Part 2: Conquer Launch Complexity: Strategies For Pharma Success with Keitel Suri, Vice President at Lumanity

[00:00:00] Hey everyone, Saul Marquez. Launching a pharmaceutical brand is intense, it's complex, and the stakes are high. You guys were with us for part one, and now we're recording part two of this series where we take a look at the consideration of how to launch smarter and faster, how to set the right trajectory, and how to have the right checks and balances in place to support timely decision making in Drog launch.

[00:00:30] Today, we take a look at the second part of this episode series with Keitel Suri about the Ignite platform. And it's an intuitive, agile and collaborative launch readiness tool built specifically for pharma to drive effective and collaborative launch readiness planning and tracking. Enjoy part two of this where we continue uncovering tips, tricks, frameworks, and the beauty of this tool.

[00:00:55] One theme that keeps coming up in our conversation, and it's the reality, there's a lot of fingers in the pie. There's so many stakeholders. How do you support connecting the dots across stakeholders with what you do?

[00:01:11] Yeah, and the simple answer to that. Yeah, I think the simple answer to that is being able to see multiple views if you wish that. Most launches, and your listeners will absolutely know this, 60-70% of revenues of most launches land around 6 to 10 markets. That's what they're really landing around. So from a launch perspective, your critical need is to be able to see that sort of global to local or regional to local, whatever your sort of organizational archetype is.

[00:01:41] You need to be able to see that you need to see that you're leading.

[00:02:11] If your team is wanting to then inform senior global leadership of a company, either way, you're going to have touch points of review. And you need to be able to not only say how you're doing, but you also need to be able to that in real time, side by side, compare the progress, compare the issues, compare the areas of concern, so you can act and have speed of decision making.

[00:02:34] Having that visibility at the fingertips fosters that collaboration. It fosters cross-functional working. It fosters prioritization of effort. And it also gives you the why. When most people are really busy, launch might not be their only thing on the particular asset. They might be working across multiple assets, some in-market, some launch. You might have the rare view of being totally dedicated, but that's unlikely, right? So you've got to give the why.

[00:03:02] And if you can see information and if you can get to the real things you need me to do or the real things I'm concerned about that are being highlighted, depending on what function you sit in, that's going to drive that engagement factor, which is critical. So it's collaboration, engagement, I think are really important. And having that global to local or that whatever view that reflects your organization, I think is really important.

[00:03:28] That's the third sort of guidance framework that I would have. A system needs to give you that global viewpoint. I like that. I like that a lot. And how is it traditionally done? Like if you don't have this tool, what does that look like typically? Is it a struggle to try to get this? Well, I think it can be. Well, from my experience, it has been. Right. Coming back to that point that I said earlier of that heart sync moment where it's just spinning out of control. Right. Yes.

[00:03:56] That might still happen, but with or without a tech solution, hopefully you reduce the risk of that happening with a tech solution. I think you just need to be careful about it's not just about a simple Excel. And I would fight my corner on that. If you like Excel as a way of working, great. But Excel has its limitations, as do other systems that effectively embrace that.

[00:04:24] What I'm trying to say is tech can do more. The launch management platform needs to give you more. But at the same time, and I've just explained one, two, three on that so far of the five. But at the same time, it's got to be simple to use. Right. It's that balance. And it's got to be dedicated to farmer because intuitively the right things to focus in on. And one of the things that Ignite does do, and this is important to highlight to your listeners, because it's new functionality coming in January.

[00:04:55] Is there's the solution, right? But why should you start from scratch? People find themselves in two situations when they're coming to ask for our support. One, they've got to start from scratch. It's a blank sheet of paper. Right. They've worked with us before. They like us. People buy people. They want to use us again. I love that. But the second thing is they want an external eye to validate where they are. They want that rigor of thinking. They want the different lens. Right. Totally. Okay.

[00:05:21] So what we have done is created new functionality where we've got preset launch templates. And so we powered our last 10, 15, 20 years of experience and given you a starter for 10. These are the critical strategic things we think you need to do under seven key aspects that you know are about developing the market, developing the brand, developing the organization. And you can go high level granularity, low level granularity, interdependencies and suggested timings.

[00:05:50] What does all that do? It means you can either validate someone else's plan against our one or you can create a plan rapidly, 60, 70, 80% of the plan. But critically through a couple of workshops with a cross-functional audience. So you're also driving that engagement. And if you just imagine, I know I've seen this in two ways. Imagine the long list. In the olden days, I would have said a Rolodex and that probably gives my age away. In the newer medium, social media, it's swipe left, swipe right.

[00:06:18] But the bottom line is what bits do or don't are or aren't relevant for your asset archetype or for your organizational archetype? Because it's all there and you're just tailoring, tweaking, adjusting. And that should give huge confidence to get off the ground fast or huge confidence to validate and refine and add. So you can really get good quality launch plans up and running really quickly. Or where your gut says this isn't going right.

