Won’t Get Fooled Again

Over the last couple months I have attended four Life Sciences shows, and the majority of the content has consisted of iPad, iPad, iPad… Apple is the beneficiary of some incredible PR. My hat is off to them.

However, in a previous post I posited that “passing out iPads is NOT a mobile strategy.” This sentiment is borne out in a recent Manhattan Research study. Manhattan Research concludes: “…only 36 percent of 1,755 physicians surveyed who talk to reps with iPads or other tablets find the experience to be more beneficial than speaking with reps who use print materials or devices, such as laptops…”

Manhattan Research VP Monica Levy states, “Unfortunately, some of the detailing programs that are being rushed out the door are sub-par – really no better than something you’d see on tablet PCs six years ago. Doctors won’t waste their time with these.”

This situation reminds me of the early days of the internet (1994-1995) and websites 1.0. Remember? This is when we all thought we HAD to have a website. So, we took our print collateral, made it digital and turned up an electronic brochure – website 1.0. These first attempts did not fully leverage what the internet could do. So, the question is, “if we keep doing the same things, why do we expect different results?”

The iPad, and the promise of tablet (or slate) computing, is truly a game changer – if and only if – we truly leverage the capabilities it brings, how it can change the nature of work for reps, and how they interact with their customers. This new form factor will potentially transform the rep into the ROTF (rep of the future).

This transformation requires we look forward and deploy the applications that support how the ROTF works. Otherwise, we will be singing The Who’s famous refrain:

Meet the new boss.
Same as the old boss.