Veeva Systems Executive on the Challenges of Working in the Healthcare Industry
Matt Wallach is the co-founder and president of Veeva Systems(NYSE: VEEV), a software company the provides cloud-based solutions to the life-sciences industry. In this clip from Industry Focus: Healthcare, Matt gives a high-level overview of the challenges of working in the healthcare industry and details the competitive landscape within the space.
A full transcript follows the video.
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This video was recorded on March 15, 2017.
Kristine Harjes:You're certainly right that there are plenty of challenges that these companies face, particularly because they are in the healthcare sector, which is such a unique space. What are some of the biggest challenges for you guys working in this industry, and what is Veeva doing to overcome them?
Matt Wallach:I think one of the things that was a challenge for us andis a challenge for them is, these are big, global enterprises. There's no such thing as a leading life-sciences company that has a really good business just in Germany. You can't do that. So these are big, global companies. They havelots of specific requirements. And I think it's really that combination, where it's much more global than many other industries. You can't just build a successful software business in the U.S. and call yourself a partner to the life-sciences industry. But then, there's also a lot of specifics, aroundspecific functionality that they need, specific regulations that they need to comply with, and those regulations may differ literally from country to country around the world. So it makes operating a life sciences company very challenging, and normal off-the-shelf software doesn't work. They really need verticalized software. And that was the thing that made the life-sciences industry late adopters to cloud. Software companies were late adopters to cloud for aspecific industry. Veeva was one of the first companies to try to buildindustry cloud software. It looks like it's a great match for this big, complex industry.
Harjes:Are there any competitors out there in cloud-based solutions, specifically for life sciences?
Wallach:We have lots of competitors. I wouldn't say any pure cloud companies like us. Most of our competitors started 10 or 15 years before we did. And one of the great advantages that we have is, we're kind of late to this party, and we're able to start with real, multi-tenantcloud technology, all types of web-based technology that literally didn't exist or wasn't usable five, 10, 15 years ago. So yeah, we always have competitors, but generally, when we're competing for a new business, we're the only real cloud solution.
Kristine Harjes has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Veeva Systems. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.