A cost-effective private social network app that drives employee engagement and encourages top performers to share best practices.

Background

AstraZeneca asked us to create a private social network app that would drive engagement and encourage the company’s top performers to share best practices. Our client recognised that increasing performance within their sales force required a solution that would enable teams from different regions to interact and allow information exchange within a closed system.

Challenge

Sales teams working in the medical and pharmaceutical industry face circumstances that are unique to their field. As well as selling scientifically advanced products to physicians and other highly specialised healthcare professionals, they also have strict regulations on how products can be marketed. This makes their job more difficult and limits what information can be discussed about products publicly.

Solution

We responded with a cost-effective solution that was launched at the company’s global Sales Academy event. Using an off-the-shelf app as a base, to help our client minimise costs, we adapted the technology to provide a secure environment where sales professionals could interact, share ideas and collaborate on how to solve challenges in their markets.

Users could easily download the mobile app, allowing them to access the Sales Academy agenda, chat in community forums and message other attendees privately.

AstraZeneca had full control over the social network and could add or restrict access to content, even after the app had been downloaded.

Event organisers could also push notifications to the entire community, to remind event attendees about an upcoming speaking session or workshop, or send messages to specific individuals, such as attendees from offices in Asia or Latin America with messages in their preferred language.

Sophisticated analytics allowed our client’s internal communications team to monitor who was using the system and their level of engagement, providing opportunities to tailor the experience at user level.

Result

The app allowed our client to maintain confidentiality and control over the information, while providing an environment where sales professionals were free to mentor one another, share solutions and provide honest feedback.

The private social network has been so effective in encouraging internal engagement that it is being rolled out for use with other product teams and internal initiatives.