How Prezent alleviates anxiety and stress for teams at Alnylam Pharmaceuticals

‍Introduction 

Founded in 2002, Alnylam has pioneered the RNAi (RNA interference) technology platform that has brought the world a whole new class of medicines. Alnylam’s vision is to to harness the potential of RNAi therapeutics to transform the lives of people living with diseases for which there are limited or inadequate treatment options. Alex Bitting and his team are at the forefront of strategic pricing and contracting strategies within the organization. 

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Their primary focus is on developing effective pricing strategies for the U.S. market. This involves not just setting prices but also leading the development of contracting strategies that ensure quality and affordable access to the company's therapies through U.S. health insurers. Through their efforts, Alex and his team play a crucial role in making Alnylam Pharmaceuticals' innovative treatments accessible and affordable, reflecting the company's commitment to public health and well-being.

“We can do a lot more in a single day with Prezent”
Alex Bitting, Strategy leader, Alnylam Pharmaceuticals

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Challenges in Business Communication

According to our conversations with Alex, the teams at Alnylam Pharmaceuticals faced multiple challenges regarding business communication through presentations. 

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• The U.S. healthcare system is extremely complex, with significant differences in how drugs are covered under pharmacy benefits versus medical benefits. Given this complexity, even professionals with over 20 years of experience in the industry might only have expertise in specific areas. Creating presentations that satisfy everyone's needs and wants proved to be stressful, time-consuming, and somewhat of a bottleneck.

“Our primary challenge is that there are so few people within the organization that understand these topics. The challenge was our audience’s lack of understanding.”
Alex Bitting, Strategy leader, Alnylam Pharmaceuticals

• Very often, the same data had to be presented in two formats: a smart version and a simplified version, to effectively communicate the message. This process was time-consuming and contributed to building up inertia.

• Teams spending a lot of time on mundane tasks, which are not their strong suit, lead to doubts about their skills and create stress and anxiety over time.

• Relying on the peer marketing team to scrutinize the presentations and ensure brand alignment further consumed time and effort.

• Being on a time crunch and a lack of immediacy in compiling presentations catalyzed fear amongst team members looking to compile data in proper readable formats.

“Before Prezent, it was a time crunch, it would be an immediate need. It was, ‘I have to present this tomorrow. How do I get all this information in a readable format that people can understand? How do I distill that? How do I present it in a way that aligns with our audience’s needs and wants.”
Alex Bitting, Strategy leader, Alnylam Pharmaceuticals

• Compromising on perfection, spending too much time enhancing the quality of a few slides but, due to lack of time and resources, neglecting the rest, leading to unevenness in the deck.  

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The Prezent Solution

The tool's straightforward onboarding and its extensive slide repository of 35,000+ options immediately improved his presentation development process. Prezent's overnight service was particularly beneficial for quick, brand-aligned slide creation, and streamlining work for Alex, his team, and his peer marketing team.

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The platform's pre-built Best Practice resources and one-click brand alignments further simplified presentation design, eliminating common formatting frustrations. Ultimately, Prezent significantly saved time and enhanced the professionalism and perfection in presentations that Alex was looking for.

"It streamlined my process. I don't get stuck as often, allowing me to focus on enhancing every slide, regardless of its significance. Now, each slide is more visually appealing, with content that's clearer and more engaging," Alex noted.

Prezent has led to a higher overall deck quality with audience-centric messaging, ensuring that instead of a few standout slides, the entire presentation is consistently excellent.

“Others are trying to do something similar. But it doesn't seem to be the level at which you guys are!”
Alex Bitting, Strategy leader, Alnylam Pharmaceuticals

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The Amazing Results

Prezent significantly boosted user productivity by enabling quick decisions on presentation content and providing assurance that all slides were consistent in branding – thus avoiding delays and leading to substantial savings estimated between $30,000 to $50,000. The time spent on creating presentations was reduced by 50%, allowing users to allocate time to other tasks as opposed to ruminating on the effectiveness and impact their presentation would deliver. The platform's repository slides, pre-built use cases, and storylines ensured presentations were of high quality and consistent with corporate standards, mitigating concerns about presentation quality. 

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Prezent also streamlined brand alignment and team coordination, enhancing corporate identity consistency across presentations. More importantly, Prezent facilitated a better understanding for users with a lack of presentation-creation knowledge, enabling them to be more prepared for future deliberations. 

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“Knowing that we are definitely brand-aligned, gives us peace of mind and enhances productivity”
Alex Bitting, Strategy leader, Alnylam Pharmaceuticals

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