AlphaGroup Survey: Quality in the Time of Covid

MARCH 29, 2021

In a recent survey AlphaGroup conducted with members of the medical device and pharmaceutical industries, we learned many industry members feel the level of quality of work they receive from their respective agencies has dropped while working remotely during the pandemic.

“There is simply no margin for error in our world,” said AlphaGroup founding partner Stephen Douthwaite. “AlphaGroup’s principles of Precision, Integrity, and Passion held steadfast throughout the pandemic. At the onset, we leveraged technologies and methodologies, expanding the size and scope of our quality control team, and also increasing their remit, all to ensure our clients receive the very highest quality in the industry and with it our continued reputation for excellence.”

The results of our survey demonstrate the impact on the quality of medical publications’ output across the industry in the time of COVID.

  • Working remotely was a significant change, according to more than 73% of those surveyed
  • More than 50% report that processes have been altered with the increase in congress deliverables such as audio files
  • In spite of the pandemic, medical publications’ outputs increased 26%
  • More than 60% of those surveyed cited the inability to manage workload and almost 40% shared the lack of availability of data as the two key factors that hampered success
  • Some 73% of respondents shared they were simply “coping” at this time and 14% said they “can barely keep (their) heads above water”
  • Almost 60% reported that timelines and milestones have been slightly to significantly impacted since the beginning of the pandemic
  • More than 13% of those surveyed said their agency had not performed as well during this time, and half of these respondents believed they had performed poorly
  • Worse yet, more than 50% shared that the pandemic has negatively affected their respective, authors with 1 in 13 (7%) saying to the point of disaster
  • The bottom line: 1 in 8 (14%) shared that the quality they are receiving from their agency has suffered

Vanessa Borkhoche, AlphaGroup account manager (she/her), finds two monitors work better than one while working from home. 

“AlphaGroup practiced the utmost agility and adaptability since switching to an exclusively remote workplace in March 2020,” Douthwaite said. “We immediately made sure all of our team had the most advanced technologies, equipment and software in their new place of work, their home offices. We also secured additional resources to maintain the consistency and quality of our work as our clients’ publications needs increased. This winning combination of expanded scientific expertise, medical writing, and quality control guaranteed that we would continue to exceed expectations through the changing times.”