Life sciences PLM needs to start earlier, go longer, and be more collaborative

PharmaVOICE's October cover story is worth a read for anyone in life sciences, especially if you're involved in product life cycle management (PLM). The story, "A Changing Market Environment Requires New PLM Strategies," drills into some of the latest thinking and analysis about PLM strategy and coping with the ongoing challenges of pipeline maintenance.

Writer Robin Robinson featured insight from five industry sources, including Rob Bazemore, President of Janssen Biotech; Chris Bogan, CEO of Best Practices; Andrew Hunter, Senior Manager of Kalypso; Mike Rea, CEO of IDEA Pharma; and yours truly.

TMCnet says ProtonMedia is 'shaking things up with innovative collaborative tools'

Not long after TMCnet's editors posted the interview between its founder, Rich Tehrani, and myself, TMCnet contributor Mae Kowalke penned an article about ProtonMedia's approach to collaborative learning and training.

She pulled out some of the points from my interview with Rich that struck her, writing that we're "shaking things up with innovative collaborative tools to help make meetings and corporate trainings more productive and more fun."

Talking with TMCnet's Rich Tehrani about the virtual room for the conference call

I got the opportunity to meet Rich Tehrani last week at TMC's ITEXPO West 2011. Rich is one of the biggest pioneers, evangelists, and influencers in the IP communications industry. He founded TMC (Technology Marketing Corporation), which grew into TMCnet and the ITEXPO. Rich also owns the registered trademark for the term "Internet telephony."

At the ITEXPO, Rich and I got to talking about ProtonMedia's approach to using VoIP in ProtoSphere. Rich thought to interview me as part of TMCnet's coverage of the show. Here we are, talking about how ProtoSphere is the virtual room for the conference call, the role Microsoft Lync plays in our product road map, and my vision for ProtoSphere being used in the enterprise.

How the Virtual Diabetes Institute keeps continuing medical education costs low and engagement high

Completing continuing medical education coursework has become increasingly challenging over the past several years, primarily due to escalating program and travel costs, and already massive time pressures on physicians. Yet the need to improve disease treatment through engaging educational activities and professional competency standards has not gone away.

One of the goals of SciMed's new Virtual Diabetes Institute is to address this issue for physicians caring for patients with Type 2 diabetes. I recently talked to writer Miriam Pia about this, and she penned an article for Hypergrid Business covering how the Virtual Diabetes Institute supports more engaging and interactive training at lower cost for these physicians.

The case for the virtual workplace

One of the most common questions we are asked by prospects, media, and bloggers is, why 3-D? Why use a 3-D virtual collaboration environment over 2-D conferencing tools for meeting, training, and other activities?

Meetings and Conventions' Michael Shapiro recently lobbed the question at me, and the short of my answer was, because that's how we learn.

I told him how the 3-D aspect of ProtoSphere supports how our brains think and visualize data. This capability is ideal for life sciences teams that need to analyze and discuss molecules under development, for example.

Telepresence or virtual collaboration environments: Will the real immersive experience please stand up?

One of the most interesting results we've seen in our clients' use of ProtoSphere is what I call the "social lubricant" phenomenon. A number of our customers have found that junior and mid-level employees are more comfortable striking up a conversation with senior managers and executives in ProtoSphere than they are in the real world.

They ask questions they might not have the courage to ask in person, and can interact with managers and executives they don't have easy access to due to their remote work locations and travel and appointment schedules.

When I talked to Processor's Jean Thilmany recently about this, she highlighted my point in an article the other week. However, the focus of her article was on business benefits of telepresence technology, and how some industry experts say it can provide a "high-end immersive experience."

eCliniqua notes how ProtoSphere is humanizing collaboration in life sciences for clinical teams

One of the interesting people I met at DIA 2011 was Ann Neuer, a writer in the clinical trials industry. We chatted about collaboration and learning in the clinical space.

I filled her in on some new things we're seeing in life sciences, and why organizations have been using ProtoSphere to achieve that human-to-human interaction when holding conferences, meetings, and other events virtually.

Philadelphia Business Journal features our latest financing

Just a note of thanks to Philadelphia Business Journal's Peter Key for reporting on ProtonMedia's recent $4.5 million financing. Thanks much!

Cisco's Cius tablet off life sciences' radar

You might have caught Cisco's announcement last week that it will be shipping its new Cius tablet on July 31. Cisco has also introduced AppHQ, its Android app store for Cius.

Network World's Jim Duffy has been following the story, and recently asked me what my opinion is of the Cius and its acceptance in the enterprise marketplace. He included some of my thoughts in his latest article on the news.

During our interview, we got to talking about the Cius in the life sciences industry. From where I sit, the Cius is not on the radar of life sciences executives. All of my conversations relating to tablets are squarely focused on iPad pilots in 2011-2012 and rollouts in 2012-2013.

Going around the horn with thanks to the Microsoft in Health blog, BNET, Philadelphia Inquirer, and Technically Philly

Last week was a big news week for us, with our $4.5 million financing announcement and our Microsoft's 2011 Life Sciences Innovation award win. Several reporters and bloggers featured us in their coverage, in addition to TechCrunch, which I blogged about earlier. Here are several other mentions that crossed my desk. I wanted to give a shout-out to all the folks who thought to report on us. Thanks to all!