[00:06:49] Help with that gut check to get it back on track and pivot. So that's something within Ignite that we're really excited about that we're launching in January. That functionality will come on stream. That's exciting. No, I really appreciate you sharing that, Kite. And one of the things that comes to mind and it came up in your framework, so we should tackle it next. It's the big things that we need to be focused on as leaders in a launch, separating the signal from the noise.

[00:07:18] So how do leaders know what those big things are that they should really be focused on in the process? Yeah, and I think that really links to reports and dashboards, right? How are you progressing, if you want, in-year, in activity, in those work streams that typically break down a launch plan of engagement into? And having that visibility and that transparency. So setting what you mean by not started, in-progress, tracking, not tracking.

[00:07:48] And then having that color coding to allow you to then be able to, again, easily filter to those issues that are being flagged as critical. If something is flagged as a critical activity, it usually means it's going to affect your marketing authorization or your commercial launch dates, right? Being able to filter that from other lots of information and being able to do that either at a macro global or regional level, whatever the organization structure is,

[00:08:18] or certainly for your key affiliates, allows you to do a couple of things. It allows you to check progress, track progress. It allows you to see what's green, what's amber or red. And sometimes have those difficult conversations, but you're focusing on the right things because those things are fundamentally going to affect whether you've got the right product, right time and can launch. Right? And I think that's what the system needs to do is to be able to work with launch teams to identify those important things in the first place,

[00:08:48] to be able to easily, rapidly filter the touch of a button. So you've got a visual heat map of what's fine, but what's not. But, and honestly, my rule of thumb here for your listeners is if someone turns up and says everything's green, I don't buy it. Right? Because launch chops and change. It's like a snake. Just when you think you've got it, something else comes out of the woodwork, right? And it changes tack. So I don't buy that. I don't buy that.

[00:09:15] But you need to be able to see those risks, those issues, so you can make timely decisions around them. And actually that is what gives the cross-functional team confidence, whether you're sitting at affiliate, regional, global. But it damn well gives confidence to senior management who might be saying this asset is the next big thing for our company. If you're a small or medium-sized company, they want to get into the granularity because there's a lot riding on it.

[00:09:43] So you need to be able to have a system like Ignite, for example, needs to be able to provide that roadmap, be able to filter on those critical areas of focus. And then to be able to compare. Compare across those top six, eight affiliates that will drive 60%, 70% of revenue. See where the gap analysis is. What's it saying? And that allows you to make timely decision-making. So having the right dashboards and reporting structures.

[00:10:09] And what I mean by that is you don't need 50 dashboards and reports because you'll never look at them. You need 10 or under. I love that. No, I think you pick which ones make most sense depending on the audience you're talking about. Yeah, clarity is key. There's a quote that I love. Wherever you find confusion, you find failure. And I love the simplicity. You get those dashboards that you need. And you're able to focus on the things that actually matter so you could stay on your timeline.

[00:10:37] And so also the environment, the ecosystem is something that you touched on. What's the right ecosystem to have success with asset launches? Yeah, so this is the fifth. So this is number five of that framework that I talked about. And for me, the software and the launch management platform of Ignite is one thing. But its ecosystem needs to be about helping people know how to use it. So that's the training component. And to recognize in different learning styles. So it's what we're doing here.

[00:11:07] Imagine 30, 45 minute, one hour training sessions walking through the key elements of it. Or self-directed learning. Some people just prefer that. I just need, we've got a Vimeo channel with videos, 90 second videos. Just that quick reminder of how to do the critical things, right? Because the system shouldn't be about, I need to learn the system. That should be a small part. The 90% should be about what is the system telling me? And what decisions do I need to make?

[00:11:35] So that's why we need to make systems simple, right? So when you look at it, if it feels simple, massive tick for me. So ecosystem is about the training component. It's also about the service desk that we provide. And we've got a wonderful service desk. And that is about two things. How can you make the setup of a plan and the system go through really, get set up really easily, really quickly, right?

[00:12:02] And then following that, it's that conversation that you have with yourself about three weeks down the line going, oh gosh, I've forgotten how I do that. And I just want to speak to someone and I want them to help me. That's what the service desk is there for. And then also, actually, I need some analytics if you're an overall launch lead. I need some analytics around my team really using the system or not and how frequently and what aspects are they using.

[00:12:27] So from whatever dynamic you might need it, that's what I mean about ecosystem. So you have that reassurance. It's friendly people, friendly phrases that become your best friend when you go, can you remind me that question, right? And because if you go to all the effort of creating a plan, it's usually offline initially. It's usually workshops, pulling it together, right? Or it's usually validating something that you've got from your global development team.

