GlaxoSmithKline has signed a deal with India's Infosys and UK firm Fabric Worldwide to analyse responses to the drug giant's digital output, improving its use of social media and other online activities.
Infosys, which provides a wide range of software services, and Fabric, a leading digital marketing technology firm, have been tasked with simplifying and improving effectiveness of how GSK "delivers digital engagement with consumers and healthcare professionals". Financial details of the pact have not been disclosed.
Through this partnership, GSK will create 'Global Digital Services' (GDS), which it says will "drive standardised processes and sharing of best practices in creating and securely delivering information, across multiple digital channels". It will use a 'cloud-based' unified platform, built by Infosys and Fabric that "brings together the best of technology and marketing expertise".
The platform "will allow GSK to quickly build digital assets and listen to consumers across an array of digital channels", helping it to "better understand consumer segments and leverage audience insight to deliver an engaging brand experience". Phil Benton, head of GDS at the drugs major, said "we recognise that our customers, consumers and other external stakeholders increasingly want to engage with us on-line".
He added that GDS "will enable us to provide globally standard processes, scalable assets and advanced analytics to support better and more efficient engagement with these external audiences". Infosys and Fabric "bring important and complementary capabilities to give us the potential to make a real step forward in this area", he concluded.
Dheeshjith VG, global head of life sciences at Infosys, said that for pharmaceutical companies, "driving digital transformation, globally across the organisation to achieve rapid growth and deepen customer engagement, is very important". He added that in the coming years, drugmakers "will be heavily leveraging digital media to connect with their sales force, customers, physicians and key opinion leaders in the industry".
