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InsideMagazine Issue 15
2 Inside Issue 15
Compiled by: Amy RobinsonRachel Doren
Designed by:The One Off
Printed by:Plan4Print
Contributors:Chris Corbin, Gareth Davies,
Lucy MacLauchlan, Rosemary Hennings,Gemma Pfister, Viv Adshead, Luke Flett,
Steve Stefano, Jackie Chaszczewicz,Hayley Fisher, Claire Fleming,
Ruth Spode, Rebecca Dobson,Ruth Burnley, Cynthia Hepler,
Colin Watson, Dan Piggott,Wendy Wolf, Marina Guerrero, Jan Noteboom, Laura Goucher, Alan Curley, Katherine Billand, Jason Erickson, Danisa Frentiu,
Lauren Carr, Tom Simons and Sabrina Osborne.
If you would like to contribute to future issues of Inside magazine contact:
Rachel Doren, Marketing Department
+1 215 347 [email protected]
This year has been a big one for Ashfield, most notably thanks to the rebrand of our division and several acquisitions. I acknowledge there have been many changes and some restructuring, however, I want to assure you that it’s necessary to evolve in order to respond to and anticipate the needs of our changing industry.
In this issue we bring you news of another acquisition in the form of partner agencies Galliard and Nyxeon. This purchase actually expands our services into a new area: public relations. I’m sure as the weeks go on we’ll see how new collaborations and opportunities will open up across the division.
We also bring you news of expansion within our travel health specialists, MASTA, and an exciting new development within Meetings & Events, which allow us to work in a more innovative way with our clients.
As our division expands into new areas and markets, it can be difficult to keep track of everything that’s happening. So in this edition we bring you a quick overview of some of the success stories of the past few months. I’d like to encourage you all to continue to share your successes, as they can inspire your colleagues and encourage greater cross-business working.
As this is the final Inside of the year, I’d like to thank you all for your hard work, wish you and your families a happy holiday season and get ready for more successes in 2015.
Best wishes,Chris Corbin
WelcomeAs 2014 draws to a close, it’s time to reflect on a year of change and the successes we’ve had, as well as look forward to an exciting new year ahead.
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ContentsWelcome
Ashfield Makes A Great PR Move: Galliard And Nyxeon
Meet The Decision Makers: Interphase Consult
Get The Message: Ashfield Healthcare Communications
A Bright Spark: Ashfield Meetings & Events
The Inside Story: Ashfield Market Access
Meet Our Nurses
Acquisition Strengthens Our MASTA Plan
We’re Making It Happen!
Introducing Wendy Wolf: Ashfield US
Spotlight On: Ashfield Belgium
Innovation Through Collaboration
Creating A Compliance Culture: UDG Healthcare Plc
The Extra Mile
This year has been a big one for Ashfield, most notably thanks to the rebrand of our division and several acquisitions. I acknowledge there have been many changes and some restructuring, however, I want to assure you that it’s necessary to evolve in order to respond to and anticipate the needs of our changing industry.
In this issue we bring you news of another acquisition in the form of partner agencies Galliard and Nyxeon. This purchase actually expands our services into a new area: public relations. I’m sure as the weeks go on we’ll see how new collaborations and opportunities will open up across the division.
We also bring you news of expansion within our travel health specialists, MASTA, and an exciting new development within Meetings & Events, which allow us to work in a more innovative way with our clients.
As our division expands into new areas and markets, it can be difficult to keep track of everything that’s happening. So in this edition we bring you a quick overview of some of the success stories of the past few months. I’d like to encourage you all to continue to share your successes, as they can inspire your colleagues and encourage greater cross-business working.
As this is the final Inside of the year, I’d like to thank you all for your hard work, wish you and your families a happy holiday season and get ready for more successes in 2015.
Best wishes,Chris Corbin
Chris Corbin
Inside Issue 1504
Ashfield Makes A Great PR Move In July we broadened the division’s service offering through the acquisition of scientific public relations (PR) agencies Galliard and Nyxeon. We spoke to the companies’ managing partners to find out how they’ll complement our current services and what they’re looking forward to in the future.
Based in central London with around 30 employees, Galliard and Nyxeon are the first PR agencies to join the Ashfield division.
The sister agencies were formed in 2000 and 2013, respectively, with skills covering media relations, issues management, scientific and medical education and corporate and employee communications.
“Our PR specialists combine deep scientific knowledge with communications expertise, allowing us to cut through complex data and product and disease information to find the stories that really matter to audiences,” explains Galliard Managing Partner Roland Carreras.
