Insights from DIA 2019 Medical Information and Communications Conference – Lisbon, Portugal
Anju Software recently attended and exhibited at the DIA 2019 Medical Information and Communications Conference in Lisbon, Portugal, highlighting IRMS Software Platform and OpenQ. This forum is designed for medical affairs professionals, by medical affairs professionals. It provides a comprehensive understanding of the regulatory and compliance environment directly affecting the daily activities of medical information and communication professionals.
Myself, along with Reed McLaughlin (Sr. VP of Sales), attended this forum as exhibitors. Our booth highlighted several of the Med Affairs specific products within Anju’s broad portfolio of software solutions. We find conferences and forums like DIA are not only a great opportunity to connect with our current clients but also offer opportunities for us to reach out to new prospects. We are able to speak directly with Med Affairs professionals whose day-to-day activities see them creating Med Info content (SRD’s) and handling sensitive product related information. This allows us to highlight how IRMS and OpenQ can help streamline their MedInfo department and create effective and compliant internal workflows within their organization.
This forum also allows us to speak with vendors whom Anju competes with directly. We are able to see firsthand the direction of our competitors and see common factors between both organizations, as well as areas where Anju stands out and remains the industry leader.
One aspect of these forums that I really enjoy taking advantage of are the breakout and speaking sessions that cover new initiatives and topics within the medical communications, medical writing, and medical science liaisons community. While at DIA, I was able to attend and listen in on a session that focused directly on automation through technology, specifically focusing in on how chat-bots and machine learning can help MedInfo teams streamline inquiries and increase response speed while maintaining quality. This session proved very relevant to the current Anju vision for IRMS and it was reassuring and fascinating to hear firsthand how relevant chat-bots and machine learning are within MedInfo.
After attending the session, it became apparent that within the Medical Information sector, companies are faced with the reality that response time to inquiries is an ever-growing concern. Facing this challenge head on, MedInfo teams are starting to evaluate tools that will assist in accurate and timely responses to requests, leading them to evaluate vendors who offer solutions that are chat-bot capable. Implementing a chat-bot does come with many considerations, mainly from a compliance and regulatory standpoint. It was very interesting to hear feedback from organizations that were very open to the idea of chat-bots and machine learning technology, and those who were strongly against it; raising concerns of adoptions and accuracy.
Overall, we hope our attendance at this forum strengthened Anju Software’s brand awareness as the industry leader within MedInfo capturing, as well as opened the door for new opportunities.