• Michael Naimoli, Worldwide Managing Director, Microsoft Life Sciences, blogged about our winning the company's 2011 Life Sciences Innovation award with PPD on the Microsoft in Health blog.

TechCrunch reports on ProtonMedia's $4.5 million financing

Leena Rao reported on our $4.5 million Series B financing on TechCrunch this week. Thanks for sharing our news, Leena.

Our team is back today from DIA 2011, and we hope to have some feedback and reactions on how the show went soon!

Virtual clinical trial efforts catching on, reports Outsourcing-Pharma

You might have heard about Pfizer's plans to conduct a virtual clinical trial to assess the safety and efficacy of the company’s Detrol LA product. The company will gather patient data through mobile phone and Web-based technologies, rather than clinic visits.

Pfizer's effort continues to signal a shift in the life sciences industry as it strives to conduct clinical trials more efficiently and cost effectively, writes Nick Taylor in an article on Outsourcing-Pharma this week.

PhillyBurbs finds ProtoSphere engaging

There's a lot of things to like about Crissa Shoemaker DeBree's recent coverage of ProtoSphere on PhillyBurbs. But frankly, we can't get over the awesome photo of Ron.

Thanks for featuring us!

The case for and against video conferencing

You gotta love Google Alerts. In my e-mail the other week was a juicy little tidbit that caught my eyes.

John Bartlett, a blogger for Unified Communications Strategies, recently hosted a podcast with his fellow bloggers to discuss use cases for video conferencing in business. They examined where video adds value, as well as where it does not in several spaces, including health care, human resources, mobile, and virtual conferencing.

I found it interesting, and I think you will too, because if you're reading this blog, you probably follow the UC space. Several insightful examples where brought to light by the panelists, which included Pam Avila, Art Rosenberg, Blair Pleasant, Don Van Doren, Michael Finneran, and Dave Michels.

PPD tells the Philadelphia Business Journal why training in ProtoSphere rivals that in the real world

You might have heard that ProtonMedia is working with PPD to jointly develop a new virtual clinical trial training technology. It will combine ProtoSphere with PPD® Adaptive Solutions, the company's suite of data and information technology solutions, to help life sciences organizations improve the cost effectiveness, speed, and quality of clinical trial training.

PPD has also begun using ProtoSphere to hold virtual meetings and training sessions with employees from around the globe. Stacy Weil, PPD's Executive Director of Global Performance Optimization, recently talked to Philadelphia Business Journal reporter Peter Key about why her company decided to use ProtoSphere and results she's seeing.

Philadelphia Business Journal has a great photo of a guitar ...

... along with some guy who probably likes playing it ... I think his name is Ron or something?

Yep, it's me.

The editors of Philadelphia Business Journal featured me in their CEO File last week. It was a humbling experience to answer all of the editors' questions. It made me learn some things about myself that even I didn't realize!

You know, when I was growing up, the dream amongst my music buds and me was to be on the cover of Rolling Stone. Well, I haven't made Rolling Stone, but I did get into the PBJ!

Thanks to the PBJ editors for the opportunity. Appreciate it!

Pharmaceutical Executive features Merck's virtual poster session held in ProtoSphere

Merck's use of ProtoSphere to hold the pharmaceutical industry's first virtual poster session has garnered quite a bit of media interest since the company first permitted us to share details of its project last year. And that interest does not seem to be waning.

It was covered as news in Nature Chemistry and CIO magazine, presented at the ShareFEST Conference, and earned Bio-IT World's Best Practice Award and Microsoft's Life Sciences Innovation Award.

And now, the editors of Pharmaceutical Executive asked me to provide the backstory in a contributed article. It's out now in this month's issue.

You have to ask yourself why the press, which wants to write about what's interesting and innovative to pharmaceutical marketers, continues to be enamored with this story. I think there are two reasons.

PPD adds 2 new technologies to its clinical trial processes

I've told you about the new virtual clinical trial training solution we're developing with PPD. We'll be integrating ProtoSphere with PPD® Adaptive Solutions, PPD’s innovative suite of data and information.

But that's not the only addition PPD is making surrounding its clinical trial processes. The company also recently launched an iPhone app for improving patient recruitment.

Nick Taylor covered the news this week on Outsourcing-Pharma. Hop over to his article for more details on PPD's innovations.

Thanks to The Unofficial Apple Weblog

Just wanted to post a note of thanks to Chris Ward at The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) for sharing news of our forthcoming Mac version of ProtoSphere. We appreciate it, and can't wait to bring the ProtoSphere experience to Mac users and all of the life sciences companies that have been asking us to make this a reality.

Treasury and Risk looks at compliance challenges in virtual environments

Life sciences, financial services, and many other industries continue to face increasing pressure to uphold compliance standards. Maria Korolov recently wrote an article for Treasury and Risk about how companies can get ahead of some of their compliance challenges using virtual environments. She cites recommendations from several industry executives and analysts. You can catch it in online or the February issue of Treasury and Risk.