Targeted storytellingRoland’s fellow Managing Partner, Rosemary Hennings, adds:
“Understanding our audiences and knowing what matters to them enables nuanced, targeted communications programmes that result in genuine engagement on topics important to our clients.”
For example, targeted story telling across multiple channels can illustrate the impact of our clients’ medicines and healthcare strategies on patients’ lives and clinical practice. By utilising these multiple channels – such as traditional print and broadcast media, as well as social media, thought leaders and employees – the story comes to life.
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“ Our PR specialists combine deep scientific knowledge with communications expertise…”
An exciting future “Joining Ashfield means significant opportunities to amplify the services we offer from within a large, world-class organisation,” says Nyxeon Managing Partner Marika Freris. “For Ashfield, adding our specialist scientific PR skills to the portfolio means that we’re now part of the largest medical communications group, with unrivalled multichannel solutions for the healthcare sector.
“Over the coming weeks and months we hope to complete – or at least be well on the way to completing – major integration projects, such as IT and HR. But what we’re really excited about is getting to know our divisional colleagues better and driving the robust expansion of Ashfield’s service offering, in order to maximise value and growth potential.”
Marika Freris Roland Carreras Rosemary Hennings
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Meet The Decision MakersWhen it comes to strategic decision making, we’ve got our very own expert team. Our colleagues at InterPhase Consult are on a mission to help clients make the best possible commercial choices in any given context. It’s all about making smart, competitive moves that transform their businesses. But along the way, it’s transforming ours…
There are often significant uncertainties to deal with when senior leaders in commercial and medical organisations sit down to plan for the future. Risks and opportunities may need to be weighed, complex situations may need negotiating, strategies may need evolving and divergent teams may need to be led in one direction. Whatever the scenario, there will invariably be several possibilities and a lot of pressure to make the right choice, the first time.
That’s where InterPhase Consult comes into play. As KnowledgePoint360’s strategy consulting agency, the team partners with clients to give them greater confidence in strategic decision making, so they can make positive moves that give their business an enduring advantage. They bring clarity and understanding to the table, assessing the options, recommending decisions and helping clients implement them. In their own words, they understand, solve and deliver.
Building beneficial partnershipsThe team use their expertise to support organisations of all sizes, and whether they’re helping to make decisions about a client’s product, portfolio or business direction, they’re keen to work closely with colleagues from across the Ashfield family.
In fact, colleagues from other Ashfield businesses have sparked several recent collaborative projects for InterPhase, introducing them to clients they can help together. These include transforming a client team with mixed opinions into a united group ready to launch a new cancer drug, launching a new infectious diseases brand, and the design and delivery of a forecasting and valuation model for Alzheimer’s.
Feedback from colleagues and clients shows that collaborating with the InterPhase team isn’t just helping us all win more high-value, strategic business,
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it’s also adding value and perceived competitive advantage to working with any of the Ashfield teams.
It’s best summed up by a colleague from our medical communications agency, FireKite, who commented on a joint pitch win with InterPhase: “Without a doubt, neither agency could have won this work alone. But in combination, we did!”
If you’d like to find out more about InterPhase Consult, visit www.interphase-global.com
InterPhase Consult helps clients make confident strategic decisions to maximise commercial potential…
What do we do? How do we do it? When do we do it? Who for?
Gemma Pfister
We help clients make the best commercial decisions for product and portfolio
If the context is unknown we provide clarity
and understanding
We assess options and recommend decisions
We help clients accept and organise to
implement decisions
Through custom solutions that identify and answer the
most relevant questions
By creating understanding that is central to the
decision-making process
Through focus on increasing the value of their asset
Through creating evidence, innovating solutions and
building consensus
When clients wish to implement best practice in
their business
When uncertainty is high or experience is limitied, often in
phase I and II
When a lot of money is at stake, when risk is high, or when disagreement exists
When strategy has been decided and implementation
is about to begin
With senior decision makers across their business
Across teams facing an unfamiliar or tricky challenge
Across Global, Regional, lifecycle or portfolio
leadership teams
Across commercial, medical,and market access teams
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Get The MessageMaking sure patients get the right information to improve their health is hugely challenging, especially in a world where we’re all bombarded with so much information every day. For our clients help is at hand, as Ashfield Healthcare Communications cuts through the noise with clear, consistent and integrated messages, that have positive impact.
