The Indian Pharma Industry is expected to grow over 15 per cent per annum between 2015 and 2020 as per the latest reports from IBEF. Revenue projection indicates India’s total market size reaching up to USD 55 Billion in 2020. Achieving these numbers will make the pharma market in India the 6th largest market globally by absolute size along with creating a huge requirement of trained & skilled workforce. In this post we will examine how this industry can benefit from online training.
To meet the industry’s dynamic needs, it is very important that this workforce is adequately trained. With more than a million people are already employed in the Pharma Industry the number is only to increase. The question is “How can pharma companies equip this ever-increasing workforce with the knowledge and skills in an efficient and cost-effective manner?” Keeping in mind the pace at which new drugs are being launched in the market, it becomes more so difficult to train staff at the same pace!
Every Pharma Sales Representative undergoes 1-3 month intensive classroom training depending on the respective company norms. This has always proven to be useful and is widely accepted, but it becomes a challenge to conduct refresher or continuous new product training due to the costs involved.
This is where online training can bridge the gap and sync product launches with product training for the staff. The competitive edge delivered by online training can no longer be ignored by the Pharma Industry. Let’s have a look at the major challenges that is faced today:
- Launching new drugs at a fast pace
- Shortage in qualified trainers
- Quantifying training impact and return of investment on the training dollar
- Covering the different scenarios/use cases is difficult and time-consuming in class-room based training
- Strict Compliance norms
Launching New Drugs at a Fast Pace
The key here is to quickly reach a wide and geographically dispersed audience. Pharma companies are constantly under pressure to launch new drugs. This creates a need to rapidly create and deliver new product or policy training materials throughout the organization in a consistent fashion. This can be achieved by deploying an efficient cost-effective online training platform.
Shortage in Qualified Trainers
The stakes are really high when hiring trainers for this industry as trainers have to be well versed with not just domain and product knowledge but also with the market scenarios. With online training, the challenge is one-time. Once the training materials are created, the training can be quickly assigned to the staff on the field. This helps in optimizing training teams by maintaining focus on the quality of trainers than the quantity.
Quantifying Training Impact and Return of Investment on the Training Dollar
An employee’s product recall and knowledge are key to ensuring that your sales pipeline is always healthy. Assessment of the training impact is difficult since a classroom based setup does not permit constant assessment frequently. Online training provides measurable results that help in measuring success of the training program. Using the features of the training platform to track learner progress and ensure the learner is trained to reach required competency. Trainers can then shift focus on creating innovative and effective training content by not worrying of conducting repetitive class-room training sessions. Granular reporting can assist trainers focus on the problem areas of individual learners instead of a one-size fits all training. Do try exploring the quiz module offered by online training platforms.
Covering the Different Scenarios and Use Cases is Difficult and Time-Consuming in Classroom-Based Training
No longer do you have to limit the training to address only the important scenarios and challenges that a Pharma representative faces. Online training provides the trainer with agility to cover all the scenarios and learner to take the courses at their own – time, place and pace. Break content into smaller modules and sessions for ease of understanding.
Strict Compliance Norms
Quickly communicate the latest norms and compliance notes to a large and dispersed audience over the online medium. For risk management and compliance maintain activity logs of all employees who have completed the training. An effective training would be one that combines creativity, innovation and information relevant to an individual’s role and skill set. The right training will drive performance and employee morale to face the real-world challenges in marketing your product.
Using an Online Training platform like Courseplay will not just prepare your staff for today, but for the unforeseen challenges of tomorrow. If you are an industry leader looking discover the advantages of scalable training and fostering business goals by effectively training your workforce, Courseplay can be your partner towards achieving and creating an effective training program. Courseplay offers a robust cloud-based platform with an easy to understand interface that makes training simpler for organizations and engaging for the learners. Start a free trial today to learn more!