[00:12:53] But it's usually people coming together in a workshop, reviewing. That needs to then be translated simply, easily and quickly into the system. And from there, you just need to be able to navigate the system. So it's like a one-two punch. And the ecosystem is part of that. The other part of the ecosystem, so I've just talked about training. I've just talked about service center. The final one for me, which is something that we do provide as a consulting organization, is professional services, right?

[00:13:23] Because actually, you need to ask the right questions. And not miss some of those big questions or what the information may be telling you or where your status may be. And having people that you can embed in to an organization for a short window of time or for a longer window of time, I think is that added plus. It's Ignite as the software, which is what we've been talking about. But it's also that professional services part. For people that have been there, people that have been in the pharma side 10, 20 years,

[00:13:51] that they know what operating in a complex cross-functional organization looks like. They know some of the idiosyncrasies and some of the, honestly, quite frankly, daft decisions that are made that you're having to recover from. And they can be in the trenches with you. So that's probably, that's what I mean by ecosystem. It's the system and it's the plus, which is that professional arm coming in and helping for a short window of time or for a longer window of time. I love that kite. It's like a dial. If you need more help, you could use the help.

[00:14:19] If you just need the service desk when you need it, it's there. There's nothing worse than buying a system. And then you're basically stuck with a robot or like a FAQs documentation. Like that is the worst. I actually all the time find myself paying more, not saying that your solutions more, but I'm saying I will pay more for service because when you're in the middle of something

[00:14:45] complex, you really like that human in the loop makes such a big difference. And it sounds like the professional service side of what you offer brings in so much experience, like all these launches that you're seeing, the things that work, the things that don't work, best practices, super invaluable. So really glad that you shared that. Look, um, oh yeah. Right. So there's one other bit that I think I would also add, and it takes it back to that sort of human level, right?

[00:15:11] Where I'm just, I live in Wimbledon in Southwest London and we've just done some redecorating here. Right. And for me, it was all about, and it was, it followed building of an extension. So for me, my head was extension and right. All the building stuff, right size, right scale, right shape. What we're going to do with it. Great. But no one sees that. What people see is the end product.

[00:15:36] And if I'd had my way, it would have been some way off what my wife suggested, which was actually getting someone in to properly advise us on like colors, color schemes, cushions, what should go in there. So then you end up with what you wanted. Where you had that vision in your head is, so I know that I'm rubbish interior decoration. I know that, right? I'm never going to be that kind of designer, interior designer. But my wife is, and that's fine.

[00:16:04] I think launches, I've noticed my limitations, put it that way. I think the issue here though, is as I started off with right at the start, launch management systems such as Ignite are about an enabler, right? They're about making what is inherently complex better. They're about helping you reduce that tension, that fear of messing up. Conversely, they're also there to help you make and reassure your gut, right?

[00:16:34] Help you make those smart decisions, drive that engagement, bring the organization along with you, big or small organization, right? So it's about getting the maximum out of the process and governance piece. It's about getting that right people engagement. It's about getting a right plan and the right focus areas. And that's what the right platform, and this is what I would say. I love that, Kite. And I love your example too. I'm terrible at design and even graphic design. Like, thank God for my team.

[00:17:03] Because anytime I try to put anything together, I just, I need a team and a platform to execute effectively. And launches are such a great place to rely on a team and a platform like yours. So I can't thank you enough for coming on and sharing with us really like your wisdom in this space, the framework you just shared. What is the best place that our viewers and listeners can reach out to you and your team if they want to learn more?

[00:17:32] Yeah, so please do visit us at lumanity.com slash ignite. I'm sure it will be in the podcast accordingly. We'd love to hear from you and just love to have a conversation, right? People by people. So I hope some of the things I've shared are reflections that your listeners may have, may find themselves in that situation, that quicksand moment, or that one where they're just wanting to validate that they're on the right track. Either way, I do think that hopefully some of the aspects that I've shared today can be of value.

[00:18:01] I look forward to hearing from people. That's great, Kai. Really appreciate it. And folks, make sure you check out the show notes where you'll be able to find all the ways to get in touch with Kate, including his website, which is lumanity.com forward slash ignite. Thank you all for tuning in. Take action on what you heard today because we do this podcast so that you could win in the space that you're in. Thank you all for tuning in. And Kai, thanks for being with us. Thanks very much indeed. Bye, everyone.

[00:18:30] Hey, everyone. Hope you enjoyed this series where we uncovered all of the amazing things you too can do to take complexity out of launching new drugs with the ignite tool. So really appreciate you guys learning. Make sure you check out the show notes for ways you can get more information on this. Find out more about it. And it's lumanity.com forward slash ignite. Thank you. Thank you.