Our expert Healthcare Communications teams work with over 70 global pharmaceutical, biotech, nutraceutical and device companies on the strategy, content and delivery of thousands of pieces of education – all designed to improve patients’ lives.
The teams help them communicate through all stages of clinical trials; through reporting findings to congress and in peer-review publications; and then through product launch, post-launch promotion and beyond.
These communications are often integrated as part of a multichannel programme in order to have maximum impact. For example, channels could include oral presentations, websites, social media, press releases, videos and more. They’re aimed at key stakeholders and decision makers across the globe, as well as patients through information leaflets, campaigns and magazine features.
Scientific, medical, clinical and commercial expertise are required to ensure information resonates and is
retained. However increasingly a large part of the content is based on the unique insights gathered on products, diseases, patients’ and healthcare professionals’ opinions, channels and markets.
If you’d like to know more about the team’s work, please email [email protected]
Helen Hey
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Improving patient outcomes… through multichannel healthcare communications and insights
Professional Networks
CongressPromotion
SEO
Detail Aids
Kiosk eMail Sign Up@
YouTube
Mobile Apps
Instant Messaging
Wikipedia
Scientific storyGives added value,
is tailored, dynamic and supports and drives
ongoing HCPs’, patients’, carers’ and customers’
journeys
The right messages, to the right audience, so the right patient, gets the right drug
at the right time
Healthcare Portals
Professional Societies
Professional Associations
Publications/JournalDisplay Ads, Features in Print
Salesteams/MSLs
eNewsletter,Infographics
Professional Networks
CongressPromotion
SEO
Detail Aids
Kiosk eMail Sign Up@
YouTube
Mobile Apps
Instant Messaging
Wikipedia
Scientific storyGives added value,
is tailored, dynamic and supports and drives
ongoing HCPs’, patients’, carers’ and customers’
journeys
The right messages, to the right audience, so the right patient, gets the right drug
at the right time
Healthcare Portals
Professional Societies
Professional Associations
Publications/JournalDisplay Ads, Features in Print
Salesteams/MSLs
eNewsletter,Infographics
Inside Issue 15
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A Bright SparkClients, market conditions and the competitive landscape are changing rapidly. In the event sector competition for our services is increasing. If we’re to remain at the forefront of the industry as thought leaders, it’s vital we adapt and take advantage of the fast-changing world we live in. It is, says Global Managing Director Nicola Burns, time to develop our Meetings & Events offer. And that’s where SPARK THINKING comes in…
“Ashfield Meetings & Events has always been well known for impressive, tried-and-tested logistic capabilities delivered by quality teams,” Nicola says. “And this will continue to be the case. But with the introduction of SPARK THINKING we’re adding a radical positioning to redefine our engagement and live event services.
“As our new secondary brand, SPARK THINKING will complement our existing logistical strengths as well as reinvent our creative, communication, digital and production offerings.
“Additionally, and most importantly, SPARK THINKING is about sparking ideas through brave and disruptive thinking that will add new value for our clients. Our aim is to spark life into businesses and projects by injecting zest and overcoming inertia.
“We’ll be developing our own bright sparks by investing in staff skill sets and providing them with tools to help find the innovative solutions our clients need today, tomorrow and long into the future. By doing this we’ll keep the spark alight with our clients, creating long-term profitable partnerships.”
Disruptive thinkingAt the heart of this new brand is what Nicola calls ‘disruptive thinking’. The approach is to ‘disrupt’ current thinking, challenging the status quo of a client’s assumptions and understanding of their external competitive threats, and the changing external world they operate in.
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SPARK THINKING will provide a fast-moving, organic, agile and innovative resource, offering dynamic and truly disruptive business solutions for our clients. “We’ll be there to help partner them in a world where the rate of change continues to increase and the need for genuinely innovative thinking increases,” she adds.
“By finding the source of a client’s issue, we can look at exploratory solutions blending our expertise from across the Ashfield division. This will help us decide whether an event is the right approach. In some cases an event may not solve the issue, giving us the opportunity to cross sell our services and give a client the best possible solution.
Joining together“The interesting idea behind our strategy is that we’re doing to ourselves what we would recommend to our clients. We’re joining together our different capabilities in such a way that it gives assurance and certainty that reliable delivery demands. At the same time we’re providing the capability to look at edgier, more probing options that will generate fresh ideas and new thinking for our clients.
“We can only do this by being an integral part of the Ashfield division. The infrastructure, expertise and insight of all our companies supports this consultative approach. It allows us to create two brands with a broader more diverse skill set and a more powerful overall communications offering.”
