AI in Pharma’s Closed Loop - from voices to implemented changes
From signals to implemented changes that protect and grow revenue
A human start - what feedback tells you
People do not tell you about your brand. They tell you about themselves. Their world, their limits, their hopes. Treat feedback that way and CX stops being a scoreboard. It becomes a system that changes what people feel next time.
This is my case for a closed loop in life sciences - with AI where it helps, governed by people who own outcomes.
The shift in Pharma
Pharma, medtech and digital health are moving from one-way pushes to two-way exchanges. HCPs, patients, payers and authorities expect joined-up, timely contact - face to face, digital and hybrid.
In 2025, AI is part of daily work - helping teams collect cleaner signals, route work to accountable owners, and prove behaviour change. When it sits inside a loop, it moves markets. Outside of a loop, it creates dashboards.
Let us define the loop before we place the AI.
What a closed loop is - four parts that never sleep
Channels - right message, right moment across field, Veeva or SFMC, portals, medical information, call centres and events.
Data - bring channel use and feedback into your lake without creating a swamp.
Decision views - small, clear screens that say what to do now.
Action - send to the owner, implement changes, show what moved, repeat.
AI supports each part when someone owns the action.
Why people speak up - design your listening
Five drivers sit behind most feedback:
Emotion - delight or friction moves people to comment.
Agency - belief that their voice will change something.
Reciprocity - effort feels fair when you respond.
Ease - low friction invites words.
Social proof - feedback is normal here. Design prompts and timings with these in mind. You will collect more of the right signals and less noise.
Those motives shape the signals we collect - so the loop must respect them at every step.
Two voices, one view - show explicit verbatims next to implicit behaviour. Do not let 5% of loud voices set policy for the 95% who vote with their behaviour.
AI across the loop - a simple map
How to read it
Left - Channels feed the loop: field, email, events, web and mobile, customer services, social listening, digital patient companions.
Middle - Data stream flows into the lake. AI cleans, tags and detects patterns.
Right - Decisions to action: next best action, dashboards and reporting that move work.
Bottom - Doing the work: affiliates, disease and digital teams implement changes and track them.
What each tile enables
Channel content - recommend timing and topics.
AI agents - handle simple requests and hand off when needed.
Process simplification - remove steps, pre fill, trim repeats.
AE picking - zero miss flags for PV review.
Advanced analysis - topics, cohorts, anomalies.
Next best action - suggestions inside guardrails.
Views that answer what now.
Reporting - summaries leaders can scan.
Workflow efficiency - faster case handling.
Taking action guidance - route to accountable owners.
Taking action tracking - promise kept and shipped fix count.
Digital patient companions - guided self serve that collects signals back.
Grow - channel content, AI agents, next best action, taking action guidance.
Integration reference pattern
Event IDs from each channel with a webhook to the lake
CRM key to match individuals where consent allows
Deduplication and error handling rules
Routing in CRM/ticketing; proof in dashboards and the leader view
The loop in practice
Here is how we keep those motives in view while we run the loop.
1) Channels - personal, not creepy
Use recommenders for timing and topic that HCPs value. Keep a human line for hand offs. Pre-approved snippets let speed and compliance travel together.
Avoid blasts with no follow up, personalisation on stale tags, and automation with no escape hatch.
2) Data - verbatims are gold if you can read them
Use NLP to turn emails, call notes and survey text into topics and urgency. Auto tag safety terms so PV can review fast. Align fields across CRM, MLR and the lake so joins stay true.
Avoid any tolerance for false negatives on safety, one off domain tuning, and lakes that bloat without curation.
Data and consent basics
Capture consent at source; minimise fields; pseudonymise where possible
Keep an audit trail; apply role based access; consider data residency
Link PV workflows and redaction rules to auto tagging
3) Decision views - fewer, clearer, faster
Show where usage or refills may drop. Catch channel breaks with anomaly checks. Group HCPs by what they do and need, not by pretty persona decks.
Avoid views with no owner and no what now, chart farms that stall teams, and hidden confidence when data is thin.
Weight explicit verbatims by exposure and impact so a loud 5% does not overrule the 95% who vote with behaviour.
Clarity in views sets up clarity in action.
4) Action - where value appears
Before we implement changes, we test the cause - not the symptom. Nudge one next step - who moves first and by when. Let campaigns self-adjust within clear guardrails. Test ideas in a sandbox before wider spend.
Guardrail - ask three whys on the top verbatim, then implement the smallest change that tests the cause.
What peers report in 2025 - a quick reality check
A cross industry study of 800+ CX practitioners across the US, UK, Australia, New Zealand and Canada shows a clear pattern:
96% say AI has met or exceeded expectations, 60% say exceeded.
86% believe AI will change what their organisation can achieve in CX.
3 in 4 report a defined AI strategy that includes CX, 84% prioritise investment. Fast growing firms are 4.2x more likely to plan very high spend next year.
51% already have an AI focused executive, 70% have genAI roles.
Today’s top use - better analysis quality and speed, plus automation. Next - customer facing genAI, behaviour prediction and automated close the loop.
Selection drivers - security and privacy first, ROI next.
So what for pharma - start with analysis gains, then extend into assistance and automated follow through. Ensure every step aligns with a loop that routes work, implements changes, and demonstrates progress.
The operating cadence - simple and strict
Collect at the moment - CES by task, one open question, one-click resolved - yes or no after a case.
Route verbatims and topics to the accountable lead automatically.
Implement changes inside two weeks - copy tweak, flow fix, call back promise, rep follow up.
Prove at day 14 - keep the change only if behaviour moved or tickets fell.
Action Velocity - shipped changes ÷ routed items within 14 days, plus the behaviour shift that follows.
Definitions and formulas
CES by task - a one question measure of effort for a specific step
Promise kept rate - % of cases with a closed follow up confirmed by the customer
Action Velocity - shipped ÷ routed inside 14 days, plus 14 day behaviour change
AE picking guardrail - zero tolerance for false negatives; PV is the final owner
Example prompts
CES by task: “How easy was it to complete X today? 1–5.”
Open question: “What slowed you down?”
Promise kept: “Resolved - yes or no.”
The Two Speed CX P&L
Protect - insure against churn, reputation hits and repeat contacts.
Grow - increase adoption and repeat use after a fix.
Keep one rhythm so finance can see movement. No movement in two weeks - retire the change and try the next option.
Governance - who decides what and when
Owners - Brand lead, Medical, PV, Service, Data, IT
Decision rights - who signs risk phrasing, who sets routing rules, who retires changes
SLAs - triage within 24 hours; implement changes within 14 days; PV review within agreed hours
Escalation - when an SLA slips, who decides the next step
Where Screver fits - built for the long game
Screver is the feedback management platform with sexy design built for this loop. Designed to support teams - fewer clicks, faster routing, clearer proof. Designed for multi-market programmes.
Templates by moment - rep visit, webinar, portal, event, email - med legal ready in days.
Routing and triage - topic detection to the right owner, PV terms flagged for review.
Promise kept checks that build trust and reduce repeats.
Leader view in five minutes - Action Velocity, top blockers, shipped changes this fortnight.
Integrations - Veeva, SFMC, CRM, ticketing, portals - see behaviour change without export games.
Security and privacy first - role based access, audit trails, PV ready workflows.
Closing
AI does not replace the human touch - it enables teams to keep promises at scale. Protect what you have. Grow what you keep. Keep the loop running.
If you lead CX in pharma and want a loop that lasts - not a pilot that fades - let us talk. We will collect the right signals, route work to owners, implement changes quickly, and prove movement with one language that finance trusts.
