This is part of a series of posts describing 4 steps to successfully implement AI solutions to extract value from med affairs notes. Through our collaborative projects with clients, we apply a systematic approach to design fit-for-purpose solutions that meet our clients’ needs. In this series, we introduce the common challenges we see life science companies encountering and how these can be successfully overcome.
In our previous post, we talked about the role that technology plays, and in this post, we introduce the important concept of organizational pull-through, which is the crucial first step for successful adoption.
Step 1: Obtain organizational buy-in
The best technology implementation will likely not succeed if it does not have organizational buy-in, and this is often overlooked by companies wanting to introduce new AI solutions. Instead, the solution is built in isolation and then deployed across the organization, with expectations that its benefits will be immediately recognized and embraced by the teams meant to use it.
At Beghou, we’ve found that planning the project with a user-first approach and effective change management from the very beginning drives the greatest adoption of new technologies.
Seek and incorporate stakeholder feedback into the initial design
The team that will be using the solution has the greatest knowledge about the best approach for their workflows and the outputs that will be valuable to them. Therefore, an initial design that incorporates the team’s input will reflect their needs, require fewer revisions, and encourage greater use.
Incorporating the team in the feedback loop for the NLP and machine learning processes also tends to reduce the perception of the solution as a “black box,” enhances confidence in the results, and improves the solution’s accuracy. Establishing a solid foundation also enables other use cases in the future.
Plan a pilot phase
Providing an early system demonstration in a pilot phase allows not only system refinement but also excitement to build about its capabilities for all stakeholders, including the executive team. A pilot can also show that the system works within existing workflows, addressing any concerns about disruptions.
Develop an organizational AI road map
These considerations should be captured within an organizational AI road map that has clear goals, stakeholder buy-in, and target use cases. A clearly defined plan sets expectations and ensures everyone is working toward the same outcomes, including the results of the initial use case, how long it is expected to take, and the next steps.
At Beghou, we consider three levels of impact for AI implementation, with each successive iteration moving “up” the chain of impact. For organizations with a lower level of AI maturity, the initial implementation might only deliver qualitative feedback, such as “I like the insights” in the med affairs use case. As the organization and technology mature, quantitative feedback such as “We decreased the turnaround time from five days to one hour” shows the impact the system is having on efficiency, and finally, the third level, business impact, provides more tangible outcomes such as “We were able to get better targets, which led to incremental sales.”
Understanding this journey along the maturity trajectory helps set achievable goals that can be documented in the road map to instill realistic expectations of a new technology implementation across the organization.
The actions discussed in this post provide the initial input, feedback, and road map to inform and streamline the technological design and implementation. The end result will be a solution that is more likely to meet all stakeholders’ needs. The next post in this series describes the 3 key steps for the design and implementation of an effective med affairs AI solution.