Access All AreasUnderstanding the market and having the right strategy to launch a drug is a critical insight for pharma companies. This area of expertise was added to the Ashfield range of services in 2012, following the acquisition of US-based SynopiaRx. Chief Executive Officer Steve Stefano explains more.
After 29 years with GSK, where he ran the managed care sales and neurohealth division, Steve Stefano decided to strike out with GSK colleague Bill Leonard. In 2010, he formed SynopiaRx, helping companies optimise the formulary positioning of their products.
Within a couple of years, success brought the company to the attention of UDG Healthcare, which bought the business and renamed it Ashfield Market Access.
The business unit is led by Steve along with Chief Operating Officer Bill Leonard and operates out of Durham, North Carolina. Ashfield Market Access offers a range of innovative services including market research, product strategy and care training. Obviously there’s a natural synergy between these and our Commercial area: one creates the product strategy and the other executes it through dedicated sales teams.
An essential part of the outsourcing solution
“Market Access is a complementary and essential part of any outsourcing solution that Ashfield offers,” says Steve. “It really ensures Ashfield can provide clients with a ‘full string of pearls’.
“As a service, Market Access may be the most important to get right when launching a new drug. If you don’t get it right, the rest of the commercial offering will struggle. However, our track record shows that we have the experience and expertise to deliver the right strategies and solutions – and that makes us extremely valuable to clients.”
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Steve adds that the key to the team’s success is living the Ashfield values, which underpin and drive every decision. They’re also fully committed to a ‘work hard, play hard’ culture.
“We may work until we’re tired, but we don’t miss an opportunity to have a good time and reward ourselves for hard work,” he says. “Also, the team’s worked together for so long that we
have a really great relationship with each other. We’re now continuing to develop relationships with other Ashfield areas of expertise to support our clients’ growth.
“Ultimately, our mission is to partner with clients and improve lives by helping healthcare professionals and patients get the medicines, knowledge and support they need.”
Steve Stefano
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Meet Our NursesAshfield has a long and proud history of providing trusted and experienced nurses for the healthcare industry. As the division has grown and diversified, so too has the role of the nurse. We spoke to several colleagues to find out more about the services they provide and the valuable contributions they make to patients and our clients.
Hayley Fisher Travel Health Advisor“I’ve worked with MASTA and Ashfield for about two years. I love to travel, which is handy because that’s what I’ve been doing a lot since joining the company. Through MASTA I provide cover to the Travel Clinics for STA (Student Travel Australia) as well as give occupational health vaccines to staff at the UK Border Agency at airports.
“I’m also involved in the flu programme through Ashfield, which involves providing vaccinations to staff at large companies all over London. When I’m not running around the country, I work from home doing telephone consultations. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed the chance to work in so many areas and getting to know people from different arms of the organisation.”
Hayley Fisher
Claire Fleming Teleconsult Nurse“Travel medicine is a dynamic speciality and telephone risk assessment consultations can be both challenging and rewarding. We provide evidence-based advice for travellers of all ages embarking on global trips for holidays, business or voluntary work. It’s important to understand the destination, duration of the trip and activities to ensure we give the correct advice regarding vaccinations, antimalarial medication and other potential health issues. We also have to take into account previous medical and vaccination history.
Ruth SpodeTravel Health Consultation Nurse“Travellers create a travel health brief on the MASTA website from their itinerary; this gives them information about vaccines, antimalarials and other travel health advice. They book a 30-minute telephone consultation appointment online or through customer services. At the tele-consulation we review their travel plans, medical history and give appropriate health advice before booking an appointment for vaccines/antimalarials at a local pharmacy. A travel health plan is emailed to them, providing information from the consultation.
“It is important to keep up-to-date in this role, e.g. about Ebola and other outbreaks, changes to vaccination and malaria guidelines, so that we can provide accurate information and advice. We are supported in our role by the MASTA medical team.”
“Health issues around the world can change on a daily basis. Our role is to keep abreast of these changes to ensure travellers get up-to-date information. This makes the work interesting, varied and enjoyable.”
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Ruth Spode
Claire Fleming
Ruth BurnleyNurse Advisor
“I’m a telephone-based Nurse Advisor working at Market Street, Ashby de la Zouch. I’m part of a telehealth team and remotely monitor patients on a daily basis to identify impending acute episodes of their chronic condition. We liaise with community nursing colleagues, helping patients receive early medical attention. The aim is to reduce hospital admissions.
