Currently hosted on a Salesforce-based platform, Veeva believes there are limitations in the value they can provide their customers with the Veeva CRM solution. Because of this, Veeva has made the decision to migrate its CRM offerings from Salesforce to a purpose-built CRM solution hosted on its own Vault platform specifically tailored to the life sciences industry and its needs. Veeva has recently unveiled its roadmap for the migration and plans to have no Salesforce instances by 2030. With this in mind, there are some considerations needed for life sciences companies that currently use or plan to use Veeva CRM. Below, we unpack what to know for the upcoming Veeva Vault CRM migration.

When Will We Be Able to Use the New Veeva Vault CRM? 

Veeva has stated that net new users of the Veeva CRM will have access to the platform as early as 2024, but existing customers will have to wait until 2025 to begin the process of migrating to the Vault platform. Starting in 2025, Veeva will migrate instances over the next five years until 2030, when they plan to have all customers on the Vault-based CRM, stating that most migrations will occur between 2026 and 2029.  

What Can We Expect from the Migration Process? 

Veeva aims to make the transition as seamless and easy for its customers, but complex solutions may take longer to port. Veeva has promised that they will take care of migrations for all current customers’ apps and objects. A major goal of the new CRM solution is to reduce the number of custom or coded objects in order to provide a more complete application for the customers. Because custom objects are depreciating assets, they don’t improve over time with new functionality or interfacing, and a platform application provides more value and versatility for the client.  

However, an app is not always feasible, and porting custom objects may be a necessity, so during the migration process, Veeva is requesting customers to audit their systems and see what objects are truly still necessary today to see if the number of custom objects can be reduced. Smaller customers with simpler systems can expect a quick migration, but larger customers with complex objects may have extended migration processes as the workload for creating solutions on the Vault platform increases.  

What is the Benefit? 

Veeva believes that they will be able to deliver a more complete, versatile, and industry-driven experience to CRM customers on the new platform. The Veeva Vault platform offers a seamless experience between browser instances and mobile apps for iOS and Android. Veeva currently has complete control over the mobile app experience, allowing them to customize it to industry needs, but had to compromise in the browser experience due to restrictions from the Salesforce platform. The future solution on Vault CRM allows them to create an environment specifically tailored for life sciences, so in-house staff and field reps will always be seeing the same product.  

For the same reason, Veeva promises “More Innovation Faster” as their control over the configuration and user interface (UI) will allow them to more readily respond to needs and wants. At no extra cost, Veeva is offering Veeva Service Center, which will have case management, call lists, and all functionalities necessary for call centers, and inside sales will also be available. For additional licenses, Veeva is introducing the CRM bot, described as a “ChatGPT like” assistant, which integrates AI into the platform to perform tasks like writing a compliant e-mail on a particular topic or explaining the doctor’s prescribing history or referral patterns.  

Where Will There Be Friction? 

Although Vault CRM will be on the same data model that Veeva CRM is now, allowing for seamless data transfer, there could still be some pain points in the process of moving over to the new platform. Training and change management will be areas to watch for; Veeva will not be providing “Vault competency” training, and the new browser UI will be different than it was in the past, potentially requiring training of new and existing users in the new system. Coded objects will need to be created by the customer as Veeva will not migrate coded objects at this time, and the CRM platform will now be run on JAVA instead of APEX as in the previous Salesforce system. Third-party integrations will not be covered in the migration, and customers will need to find solutions or project management services elsewhere to ensure these systems are live when needed.  

Veeva Vault CRM Migration

Overall, the aim of the Veeva CRM migration from Salesforce to Vault is to provide an industry-driven CRM that provides life sciences-focused solutions to its customers. Veeva is taking steps to make the migration as smooth as possible by utilizing the same data model, providing migration services for objects and custom objects, and delivering the same UI experience across all instances. However, during the transition, it will be imperative to have a roadmap for the system audits, integration, coded object migration, and user training.  

To chat more about the upcoming Veeva Vault CRM migration or learn more about our Veeva consulting services, reach out to Clarkston today. 

Learn more about our Veeva CRM consulting services