Pharmaceutical Firm Embraces Scrimmage Technology - Its Custom Curriculum Delivery Platform supports New Hire Training and Beyond

With a diversified product line available in 180+ countries and over 100,000 associates worldwide, this Top 5 Pharmaceutical Company garners more than US$50B in annual sales.

In 2013, the corporate initiative was to identify a fresh solution to onboard new sales reps throughout the United States more efficiently and effectively. As the Associate Director of Training, notes, “they wanted the digital side to drive this new learning strategy from start to finish.” Likewise, it was imperative to have a platform that created full transparency between managers and new hires. And, finally, metrics were to be employed and utilized throughout the training process to act as an important barometer for all stakeholders, as well as various sales initiatives.

Scrimmage worked closely with the team to develop a custom mobile platform that became fully branded and easily recognized across the organization. It was created as a one-stop-shop approach to curriculum training.

Via the Scrimmage platform, content was delivered in a seamless and highly-organized manner, with a breadth that was equally impressive. Content and asset libraries, training materials, learning modules, as well as peer-to-peer learning and social collaboration tools became easily accessible for the user. Interactive agendas were also included on the platform and proved to keep the team on message and up-to-date. Meanwhile, the platform remained flexible, scalable and, of course, secure.

This digital model of learning improved the transfer and streamlined the delivery of all resources and materials. It increased manager engagement and learning pull-through, as the technology allowed for consistent interfacing between manager and rep. Meanwhile, the learner was offered a more simplified approach to training through: home study; live training & practice in a virtual classroom model; reinforcement paradigms, measurement and assessments.  

Bottom line, the mobile, one-stop-shop digital approach proved successful on many levels. Engagement was up with both managers and new hires, as pre- and post-learning assignments were easily delivered in a timely fashion. There was also a significant reduction in content and assignment “slippage.” And, finally, transparency between manager and learner was ensured for all training initiatives.  

How do we know these achievements were reached? Metrics were similarly integrated into the platform and implemented as a key to gauge success. Gamification, with its leaderboards and badging, became a major vehicle to measure learning, engagement, business impact, as well as overall training and content effectiveness. Vigorous, yet user-friendly dashboards were also employed for all stakeholders, including managers and learners alike, to garner actual knowledge acquisition and retention measurements. In turn, sales objectives and general business strategies could be amended more quickly and be more fluid across the organization.

In the end, technology and the various digital directives ensured effective knowledge transfer among new sales reps in a meaningful and efficient way – using any device, at any time, and in any place.