“We also provide health coaching, educating patients about their condition, medication and lifestyle choices. This encourages them to feel more confident about self-managing their condition. Using my clinical knowledge to empower patients and help them to help themselves is something I really enjoy.”
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Ruth Burnley
Cynthia Hepler
Rebecca Dobson
Rebecca Dobson Executive Nurse Advisor
“I’ve worked for Ashfield for over 11 years as a Nurse Advisor. I currently run nurse-led clinics and support consultants with their clinics.
“My role involves identifying patients with poorly controlled Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes and making sure they receive the best quality care to improve their diabetes control. I also educate healthcare professionals to support them with injectable therapies. I’ve been involved in this programme for two years and get great satisfaction in meeting the needs of healthcare providers, but most importantly the needs of patients.”
Cynthia HeplerRegional Manager
“It’s an honour to say I was the first Nurse Educator hired by Ashfield Healthcare in the US in 2006. Since then I’ve had the pleasure of working with multiple clients, educating on hypertension, osteoporosis, Alzheimer’s, diabetes, rheumatology and multiple sclerosis. I’ve also been promoted several times to Nurse Manager, Regional Manager and Client Account Manager.
“Prior to Ashfield, I held numerous director and supervisory-level positions in long-term care, case management, technology, home healthcare, acute care, infusion services and clinical education.
“Today, I’m proud to embrace the new opportunities Ashfield offers while accepting our ever-changing responsibilities to lead the way for our patients, clients and the healthcare industry as a whole.”
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Acquisition Strengthens Our MASTA Plan The division’s travel health specialist, MASTA, has extended its reach after acquiring east-of-England company The Travel Clinic Ltd. The move provides our clients with more choice and adds more highly trained travel health nurses to the team. As Managing Director Colin Watson suggests, there’s more to come…
The Travel Clinic Ltd is a reputable and successful business based in Cambridge and Ipswich.
Like MASTA, the company provides specialist travel advice and vaccinations for holiday and business travel and has been operating since 2001.
As well as extending our geographical reach, the acquisition also provides extra locations to pilot new services and train MASTA staff outside Leeds and London.
MASTA Managing Director Colin Watson says: “We’re delighted to have these well-established and highly successful clinics as part of the MASTA network and, along with other partnerships which we’ll be announcing shortly, serves to strengthen MASTA’s position as the market leader in vaccination services to all ages of traveller.”
The old and the newAs an interesting side note, MASTA now has the newest and oldest premises in the division. Our ultra-modern Leeds offices are on the seventh floor of the Trinity shopping centre, while our ‘new’ Ipswich clinic is in a former coaching inn and pharmacy building dating back to 1474, which makes it 540 years old!
You can find out more about MASTA’s services at www.masta-travel-health.com
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Did you know?
MASTA stands for Medical Advisory Service for Travellers Abroad.
It was set up over 30 years ago.
It’s the UK’s largest network of private travel clinics.
MASTA provides medication and immunisation for diseases such as malaria, typhoid and yellow fever.
The company has supported over 1,000 organisations, with current clients including the BBC, the NHS, Rolls-Royce and the Ministry of Defence.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Colin Watson
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We’re Making It Happen! As we grow ever larger, it can be difficult to know everything that’s happening across the Ashfield division. Here’s a quick snapshot of some of our recent successes…
Nurse teams make an impactAn established brand required field nurses to provide in-home injection training to patients. We took on 30 nurses from a competitor, deployed 90 more and provided them all with round-the-clock support. We reduced the time it took to train patients, reached all targets and produced a return on investment of 345%. Our client’s product was the only one in its class to grow its month-on-month share.
Ashfield Nurse Team
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Japanese venture officially launchesIn October we officially launched CMIC Ashfield, our joint venture in Japan. There’s huge potential in this market and, by teaming up with Japanese contract sales organisation CMIC, we have a powerful proposition.
To learn more, please visitwww.cmic-ashfield.com
Contact Centre
CMIC Ashfield Japan
Contact Centre goes from strength to strengthOur UK Contact Centre delivers a number of remote services, including e-detailing, telemarketing, medical information and patient support programmes. With healthcare professionals increasingly willing to engage with these modern channels, we have grown our Contact Centre team to around 40 staff.
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Procurement collaboration secures fleet savingThe division’s Procurement team holds regular calls with each country to share best practice and discuss opportunities. One such opportunity was to consolidate our fleet orders across Europe. This has led to a significant rebate and saving.
“If it were not for the proactive collaboration and communication between the divisional businesses, this great saving would not have been realised. It just goes to show what talking can achieve.” Kate Forknell, Divisional Head of Fleet and Procurement.
