The healthcare industry is awash in data. Life sciences companies can access billions of healthcare data points, and the ability to quickly translate these into actionable and vital insights regarding patient needs, physician behavior, and market trends is increasingly paramount to improve patient outcomes, and also profitability. This is particularly important for Pharma marketers, content creators, and service providers as they strive to improve services and tailor relevant communication geared toward both the healthcare professional and consumer audiences. Thanks to advances in analytics and artificial intelligence, it is also now possible to analyze that data to inform every step in the commercialization journey. 

But this isn’t just a nice to have benefit. With markets changing swiftly, the need to rapidly make data-driven decisions is of utmost importance. In this environment, stakeholders cannot afford to wait weeks for data to be compiled or rely on forecasters to interpret the numbers on their behalf. 

“Deriving insights from datapoints isn’t easy to accomplish with a raw spreadsheet of countless rows of numbers,” says Justin Austin, an engagement manager for Omnichannel Marketing at IQVIA. “However, when you present the data with insightful charts and graphics, you and your team can easily interpret the trends and understand why they are important. Having a clear and concise data visualization strategy and supporting platform allows you to delve deeper into the data, which supports those next-level conversations.”

When life sciences companies leverage data visualization tools like IQVIA Omnichannel Navigator to streamline their data needs, they are able to make more informed decisions in near real time. “Navigator is a novel media measurement and optimization platform that presents results in an easily digestible manner while also capitalizing on the granularity afforded by best-in-class patient longitudinal data,” says Andrew Burkus, principal for Omnichannel Marketing at IQVIA. “It brings the appropriate level of detail needed by every stakeholder so they can make better investment decisions that will continuously improve performance and maximize the return on their marketing investment.”

Burkus and Austin recently participated in a roundtable discussion on the topic of data visualization with Zachary Farrell, an associate principal for Omnichannel Marketing at IQVIA, during which they defined what data visualization is, why it’s important, and what impact it can have on commercial results.

Moderator: Let’s begin with the basics. What is data visualization? 

Austin: Data visualization is the physical representation of data points -- taking a spreadsheet from columns and rows to a bar chart, trend line, or any graphical representation. 

Burkus: It is at the core of taking something complex and making it easily digestible for any audience, be it high-level data points like return on investment (ROI) for senior leadership, or weekly trending in media performance at the granularity required by marketing agencies and brand teams. The goal is to help them all do their jobs more efficiently by creating opportunities to capitalize on robust data to guide strategy while enabling rapid decision making.

Moderator: Why is data visualization so important to life sciences teams? 

Farrell: It helps to amplify the impact of the point that you're trying to make. When we're looking at enormous amounts of data, the narrative can get lost within the complexities of that sizable data set -- particularly data sets as robust as IQVIA’s patient longitudinal data. Being able to visualize the data helps you understand the impact. It simplifies that wealth of data into a concise story.

Burkus: Echoing what Zach said, this can be especially valuable when analyzing patient-level or physician-level data. These data sets cover complex concepts describing who patients are and how they’re being reached. Every time that added layer of complexity is involved in data analysis, something can easily get lost in translation. 

Moderator: Can you share an example?

Farrell: Imagine you are running a campaign and you want to look at post-campaign exposure data at the placement and creative level over the prior year. Those data breaks can add up to hundreds of thousands of lines of data that you need to distill down into insights. Being able to pull that data into graphs and charts makes it easy to break the narrative into digestible pieces of information that can be absorbed in a short conversation.

Moderator: What is the benefit of using a data visualization tool like IQVIA Omnichannel Navigator?

Austin: When you leverage a data visualization tool, you have the ability to rapidly transform data into visual results. It reduces the time of producing visuals and relieves resource constraints for teams that may not have the time to compile thousands of pieces of data and create charts to reflect the results. By automating this step, their time can be dedicated to more value-enhancing analytic tasks.

Burkus: In a manual environment, the team might spend two weeks just getting the data ready to analyze before they even think about what it means. Whereas, with an automated data visualization tool, the data is aggregated and visualized for you, which means the transition from data to actionable insights goes much more quickly.

Moderator: Does this data transformation translate into strategic benefits?

Burkus: It does. The speed to insight brings significant strategic advantages because it allows teams to make more informed decisions sooner and with confidence. This might mean finding out that a program isn’t working in a matter of days or weeks versus months, which means you can pivot those dollars to activities that will drive greater ROI. And if the data shows that a program is working, you can understand this at the onset and identify how to capitalize on that success. These data-driven decisions will save money through eliminating wasted spend, improving returns, and ultimately will improve outcomes for the patients that you serve by focusing your time and investment in the areas that matter most to your patients, physicians, or both.

Moderator: What other pain points does an automated data visualization platform alleviate?

Austin: Data is so valuable, especially in the decision-making process. However, it can sit on someone's hard drive for weeks before anyone gets to processing and interpreting the data into something meaningful. Implementing a data visualization tool that can automate data processing and visualizations presents a seamless solution for making strategic decisions at the speed of business.

Farrell: Also, a lot of collaboration is required for manual data visualization. Teams of analysts may need to merge myriad data sets and often rely on multiple sources to assemble them, which can hinder productivity and delay their ability to deliver results. A solution that helps automate the collection of data from cross-functional sources, then process and format it all into visuals, helps to refine insights in a timely manner.

Moderator: Is it important that data visualization be customizable to the needs of different stakeholders?

Austin: Absolutely. You want to curate the right visuals and data for each audience. For example, a CMO may want to see a high-level comparison of the product’s performance against other products in their portfolio; whereas the brand manager, who is making daily optimizations, may want to see detailed trends. So, you need a tool that can deliver that level of personalization to meet every stakeholder’s needs.

Moderator: What advice would you offer life sciences companies about using data visualization tools?

Austin: When looking for a data visualization tool, look to companies that offer products and services that meet your business needs. Whether you're launching a product for a previously unmet need in a patient population, or pivoting an existing brand for a new audience, leveraging a tool that may not be built for those use cases can cause headaches; whereas IQVIA Omnichannel Navigator is built to visualize this data to help accelerate decision making so you can respond to the needs of customers before your competitors can. 

Farrell: It’s important to also understand the depth of data that is compiled within your data visualization. To make business decisions you need ample data, and if you do not have sufficient sample sizes to allow for strong statistical confidence in the metrics you’re visualizing, it doesn’t matter how great your imagery is as your story could be misleading. 

Burkus: If your data platforms cannot deliver the level of specificity needed to inform decisions, it may be causing missed opportunities for cost savings and financial growth. But using a tool, like IQVIA Omnichannel Navigator, can help you improve your market strategy by identifying trends and responding sooner. I know we have said this multiple times today, but we cannot stress it enough: utilizing best-in-class tools to improve data visualization and insight generation will lead to less waste, improved profitability, and better returns for you and the patient populations you serve.