Bridging the Value Gap: What needs to change to make HCP engagement work

Pharma has invested heavily in platforms, data and AI. But more technology hasn’t automatically led to better experiences.

As David Wilson (Kyowa Kirin) put it:

“We can sometimes over focus on the platform or the tech… If the operational teams don’t trust it, or understand it, their behaviour won’t change. So it’s a systems and a trust issue, not a tech problem.”

This is a critical point. Even the most advanced systems will fail if they aren’t embedded into how teams work day-to-day. Without trust, adoption stalls. Without adoption, the HCP experience remains unchanged.

Another recurring theme was fragmentation. Many organisations are still structured around functions, brands or markets, rather than the end-to-end HCP experience.

Helene Slee (LEO Pharma) highlighted the issue clearly:

“I don’t think that you can say anybody owns the HCP… everybody touches the HCP experience.”

This lack of ownership creates disconnected journeys. Data sits in one place, content in another, platforms somewhere else entirely. The result is an experience that feels inconsistent and, often, irrelevant.

Solving this isn’t about adding more channels. It’s about aligning teams around a shared view of the HCP journey and working more collaboratively across functions.

Despite clear feedback from HCPs, many organisations are still increasing content output and touchpoints in an effort to drive engagement.

But volume rarely equals value.

David shared a simple but powerful perspective:

“Sometimes the most respectful thing we can do… is to do less. Get the right thing at the right time to that person.”

This shift from quantity to quality is critical. Engagement isn’t driven by how much content is produced, but by how useful and timely it is.

Too often, digital engagement interrupts rather than supports. When that happens, HCPs disengage.

Data and AI are central to pharma’s digital transformation. But many teams are still struggling to translate data into meaningful engagement.

Susana Bento (Nordic Pharma) captured this well:

“Data only becomes relevant the moment… you transform data into insights. And when data becomes insights, they drive action.”

This gap between data and action is where many initiatives stall. Dashboards are built, reports are generated, but behaviour doesn’t change.

David added another important layer:

“Good data is data people actually trust… if they don’t trust it, they won’t use it.”

For data to be valuable, it needs to be trusted, understandable and actionable. Without that, it becomes noise.

One of the most striking moments in the discussion was also one of the simplest. Despite the focus on data, AI and platforms, there is still a fundamental gap in how often organisations engage directly with HCPs.

As Helene noted:

“We don’t go out actually saying, what is it that makes value for you?”

This is where many organisations fall short. Insights are often inferred from data, rather than grounded in real conversations.

David reinforced this point:

“That kind of feedback is imperative to improve what we do.”

User understanding isn’t a one-off exercise. It requires continuous engagement, testing and refinement.

Underlying all of these challenges is a deeper issue: mindset. Pharma is still, in many cases, operating with legacy ways of working. Campaign-led thinking, functional silos and internal priorities often take precedence over customer needs.

As Susana put it:

“We can’t keep doing what we’ve always done and hope that things will change.”

Closing the value gap requires a shift:

• From brand-first to user-first thinking
• From activity to outcomes
• From volume to value

It also requires a willingness to simplify. In a complex and highly regulated environment, there is often a tendency to over-engineer solutions.

But as Helene reflected:

“We need to stop making things more complex than needed.”

The future of pharma engagement is not about doing more. It’s about doing what matters.

That means:

• Designing around real clinical workflows
• Aligning teams around a shared HCP experience
• Turning data into actionable insight
• Creating content and interactions that are genuinely useful
• Continuously learning from HCPs themselves

Ultimately, meaningful engagement isn’t something that can be achieved through technology alone. It’s the result of how organisations think, operate and prioritise.

And finally, thank you to our fantastic panellists - David Wilson, Helene Slee and Susana Bento - for sharing their advice and experiences to ensure this was such an engaging discussion. 

Watch the full webinar recording here.