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FRED
Jade Thiravithul
FRED makes a savingFRED, our new online expenses system, is reducing errors while saving us time, paper and money. The system’s easy to use and has proven so successful that several clients have started using it.
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Cy Talbot
Matt Vinter
24 Inside Issue 15Eloise Rogers
Introducing the Multichannel Customer Hub The hub is a seamless, end-to-end experience for healthcare professionals and patients. We introduced it for a client that needed to differentiate itself in the competitive diabetes market. We’re now a preferred supplier with opportunities to grow in other areas of the client’s business.
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Demonstrating our expertiseA UK pharma company was cautious about nursing and clinical programmes after inheriting an Ashfield immunology nurse team through a merger with one of our clients. We actively engaged with all their stakeholders, invited audits and provided a consultative service to support the development of the programme. The company is now seen as a trusted partner across four programmes worth several million pounds.
Do you have any success stories you’d like to share with your division colleagues? Email Rachel Doren at [email protected]
Communications teams win international prizeOur CreativeFusion and Gardiner-Caldwell Communications teams collaborated to win an internationally prestigious scientific design competition. The challenge was to create clear, scientifically accurate graphics to translate the spatial scales within the brain. The work demonstrates our abilities to meet client demands for increasingly innovative ways to communicate scientific content.
Bringing clear communication to patientsPatients on a client’s particular treatment are supported by eight companies. As a result they’re overloaded with information. We now coordinate all elements for this care programme and have created a single, central record to ensure the impact of each service element is assessed.
Communications Teams win International Prize
A Warm Welcome For Wendy Ashfield US welcomes Wendy Wolf as Senior Vice President, Commercial and Clinical Operations.
Wendy, who started with us in August, has extensive experience in the healthcare industry having spent over 20 years in pharmaceutical sales, marketing, operations and business development.
She joins Ashfield from Publicis Touchpoint Solutions where she was National Sales Director, as well as the lead for key accounts in her business development role. Wendy was also responsible for the leadership of sales and operations of the contact centre and before that had various leadership roles at Wyeth/Pfizer.
Experience and leadership qualitiesWendy says: “I’m thrilled to join the Ashfield US leadership team as they continue to grow Ashfield’s business as a best-in-class partner for their clients, healthcare customers and patients. It’s an exciting opportunity to contribute to Ashfield’s commitment to partnership excellence, working with our clients to achieve objectives with healthcare professionals and patients.”
Dan Piggott adds: “As we continue to expand our US operation, it’s important that we have strength in depth across all areas of the organisation, but specifically at a leadership level. Wendy’s appointment is a significant one for Ashfield as her experience and leadership qualities lend themselves incredibly well to helping us realise our ambition within the US market. We’re excited to have Wendy as part of our team.”
We welcome Wendy to Ashfield and wish her the very best of luck in her new role.
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Wendy Wolf
In The Spotlight:Ashfield Belgium With a new name, new opportunities and an exciting future ahead, Ashfield Belgium has its sights set on becoming number one.
The company we know today as Ashfield Belgium began life in the early 1990s. Since then it’s been through a few rebrands and faced some challenging times, but under the guidance of new Ashfield Benelux (Belgium, Netherlands and Luxembourg) General Manager Jan Noteboom, the focus is firmly on growth.
Ashfield Belgium was bought by UDG Healthcare in 2012 when it was known as Pharmexx. At the beginning of the 2013/14 financial year, our Belgian colleagues laid the foundations that would take them towards market leadership – an ambitious target.
Operational excellence became the mantra and business development expertise the weapon of choice to take the message to market.
Making great progressThe strategy worked. Demonstrating high-quality vacancy management, and dedicated and syndicated sales solutions, sales rep numbers have increased by more than 35% over the last year. The team has also beaten the market leader in some key pitches and achieved budget for the year.
At the start of the new financial year, we’ve expanded into the Netherlands – another great opportunity for the business to grow.
“I want us to be number 1,” says Jan, who joins us with a wealth of industry and contract sales experience. “In many markets Ashfield leads the CSO market, but this is not the case in Belgium. Last year gave us a good insight into just how successful we can be. We’re growing quickly and I’m sure that growth will accelerate as we expand our Business Development team and develop new services.
“It’s all about the people and living the Ashfield values,” he adds. “We have a good team and I know that if we have the right people on board, we can do great things.”
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“ The strategy worked… sales rep numbers have increased by more than 35% over the last year.”
