It has been an interesting journey for e-detailing; something that has for a while now been hyped as the 'killer' e-business application for today's pharmaceutical sales & marketing teams with which to interact with their direct customer base - the healthcare profession. After a lot of dipping of toes into the e-detailing water by the industry with somewhat muted success to date, it is only now that models are beginning to emerge that look set to fulfill the initial hope and promise.

So why has e-detailing come to prominence?
Today's healthcare professional is busier than ever. Not only do they have more patients than ever before, they also have more issues to deal with such as financial management, staffing and empowered patients. Their need for medical information, particularly that around pharmaceutical products and services, is greater than ever yet they have less time available to see sales representatives from pharmaceutical companies who they so often rely on for this information.

On the other side of the coin, the pharmaceutical industry is becoming a more and more competitive place, with more companies trying to promote more products to a customer base that has less time to deal with them. Even when they do get in front of their customers, research has shown they are faced with an average session of 3 minutes1, and an attention span that is even shorter. Sales & marketing costs represent the single greatest expenditure for today's pharmaceutical companies, and this diminishing return on investment is clearly therefore a cause for concern.

Enter Detail-Direct.com
To address these issues, Detail-Direct.com has been developed to provide one location on the Internet with one user name and password that gives access to a wealth of e-detailing and additional relevant information with a level of security that is unparalleled in the industry today.

The need for security
PharmiWeb decided to partner with PVS (Physician Verification Services, see www.verifies.co.uk), an international healthcare professional verification service that integrates local, industry-renowned systems to provide a level of verification and security only previously seen in the financial sector.

Martin Fagan, CEO of PVS Europe added, "PharmiWeb have chosen PVS to verify their services as PVS offers unrivaled security, ease of use and cost benefit compared to other mechanisms. PVS also is the only system that allows a full reconciliation with a Pharma Company's CRM system as well as the ability to match against ROI."

Reaching the healthcare professional
For Detail-Direct, PharmiWeb again worked with PVS, and partners of theirs such as Synavant in the UK to provide access to the healthcare professional community via routes that were already perceived as 'industry standard'. What this has given Detail-Direct is the ability to target and segment an accurate customer database to meet specific client needs.

Positive feedback all around
Detail-Direct has already received positive reviews from healthcare professionals and the pharmaceutical industry alike.

Dr Tony Marshall, a GP from Barnsley commented, "I am impressed with the level of security, ease of navigability and level of functionality that Detail-Direct provides. There is a real need to provide this kind of information on the Internet that as a busy GP I can access anytime, and if it can be made available from one location to save me having to re\member a stream of different passwords, then this is all for the better. NHSNet has proven itself unable to match the Internet in terms of speed and security of access, so I am looking more and more to access secure information online from home and Detail-Direct enables me to do this."

The first 3 clients for Detail-Direct, namely Novo Nordisk, Proctor & Gamble and Strakan were keen to be involved with this communication channel and look forward to the benefits of e-detailing:

Eileen Davies, Business Services Manager at Strakan commented, "Pharmiweb have been invaluable to Strakan in developing our e-business knowledge. Zindaclin is a new product in a well-established market and our initial aims for the product are to generate market awareness and then adoption. Detail-Direct is an interesting e-detailing concept that provides secure access to valuable product-based information for the healthcare professional in a one-stop visit. This in turn provides us with an opportunity to reach our customer base in a way that supplements and re-enforces our other sales and marketing activity."

Call for everyone to get involved
With established clients, promising results to date and a unique proposition, it is clear for all to see that Detail-Direct is here to stay. PharmiWeb are now calling for the pharmaceutical industry and other e-detailing service providers to get involved. Paul Hartigan, CEO of PharmiWeb commented, "The potential benefits to be gained from e-detailing are significant for all concerned. However, to make it a true success it needs a single shop window for the healthcare profession to trust and visit rather than the confusing array of web sites that are currently available. Detail-Direct.com provides exactly that, and whether it hosts e-details built by PharmiWeb or those built by others shouldn't matter. We see no reason why they can't all co-exist happily side-by-side.

Everyone Benefits
In conclusion, with e-detailing the pharmaceutical industry gains a greater understanding of their customers via an additional channel, providing new sales opportunities and the ability to provide a better service, while healthcare professionals are able to receive the information they want, when they want it and can receive a better service based on their own preferences.

For further information on Detail-Direct, please contact Colin Williams our E-Marketing Product Manager at: colin@pharmiweb.com or call him on: +44 (0) 1344 667430.

1 MedeMonitor, September 2001.