When High Tech Meets High Touch

The Chinese philosophical concept of yin and yang refers to opposite yet interconnected forces that underpin a vital balance. In healthcare, this concept is illustrated through experiences that combine hard, data-driven facts with softer interpersonal dynamics.

AeroSafe Global's reason for being is the protection of temperature-sensitive therapies as they traverse a vast supply chain en route to the focal point of all healthcare transactions: the patient. AeroSafe began by manufacturing high-performance packaging for mission-critical medicines, devices, and vaccines. The company has since broadened its service portfolio with complementary high-tech/high-touch solutions that deliver unparalleled confidence and patient safety.

The Yin

The AeroSafe Control Tower capability was born of necessity: pandemic-era supply chain bottlenecks stemming from realities, such as workplace absences, extreme weather events, and port congestion. Much like an air traffic control tower, this technology-enabled service acts as an early warning system to prevent, detect, and respond to problematic scenarios.

Connected packaging components emit signals around temperature, condition, location, and delays as temperature-sensitive therapies are in transit to recipients. Real-time signal monitoring safeguards life-changing and lifesaving medicines during transport to stave off a host of manufacturer problems that include customer dissatisfaction, lost revenue, and diminished product effectiveness. Control Tower simultaneously aggregates countless data points based on the real-world experiences of AeroSafe's reusable thermal shipping containers.

Beyond this data asset driving immediate action, the accrued data is measured over time for impact, both retrospectively and prospectively. Looking back, what factors created unnecessary risk and necessitated corrective action? This is helpful for ongoing quality improvement and service level agreement modifications. However, looking forward, there is a significant opportunity by way of modeling to direct future decision-making activity. Data patterns that emerge enable savvy manufacturers and distributors to make logistical changes – removing shipping lanes, changing packaging material – associated with increasing on-time operations and realization of cost savings.

The Yang

Control Tower acts as a decision support system that effectively processes simultaneous data points – inputs and outputs – based on defined rules and thresholds. These mechanisms in time can orient to AI and machine learning for autonomous operations. The balance to such an offering lies in AeroSafe's Personalized Engagement platform. This high-touch complement can serve as a conduit to push or pull informative insights while seamlessly extending the manufacturer's brand with patients and their providers.

Currently, pharmaceutical companies make sizable investments to obtain customers' voices. Large manufacturers have found that selling and marketing expenses exceed R&D spending by $36 billion. Looking at how to maximize the investment in obtaining the voice of the patient or provider, there is currently tremendous excitement around the promise of personalized user experiences. “Journey orchestration” is only intensifying in the healthcare ecosystem, taking cues from other verticals.

Newfound Ways to Extend the Reach

Activation of the AeroSafe platform for personalization can relay product information, educational resources, manufacturer branding, or survey tools to container recipients. The capability is grounded in AeroSafe's shipping container fleet that can readily serve as a palpable medium of connection. A team of customer service professionals that help manage the fleet execute campaign elements against objectives. Together, these resources can help build meaningful connections, bridging longstanding perceptual gaps between the pharmaceutical industry and its primary stakeholders.

Imagine, as soon as a shipment of vaccines arrives at a pediatrician's office, surfacing a courtesy message to confirm receipt, relay temperature, and inquire about any supplemental needs. This virtual detail is grounded in a gentle push that is effective in other consumer interactions. Moreover, it is a cost-effective way to engage healthcare providers whose doors are not as open as they once were (and are unlikely to be, again) to pharmaceutical sales representatives.

As more specialty therapies are shipped directly to patients' homes and require immediate refrigeration to preserve efficacy, there are many opportunities in this area as well. Real-time shipment notifications and reminders can help drive adherence, which is less than 50% for multiple chronic conditions, representing more than $300 billion in cost. This direct line is novel for obtaining patient insights and perceptions around a therapy or medical condition. In addition, outreach can help keep refill volume flowing without interruption. These scenarios represent wins for all stakeholders.

AeroSafe's Patient and Provider Service offerings work in concert to deliver compelling interaction around the medicines and therapies that millions of people rely on to feel healthy. As complementary components, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts in creating personalized, meaningful engagements that relay brand integrity and create a conduit for informative persona feedback.