First Future, executives are right to put data so high on the list. Long-standing technology challenges, such as fragmentation, limited interoperability, and complex system integration, are increasingly becoming major business blockers to effective HCP engagement, especially when it comes to connected health and personalized therapy initiatives.

To explore how organizations can overcome these barriers, Fierce Pharma brought together Patrick Moeller, CIO and Senior Vice President of Digital Transformation and IT Pharma at Bayer, Suhail Alam, Global Head of Data, Analytics, AI, and Marketing Technology for Commercial at Roche, and Thorsten Rall, Global Industry Lead for Life Sciences at Capgemini. Together, they examined the structural issues standing in the way of HCP engagement and strategies needed to address them.

Below, we highlight five key recommendations from the discussion, showing how companies can move beyond treating IT challenges as isolated technical problems and instead use them as strategic levers to transform engagement and deliver better outcomes. Read on for discussion highlights, and watch the full webinar on demand here.

5 ways to increase HCP engagement in a customer-first world

1. Identify “win-win” use cases.

In most organizations, customer engagement use cases are designed to create value for one stakeholder. But as the industry moves towards a more connected future, it will become critical to find “win-win” scenarios that benefit multiple functions simultaneously.

For example, leadership may want better visibility into field activity to improve forecasting, performance tracking, and omnichannel orchestration. The instinct may be to require field teams to log data into the CRM. But if field teams don’t see how that action benefits them, such as through better insights that can surface relevant next-best actions, it becomes an administrative burden and adoption stalls.

To drive higher levels of value in the future for all stakeholders, including HCPs, the engagement strategy must be based on shared priorities, incentives, and metrics.

2. Lead with customer preferences not tech capabilities.

The industry’s shift toward omnichannel engagement reflects life sciences’ commitment to customer centricity. But, in practice, some organizations are still building their strategy around what the engagement platforms can deliver, rather than what HCPs, patients, and care teams value.

Companies need to remember that having more channels requires more precision. There is no one-size-fits-all approach to customer engagement, especially in a global industry. Cultural differences, market dynamics, and individual preferences mean that engagement models and technologies must be adapted locally and personally tailored.

This is especially true since so much of life sciences and medtech engagement relies on push channels. HCPs and other stakeholders will continue to be overwhelmed with unsolicited emails and messages that don’t align with their needs or timing unless companies shift from a volume-based outreach model to one that is more tailored to individual needs and preferences.

3. Find big incentives to overcome roadblocks.

Emerging precision medicine and therapeutic care-based models are amplifying long-standing organizational challenges like data fragmentation and functional silos. To execute cell and gene therapy or radioligand platforms, overcoming these roadblocks is an operational requirement.

For example, in radioligand therapy, treatment following a specialized PET screening must be delivered in a narrow window, usually around 70 hours due to the radioactive components involved. That timeline demands seamless coordination and orchestration across manufacturing, logistics, hospital scheduling, and patient readiness. In this context, overcoming silos is not a distant aspiration, but an immediate need.

To move toward that goal of end-to-end orchestration, companies need to identify clear incentives to enable closer coordination by making teams accountable for growth and care outcomes.

4 pillars of successful omnichannel engagement
– Single source of truth
– Integrated customer journeys
– Field force productivity
– Intuitive user experience

4. Treat AI agents as a new class of employee.

The race around agentic AI is accelerating, particularly in commercial functions where an estimated 85% of business processes are expected to be supported by agents on some level within the next year. Unlike R&D, many commercial use cases don’t require highly specialized, scientific models, making the opportunity both practical and scalable. For example, generative and agentic AI are already driving impact through content automation, MLR streamlining, field coaching, interaction summaries, and workflow automations.

However, major constraints remain. In addition to data quality and governance, organizations must also work to build trust in the technology. To do that, organizations may want to consider AI agents like a new category of employee. That means defining clear guardrails and acceptable outcome parameters, continuously monitoring performance from a central level, and establishing governance mechanisms that ensure agents operate within intended boundaries.

This also requires training, oversight, and integration with the human workforce, as well as updating and adapting compliance processes. For more details, read our recent POV, Rise of agentic AI.

5. Forget customization, focus on composability.

For years, CRM transformations stalled because organizations over-customized outdated processes instead of redesigning them. This heavy customization created rigid, highly complex systems that were difficult to upgrade, costly to maintain, and slow to adapt. Combined with poor data hygiene and limited adoption, this often left CRM systems perceived as little more than technical debt—or worse, data graveyards.

Now, as both the technology and customer expectations evolve rapidly, companies need to embrace a composable architecture, designing modular components that can be easily swapped, upgraded, or integrated. This approach should be underpinned by API-first, voice-enabled, and AI-native capabilities to ensure long-term adaptability and relevance.

Closing thoughts: Creating a fit-for-future CRM strategy in life sciences

Before selecting a CRM or other tech solution, life sciences companies need to start with a fundamental question: What value are we trying to create?

This is less about IT implementation and more about business transformation. Decisions will be shaped by each company’s portfolio and pipeline and success will be defined, in part, by the strength of the organizations data and infrastructure.

Want more HCP engagement insights from our panelists? Listen to the full webinar here and reach out to our experts to learn more about how your organization can build a successful CRM rollout through process harmonization, effective governance, cross-functional ownership, and incremental value delivery.