Biopharmaceutical Firm – From In-Person Trainings & A Rigid LMS To A Mobile Learning App With Cost Savings, 92% Learner Engagement

The US subsidiary of a global pharmaceutical company wanted to leverage the latest learning technologies for its 1200+ sales team across four distinct business areas - Neurology, Respiratory, Psychiatry, Institutional/Managed Markets. 

The Commercial Training & Development (CT&D) team had been utilizing in-person trainings and an intranet that was not conducive to remote sales teams. Meanwhile, training was pivotal for its current therapies, indications and blockbuster drug, as well as an aggressive pipeline.

In partnership with Scrimmage, a comprehensive mobile learning platform was built to establish a continuous learning culture from anywhere – a sales training journey. Cost savings of 75% for the company were soon realized. Learner engagement is consistent at 92%. Revenues have further shown significant sales growth, especially for its lead drug.  

The reality of today’s highly regulated and highly competitive pharmaceutical industry meant the CT&D department needed to be more forward-thinking in its learning strategies. 

The current focus of in-person trainings was becoming more inefficient. It not only took the reps out of the field from selling, but it was also incurring significant cost increases. Further, the learning technologies in-house were limited, almost non-existent. Beyond live trainings, content and learning modules were housed on the company intranet, via a SharePoint system, with more restrictive (desktop) access – truly difficult for a remote team in the field, on-the-go.

In addition, continuous learning, skill enhancements and compliance education needed to occur more frequently, more rapidly, more consistently, particularly as two therapies, including its lead drug, were quickly expanding with new indications and (fast-tracked) FDA approvals. It also meant additional new hires, new training and yet more product information.

The CT&D team and the Scrimmage team showcased a partnership, at its best! The Continuous Learning, Learner-Centric Strategy meant the new mobile platform would serve the many needs of: New Hire Training, Onboarding, Train-the-Trainers, Leadership Training and Development, along with Mentoring, Coaching, Compliance Testing and Certifications. 

From the start, collaboration moved quickly among both IT teams, particularly with the SharePoint system integration to the mobile instance. A custom one-stop-shop mobile training and activity platform was devised and built to be accessed on the web via any device, as well as a native iOS application with SSO (single-sign-on) capabilities for the sales team’s company-issued iPads. 

Full training for CT&D’s administrators was also set. They were able to understand and work the backend to its full potential, including to add/change content, import users, schedule push notifications, set-up polls, surveys, testing, activities, use roster feeds, and more.  

The mobile learning platform was customized and branded with its own artwork, color-scheme and naming to make it visually appealing, more engaging and exciting, as well as create an easy reference point across the organization. In fact, a fun naming contest for the application was created among stakeholders (IT had the winning moniker). 

The platform also offers a new, highly organized learning experience with easily searchable content, which is a must for the fast-paced business world. Learners enjoy various modalities to suit their personalized learning style, including videos, PDFs, eModules, SCORM courses, assessments, various feedback tools, surveys, as well as (serious) games, and more. The technology is always scalable to add new modalities, new features, at any time, as they recently have with podcasts.

Finally, reporting and feedback were at the core of the design, with multiple avenues of data, analytics and feedback tools. CT&D was even forward-thinking in having on-going (simple) surveys, as a feedback tool, available on the platform 24/7. Learners knew they could offer their opinion and thoughts for improvement, challenges, or benefits at any time. This aspect alone created a wealth of input from the actual user base. Training spurts using integrated gaming on the mobile platform also show vital engagement and analytics in terms of correct/incorrect answers, completion and response times, among other data points.

The partnership proved its value, as engagement has soared from Day 1.  And, it hasn’t let up with 92% engagement rates over the past 12 months, as measured by unique learner visits. (Further, each unique visit, or learning session, means accessing multiple content pieces and activities.)   

Learning is truly where the learner is! Web-based access has actually slightly outnumbered iOS access (60/40 split). This flexible learner-first, mobile-first, device agnostic strategy is on the mark. 

Further, there were over 35,200 total field sales hours saved in the initial year alone, with the new mobile instance keeping sales reps in front of customers, actively selling, while still covering the same breadth of topics. And, they have the ability to learn when they want, as they are able.

Even more telling, an actual cost savings of 75% for the company was achieved with the mobile learning initiative. Training could now be virtual, instead of only meeting face-to-face, which eliminated significant expenses (travel, hotel and other miscellaneous costs). The more targeted in-person onboarding, train-the-trainer and development programs could now occur, anytime, as needed.

The CT&D team implemented more trainings all around, plus incorporated pre-work, pull-through and continuous learning opportunities. Further, video-based leadership messages, as well as the recorded training sessions are housed in the app for easy reference later, combating the typical brain-drain effect. And, the virtual events, along with contests, gamification and other activities still supported team-building efforts. 

On a correlated note, recent financial statements (April 1 to September 30, 2019) reported, “revenues increased, as sales of [its lead drug], a primary revenue source, showed growth.” 

In one year, it was incredible to see the evolution from a purely in-person training strategy to literally a mobile learning revolution. They not only realized significant cost savings, but also gained considerable traction across the company. CT&D continue to use the enthusiasm and buy-in (+ the cost savings in the budget) to scale further, roll out new features and integrate more robust capabilities. Excitement around this new program has truly reinvigorated learning and training for the sales team. It also brought together other departments to spur more innovation and support for its sales team.