Strategic Alliance Magazine Q4 2020 - 48

INTERNAL ALLIANCE PROMOTION

broadest strategic objectives-customer growth, customer
experience, product adoption, and new and recurring revenue
targets-if you want to get on the same page with other
functions.
" Across the organization, it's how it fits within these
bigger-picture short- and long-term goals, " she said.
Damrow may have very different needs from each of RSM's
departments, but her challenge is usually similar: convince
stakeholders that they can leverage one another to do more
with less.
" We have had some really great success stories with RSM and
RSM US alliance members working together to solve client
issues, " she said. " Typically, RSM has the expertise and the
alliance member has the relationship. Either way, when we
collaborate, we're closing business that we couldn't close alone.
Moreover, the client is getting a full advisory team and solutions to the issues they face. It's a win-win-win. "

The Patient Journey and the Individual
Holy Grail
In Coflin's view, all biopharma employees have a larger intrinsic inspiration to make collaborations around novel therapies
successful.
" If you're in pharma or biotech, the strongest motivator is
the patient and your contribution to the quality of life, the
unmet need, to alleviate the suffering and improve the lives
of patients. And in some cases, it's life or death, " he said.
" Everybody contributes to it, no matter what you are doing. "
Coflin said that Takeda frequently brings in patients to speak at
leadership, sales, and marketing meetings. Seeing the patient
journey with their own eyes makes it more real for employees.

" In pharma or biotech, the
strongest motivator is to
alleviate the suffering and
improve the lives of patients.
Everybody contributes to it, no
matter what you are doing. "
In Paige's eyes, pharma departments can't be generalized as
easily as in high-tech. Each person has a much more distinctive, highly personalized motive. She termed it each person's
" Holy Grail. "
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Strategic Alliance QUARTERLY

| Q4 2020

" It's actually different for every person, " she said. " The value is
different to each and every individual. "

Onboarding: Explaining the Big Picture
Alliance managers can earn support with an act as subtle as
providing a new team member with a thorough dossier of
key information, such as contract terms, the partner company's expectations, manufacturing specs, and regulatory filing
information in a digestible format. The onboarding process is
a crucial opportunity to head off the aforementioned handicap
of not being seen until you put out a fire.
" Onboarding is a great place to add value and build awareness
because it's further upstream from [that first crisis], " Paige
said.
" That's your first opportunity to really explain that, and understand the big picture of why [the alliance is] so important, "
added Coflin.
Other times, alliance managers' unique view across multiple
therapeutic areas and company functions, as well as knowledge
and awareness of the external environment, including patients,
customers, and healthcare professionals, enables them to see
around corners and head off bigger issues, according to Coflin.
Paige added that alliance managers are one of the few in the
organization listening to earnings conferences and monitoring
how company leaders are prioritizing partner portfolios.

" Sometimes we hear things or we
understand that there may be a
business shift long before other
people do, because we have our
ears to the ground on the business
context of our partner's world. "
" Sometimes we hear things or we understand that there may be
a business shift long before other people do, because we have
our ears to the ground on the business context of our partner's world, " she said. In the past, this vantage point enabled
Paige to identify signs of an impending change in control with
a major partner months before a sale was announced-and
the rest of the organization took notice. " We had a lot more
time to assess potential impact to our business. I outlined the
facts we knew at the time, what assumptions we were making,
the potential risks to our business, and what options we could
pursue. "

Strategic Alliance Magazine Q4 2020

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Strategic Alliance Magazine Q4 2020