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Why pharma needs digital upskilling

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You've heard a lot about digital transformation for several years now and the most likely reason you’re still hearing about it is because as an industry healthcare still has not quite cracked it yet. In this article we will try to answer the questions of why it is important that pharma build its digital competences on all level of the organisation and how to go about it.

Are we all onboard

In order for us to make sure that our digital transformation ever leaves the ground, let alone takes off, organisations need to understand what ‘going digital’ really means. Too often it is considered to be nothing more than the addition of new technologies while it actually requires integrating technology with a human mindset shift. You need to update the hardware, software and ‘wetware’ – the people who are supposed to make things happen.

We have to recognise that digital transformation and people can’t be separated. A digital transformation requires orchestrating a multitude of departments, people and strategies but if we don’t bring the right stakeholders onboard it becomes increasingly less likely to ever accomplish a successful digital transformation – nothing fundamentally changes unless the people change. People throughout an organisation need to acquire digital skills, new way of working and, more importantly, a new mindset.

Therefor we need to rethinking how we communicate and solve problems. How do we get people on all levels of the organisation onboard digital transformation projects? And how can we support them with the right tools to deliver?

How to upskill a pharma organisation

For most companies there are two main approaches to digital upskilling:

  • workshops
  • eLearning programmes


Both workshops and eLearning have their benefits and often the best results come from combining them.

Benefits of eLearning

eLearning is a great tool to work at scale in an organisation. It is fast, enabling rapid improvement, and also cost effective which makes it an excellent way to create common understanding of digital communication.

Most eLearning is structured through a fixed curriculum that people engage with when and where it best suits them. They may play videos, read case studies, take interactive tests – any kind of content is possible.

eLearning is also useful to maintain knowledge levels in an organisation over time. With fixed content that can be reviewed anywhere and at any time, it is an excellent way to get new employees up-to-speed.

Importantly, eLearning content must be pharma relevant. It should contextualise digital communication skills to the life sciences – and show how these ideas can be put into practice.

Benefits of workshops

Where eLearning contextualises digital to pharma, workshops contextualise it to your specific organisation. They are excellent at help you plan digital engagement that specific for your product or disease area – and for setting a general approach that applies across product lines.

E-learning: Contextualises digital to pharma
Workshops: Contextualises to your specific organisation

Want to learn more?

Want to know more about how you can build common understanding across the wider organisation and upskill the teams identified to execute on new plans and tactics? Check out Anthill’s training offerings and learn how we can help upskill your digital transformation needs, from understanding new strategic approaches for improved customer centricity to execution on omni-channel marketing plans. Contact us here.

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