Pre-event Workshops

New Product Forecasting Best Practice in Pharma

Art Cook, Principal, ZS associates

The inherent uncertainty of the business environment complicates planning and coordination of essential business functions. Understanding fundamental market drivers and their influence in shaping product demand is integral to good business planning and full utilization of company resources.

ZS Associates has developed customized forecasting tools and processes to serve our clients in more than 100 engagements, and now offers training sessions to provide our clients with the knowledge and tools to enhance their forecasting capabilities.

About the program

New product forecasting in Pharma is a half-day training program designed for Pharma executives with responsibility for developing forecasts. It will provide participants with the principles and tools essential for a good forecast. Individuals who work in market research, strategic planning, and product management are the key stakeholders in a forecast development process and will benefit from a comprehensive understanding of the process and their role in making a successful forecast, including:

• Introduction and developing a disease model
• Patient-based forecasting vs. trend-based forecasting
• Forecasting approaches and product lifecycle
• Tackling historical Rx reconciliation
• Capturing market dynamics with patient flow modeling
• Market environment (e.g. aging population, WHI, etc) Competition
• Product uptake and erosion curves, selection of analogs
• Conversion from patients to revenue
• How to use market research to support forecasts

Optimize Forecasting & Planning with a ‘Forecast Mantra'

Alec Finney and Martin Joseph, Principals, Rivershill Consultancy

Over the past twenty years we have gained considerable experience in business forecasting working in R&D, FMCG and Pharma HQ and affiliates in senior operational and strategic roles.

In that time we have seen forecasting come of age in terms of analytical techniques and business processes – but there are still huge inefficiencies and poor decision making as a result of political bias and poor risk management in the creation and use of forecasts.

About the program

The Forecasting Mantra describes an holistic view of forecasting which enables - for the first time – the delivery of high quality forecasts which coupled with mature behaviors will lead to better investment decisions and improved bottom line performance.

Use the ‘Forecast Mantra’ to deliver maximum business benefit from your Forecasting and Planning Functions

Take part in this ½ day workshop in which we will walk through the Mantra with real world examples to show you how to…

• Understand why it is important to know the difference between forecasts and plans
• Agree and manage assumptions
• Create quality forecasts
• Measure uncertainty and mange risk
• Align functional plans
• Learn how to communicate forecasts simply ad effectively.
• Monitor performance....against meaningful criteria

.........through the virtuous circle that is The Mantra

Alec Finney and Martin Joseph