New Study Finds Increased IT Spend Correlated with Stronger Projected Revenue Growth among Life Sciences Firms

SAN DIEGO, Jan. 18, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Life sciences firms who are on an aggressive revenue growth trajectory in 2018 are also more confident in their IT investments, finds a newly published study from Seismic, the leading global marketing and sales enablement solution. In a survey of more than 200 leaders at major North American life science firms, 56 percent report an increase in IT spend in 2018. That number jumps to 71 percent among firms projecting revenue growth of greater than 10 percent.

Higher growth firms are also more willing to alter their overall IT investment strategy. Only 15 percent of such firms will maintain the same level of IT investment in 2018 as in 2017. Among those forecasting less than 10 percent revenue growth, 33 percent plan on maintaining the same level of IT investment.

Within sales and marketing departments, the types of technologies being invested in by firms differ greatly based on projected revenue. The greatest disparities include:

• Sales enablement platforms (43 percent of higher growth organizations have adopted sales enablement platforms compared to 29 percent of lower growth firms)
• Marketing automation platforms (38 percent compared to 25 percent)
• Content management platforms (44 percent compared to 40 percent)

"This report confirms what many of us have expected: Life science firms that invest more in IT spend, and do so strategically by choosing the right platforms that facilitate growth, stand to gain compared to less technologically focused competitors when it comes to the bottom line," said Doug Winter, Seismic co-founder and CEO.  

Regarding challenges in technology adoption, firms cited implementation as being the main impediment to successfully attaining technology goals, with 53 percent of respondents citing it as a challenge. Trouble communicating the business need of the technology (46 percent of respondents) and lack of resources (36 percent) were other top challenges.

However, when such challenges are overcome, the benefits are numerous. The main technology adoption benefits noted by life science firms are:

• Better internal collaboration (56 percent of respondents)
• Increased revenue tied to technology (49 percent)
• Ensured compliant outcomes and brand integrity (45 percent)
• More productive sales cycle (45 percent)

Mobile technology, analytics key sales and marketing priorities

Nearly across the board, firms indicated a need to increase mobile technology efforts, particularly when it comes to sales and marketing campaigns. Seventy-seven percent of respondents plan on increasing their mobile focus in sales and marketing campaigns in 2018, and only five percent plan on decreasing such efforts.

Also among sales and marketing teams at life sciences firms, the report found that the ability to better measure initiatives and campaigns is the number one priority heading into 2018: More than 61 percent of sales, marketing, and IT respondents listed better analytics tools as a 2018 goal. Other commonly shared goals include:

• Stronger alignment between sales and marketing departments (49 percent of respondents)
• Customer retention (48 percent)
• Better attribution of marketing's efforts on revenue (46 percent)
• More efficient sales cycles (45 percent)

"Whether it's through being better able to tie marketing's efforts to the bottom line or increasing the productivity of sales cycles, the report indicates a clear need for sales and marketing teams to work closer together to hit revenue targets in 2018," said Winter. "The teams that can do so efficiently and through the assistance of technology will be the ones that are much better positioned to achieve long-term sustainable growth for their firms at large."

For more information on the report, titled "The Healthcare Industry Trends Report," and additional findings, visit Seismic's site here.

About Seismic

Seismic is the leading global sales and marketing enablement solution for life sciences, improving close rates and delivering larger deals for sales while increasing marketing's impact on the bottom line. Large enterprises use Seismic to increase sales productivity through the automatic distribution of relevant information and personalized content to reps for any buyer interaction. Powerful content controls and visibility into usage ensures compliance and reduces risk. Seismic's machine learning and analytics capabilities continuously improves the entire enablement process for large enterprises, increasing the ROI of sales content and tying it directly to revenue.  Headquartered in San Diego and with more than 300 employees across the globe, Seismic is privately held by its executive team and investment firms General Atlantic, JMI Equity, and Jackson Square Ventures.

To see how Seismic is being used by firms in your industry, visit http://www.seismic.com.

Media Contact
Jason Fidler
Seismic
978-505-9148
[email protected]

SOURCE Seismic

Related Links

http://www.seismic.com