Digital data connections rule for Gartner's new 'cool vendors' in life sciences

This year's class of Gartner's "cool vendors" are small but mighty. They're not large, established corporations, but they're agile, with the ability to deliver insights and innovation quickly for pharma companies. The five for 2016 include sales and marketing ventures Aktana, InCrowd and Treato, along with more R&D-focused companies AICure and Infinote.

"This year’s crop of Cool Vendors in Life Science address the user experience for aggregating, connecting and exposing difficult data sources. They help link complex events with greater context for diverse roles, too," said Michael Shandler, Gartner research VP and co-author of the study.

"Many of the vendors mentioned are addressing the technology components required to execute a 'digital plan' where live data analytics are the focus, and roles, business systems and IoT-connected devices are on equal footing," he said.

Of course, that doesn’t come without measured risk for pharma companies, as Gartner noted in its report. The firm notes that life science companies engaging with smaller providers like these must be willing to accept taking some risks and to work more closely on joint development projects. 

Companies like InCrowd, for instance, which was founded in 2011 by life science industry veterans who wanted to deliver a better solution for real-time market research. CEO and co-founder Janet Kosloff  said companies like hers “that have truncated the process of getting market feedback and essentially enable our clients to get information on demand, have become more and more essential.”

Data has become more important across all industries, including pharma, but the real talent among the emerging leaders is using data for analysis and insights. 

“The ability of your data to tell a story or fill in the blanks of a story that your client is trying to tell or understand is absolutely key,” Kosloff said. 

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