Jan Noteboom
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Innovation Through Collaboration Lisbon, Portugal was the destination for UDG Healthcare’s recent biannual management conference. The event brought together 150 leaders from all UDG Healthcare divisions – supply chain services (comprising Aquilant and United Drug), Sharp and, of course, Ashfield – to focus on the theme of Innovation Through Collaboration.
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The conference, titled UDG Network Live, took place over two days – 30th September and 1st October – and was designed for the division’s leaders to share best practice and develop closer collaborations.
Responses to questions asked before the event were used to build a novel, custom-built interactive tool that brought
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together those in different areas of UDG Healthcare and explore how they could work together in the future.
The tool is now being used post-conference to develop an online community among Group colleagues that can be used to share core messages and further encourage collaborations.
A bright future aheadThe conference also featured keynote presentations from various senior leaders. Chief Executive, Liam FitzGerald outlined our growth since 2012 (over 50% increase in profits and a 90% rise in share price) and the Group’s goal to become the out source partner of choice for the world’s leading healthcare companies.
He noted that UDG Healthcare has invested heavily in talent and systems to become a global leader in quality, safety and compliance, and that we’re working hard to combine our services around the needs of our clients.
Chief Operating Officer Brendan McAtamney talked about our strategy for the future, focusing on accelerating growth, driving productivity and having the highest standards in areas such as quality and compliance, talent and leadership development, and health and safety.
Following this, Chief Financial Officer Alan Ralph discussed the financial areas that will support growth such as cost management, cash generation and increased margins.
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Innovation on displayOne of the most notable aspects of the conference was the environment created by Ashfield Meetings & Events, working alongside UDG Healthcare’s Marketing & Communications team and sister company KnowledgePoint360.
To showcase examples of where ‘Innovation Through Collaboration’ is already happening, the delivery team created two impressive innovation walls. These featured almost 30 examples of major achievements across the divisions over the last few months. There were also seven banners featuring inspiring quotes from famous individuals such as Nelson Mandela, Bill Gates and Stephen Hawking, alongside achievements from some of our own company heroes.
Following the event, Group Marketing & Communications Director Gareth Davies said: “The conference was a huge success and achieved all the objectives we set. The delivery team ensured the concept was brought to life in a highly effective and memorable environment. We’ll now be looking to use the event, the tools and systems developed as a communication platform to leverage collaboration and harness innovation across the business.”
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Creating A Compliance CultureIt’s taken a whole lot of vision, dedication and hard work to grow UDG Healthcare into the 8,000-strong global company we are today. We’re responsible for high-risk activities in a heavily regulated market, which means protecting our business, and our people, has to be a major priority. That’s where the new Group Compliance Programme comes in…
Our customers expect us to be highly compliant, and our commitment to compliance will help ensure that we stand out from our competitors, ensuring that we can continue to build on our success.
We also have to protect ourselves from actions that could put us at risk, and this has never been more important. Best endeavours just aren’t good enough. Not having an effective compliance programme is now considered by regulators as showing an actual intent to violate laws and regulations. That puts us all at risk of serious civil and criminal penalties if something goes wrong.
Our new Group Compliance Programme is all about protecting ourselves and what we’ve achieved together. It will help us build a compliance culture underpinned by a framework that not only minimises risk to the organisation but ensures we meet the growing
expectations of our customers, regulators, shareholders and employees. The programme will also set us on a path to becoming a world leader in quality, safety and compliance, helping us to win new business and grow even further.
What’s happening, when…Right now, we’ve almost completed setting up a talented compliance function and have established the ComplianceCentre, an online training portal for everyone in the business. We’re developing a legal compliance register and developing risk management and health and safety programmes.
Next year, some of our many compliance objectives will include reviewing policies to improve compliance, developing a Group-wide risk assessment and document-sharing system, rolling out e-learning on anti-bribery and trust issues, and building compliance into our pay structure.
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By 2016, we’ll be able to fully roll out these developments and more, adding compliance responsibilities to all job descriptions and developing an even more ambitious plan for the years ahead.
There’s a lot to be done, and it won’t happen overnight, but together we can
make compliance an instinctive part of what we do and a powerful part of our future success.
Make sure you’ve registered for ComplianceCentre at www.compliance.udghealthcare.com
Introducing… Alan CurleyGroup Head of Information Governance and Security. Information governance and security is one of the programme’s big priorities for this year, so to help us achieve the standards we need, we’ve recently recruited Alan Curley as UDG Group Head of Information Governance and Security. He’s worked in telecommunications for 15 years and joins us from O2 Ireland, where he was Data Protection and Compliance Manager.
Based in Dublin, Alan will be responsible for the design, implementation, management and continuous improvement of our information governance and compliance framework. This includes leading continual risk assessment and management processes, as well as raising awareness of data protection and information governance within all our teams.
He explains: “Our aim is to build a framework that meets our legal and regulatory obligations and protects the integrity of our information, assets and people, while safeguarding the reputation of our company. It’s all about taking ownership of the information we use every day, seeing it as an asset and making sure we look after its confidentiality, integrity and availability.”
Alan Curley
The Extra MileIn this issue’s Extra Mile we celebrate colleagues volunteering their time for charity, a football fundraiser and some fun challenges…
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Up for the Challenge Saturday 13th September saw the seventh annual Worthy Causes five-a-side football Challenge Cup take place at the Derby Soccerdome in the UK.
Nine teams took part, including those representing Ashfield Commercial & Medical Services, Ashfield Meetings & Events and KP360.
This year, the event was organised by Training Executive Tom Simons, Resourcing Executive Jarrat Parsons and Procurement Executive Matt Vinter.
Ashfield prides itself on its Worthy Causes Fund, with £1,373 raised from the day to go towards helping community initiatives in the local area.
This is an annual competition and is open to the whole division so if you’re interested in taking part next year, just let one of the guys know.
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Harvest time Hope of the Harvest is a charitable initiative that uses a plot of land at Delaware Valley College to grow fresh produce for cupboards, shelters, emergency kitchens and more across Bucks County, Philadelphia and the Greater Philadelphia region.
On three days in July, August and September, Ashfield Meetings & Events volunteers helped weed greenhouses, plant tomato bushes and harvest apples, corn and tomatoes. Although donating just a few hours of their time may not seem like a great deal, colleagues have played a role in harvesting 52,000lbs (23,600kg) of food produced by Hope of the Harvest this year!
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Cynthia helps secure big winCynthia Bazin, Project Manager, Custom Programs, has been nominated for an Extra Mile mention, thanks to her role in securing and implementing the largest ever contract sales win for Ashfield Canada. What’s more, it was her very first one.
“This was the first contract sales programme Cynthia has been involved in, but you’d think she was a veteran,” says Jason Erickson, Ashfield Canada CEO. “From the moment we received the request for proposal, Cynthia began working extremely hard on the response. Her persistence, diligence and attention to detail were certainly factors in us winning the business.
“Since then Cynthia has worked relentlessly on the programme implementation. We’re all very appreciative of her hard work; she’s a tremendously valuable member of our team.”
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Cynthia Bazin
Fun FridaysFun Fridays are the brainchild of the Ashfield Drug Safety Alliance senior management team and are designed to get colleagues away from their desk to build team spirit in a fun way.
Each Fun Friday, colleagues take part in an activity that relates to one of our corporate values. For example, one of the challenges saw the teams using their ingenuity to build a tower from marshmallows and toothpicks. Another involved using items such as straw, a plastic bag and a small box to build a quality item to safely carry an egg dropped from four stories up. Fun Fridays certainly sound like an egg-celent idea!
On the road to successSales & Marketing Manager Lauren Carr has been recommended for the Extra Mile for all the outstanding initiatives she’s taken on for both DSA and the division as a whole. In particular, Lauren designed and organised a marketing roadmap that was adopted by several companies in North America.
Lauren trained marketing leads in those companies in how to effectively use social media and direct marketing campaign software, as well as providing guidance on reporting and ensuring leads are followed up by Business Development.
Think pinkOctober was breast cancer awareness month, so the Infusion team, part of Ashfield Healthcare Communications wore pink and raised $1,550 for the Connecticut chapter of the Susan G. Komen foundation. The money was donated in honour of Jackie Cannon, who sadly lost her battle with breast cancer earlier this year.
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Lauren Carr
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From sales representatives to call centre solutions to brand management, we offer comprehensive and flexible sales and marketing solutions with the right blend of channels to support your brand.
We deliver patient support and healthcare professional education through our nurse teams. Whether delivered in person, online or over the phone, our programmes bring clarity and build confidence.
We turn scientific evidence into meaningful communications that enable healthcare professionals to make informed clinical decisions and enhance patients’ lives.
We deliver world-class business analytics and insights as well as outstanding, proven programmes which drive marketing, leadership and sales excellence for the pharmaceutical industry.
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