How Difficult Is It to Build a Content Hub as an Internal Operation for a Pharma Company?

In the high-stakes world of pharmaceutical communications, many organizations are silently drowning in a sea of content complexity. Brilliant minds, cutting-edge research, and groundbreaking innovations — all held back by fragmented content processes that are more convoluted than a drug development pathway. It's like driving a Ferrari but being stuck in first gear, watching competitors zoom past while your real potential remains frustratingly unrealized. 

Every day pharma companies wrestle with barriers that hold them back from truly connecting with their audiences. Content creation becomes a disjointed symphony — marketing teams working in isolation, local markets reinventing the wheel, and global strategies evaporating before they can make an impact. The result? Inconsistent messaging, wasted resources, and missed opportunities that could have translated into meaningful engagement and growth. 

Here's the hard truth: building a robust, efficient content hub isn't just a nice-to-have, it's a make-or-break capability that separates industry leaders from those perpetually playing catch-up.  

In the following sections, I'll pull back the curtain on the intricate challenges that make establishing an internal content hub so profoundly difficult for pharmaceutical companies — revealing the complex ecosystem of obstacles that most organizations never discuss openly. 

Siloed and Stagnant Processes and Lacking the Experience to Fix Them 

Pharmaceutical companies excel at what they do best: developing life-changing medicines. They've mastered the complex processes of drug development, clinical trials, and regulatory compliance. These organizations know exactly how to structure their R&D operations, establish robust testing protocols, and navigate the intricate pathway from molecule to market.  

But what about a cohesive omnichannel content strategy? That's where many pharmaceutical companies often find themselves on shaky, uncharted ground. 

The reality is that most pharma organizations lack the specialized knowledge and experience needed to establish effective content operations. Many of them operate with regionally siloed content production models, which can hinder collaboration and consistency across markets.  

This fragmentation leads to inefficiencies, such as limited reuse of global brand assets and increased costs due to duplicated efforts. Transitioning to a centralized content factory requires overcoming these silos to create a cohesive system that promotes collaboration. But without the right expertise and experience in setting up consistent practices, fostering effective collaboration, and implementing innovations, it can take months and even years of trial and error. 

Unpredictable Expenses and Timelines 

When pharmaceutical companies decide to build their content operations from scratch, they often step into a financial labyrinth. While the initial budget might look manageable on paper, the reality of establishing an in-house content hub presents a complex web of unpredictable expenses and timelines that can quickly spiral beyond initial projections. 

Think about what it really takes to build a content operation from the ground up.

You're not just investing in technology platforms — you're looking at an entire ecosystem that needs to be properly built piece by piece.

There's the obvious: hiring content specialists, purchasing necessary tools, and implementing new systems. Then there's the less visible but equally crucial: training programs, process development, and the inevitable learning curve that comes with any new operation. 

Time becomes a critical factor. Organizations often underestimate how long it takes to establish functional content processes, train teams effectively, and get new systems running smoothly. The journey from concept to fully operational omnichannel content strategy can stretch far beyond initial estimates, eating into budgets and delaying strategic initiatives. 

Here's the uncomfortable truth: even after significant investment in time and resources, there's no guarantee that the first iteration will work. Companies frequently find themselves caught in a costly cycle of replacing technologies that don't meet their needs, restructuring teams that aren't properly aligned, and revising processes that prove inefficient in practice. Each adjustment restarts the clock on implementation and training, creating a ripple effect of delays and additional expenses. 

Organizational Inertia and Transformational Barriers 

Change in pharmaceutical companies isn't just about implementing new systems — it's about shifting deeply entrenched mindsets and practices that have been in place for years, sometimes decades. The pharmaceutical industry's careful, methodical approach to drug development and regulatory compliance has created an organizational culture that, while excellent for safety and reliability, often resists rapid transformation. 

This resistance manifests in multiple ways. Teams cling to familiar workflows, even when these workflows are clearly inefficient. The fear is understandable — in an industry where precision and compliance are paramount, any change feels like a potential risk to productivity and quality. Legacy systems and outdated processes compound this challenge, creating technical debt that makes adopting new technologies feel like trying to retrofit a vintage car with modern electronics. 

The global-to-local content challenge perfectly illustrates this organizational gridlock.

Companies invest significant resources in developing sophisticated global content strategies, only to watch them dissolve at the local level. Without clear processes for local adaptation, markets often default to creating content from scratch rather than leveraging existing assets. 

Perhaps most concerning is how these organizational barriers impact performance measurement and improvement. Many pharmaceutical companies operate with a patchwork of metrics across different departments, making it impossible to get a clear picture of content effectiveness. KPIs often feel arbitrary or disconnected from business objectives. When systems don't talk to each other and teams measure success differently, making data-driven decisions becomes an exercise in frustration. 

Your Roadmap to Internal Content Hub Success 

When pharmaceutical companies face complex content operations challenges, they don't need a quick fix — they need a comprehensive transformation partner. Viseven's Center of Excellence (CoE) is that partner. 

CoE is built on expertise, technology, and strategic implementation. We bring a holistic solution that tackles the root causes of content inefficiencies, providing pharmaceutical companies with a clear pathway to more effective, efficient, and impactful content operations. 

Proven processes that work from day one 

Setting up content production in-house can feel like assembling a complex machine without a manual. CoE eliminates that guesswork.  

With a deep understanding of pharmaceutical content ecosystems and tried-and-tested frameworks under the belt, CoE can fast-track content production, bypassing the costly trial-and-error phase. Instead of wasting resources building processes from scratch, you get efficient and scalable solutions from the start — saving not just time but also the hidden costs of missteps and delays. 

Advanced technology for seamless collaboration and data-driven action 

Center of Excellence leverages solutions that were tested across multiple pharma organizations and for many years, for example, eWizard, so you can be sure that they effectively break down departmental silos and foster seamless content creation workflows. These solutions are also designed to be scalable and flexible, enabling you to centralize content management, automate repetitive processes, and build a library of modular, reusable content assets. 

On top of that, we can implement robust content performance management that not only tracks how your content is doing but can also deliver actionable insights and forecasts based on analytics. This will turn your content from a cost center into a real strategic asset, enabling you to make data-driven decisions, directly impacting the effectiveness of your communications. 

Navigate organizational changes like a pro 

Successful content transformation is as much about people as it is about processes. That's why we provide comprehensive support throughout the implementation journey, focusing on stakeholder engagement, detailed transition planning, and continuous optimization. 

This approach helps pharmaceutical companies to build a culture of innovation and collaboration. Comprehensive training and change management strategies ensures that teams are not only compliant, but genuinely enthusiastic about adopting new ways of working. 

Delivering sustainable results 

Pharmaceutical companies face complex challenges in content creation and distribution, obstructing them from building a working omnichannel content strategy. Those who’ve partnered with Center of Excellence in the past, gained pragmatic solutions that allowed them to overcome these hurdles. They were able to slash weeks off product launches, speak with one voice across all their markets, and free their team to do what they do best — all while building a content engine that's built to last.   

That’s because the focus of CoE is, of course, to patch the problems at hand but mainly to introduce sustainable solutions that will work way into the future, turning a pharma company’s content into a true competitive advantage. 

Building a Content Hub Internally Doesn’t Have to Be So Difficult 

Through Viseven's Center of Excellence, pharmaceutical and life sciences companies get a partner that will advise them on how to evolve content operations into a cornerstone of strategic success. This is done by completely reimagining how content is created, managed, and leveraged to drive lasting business impact. 

With years of expertise and experience in this realm, plus equipped with cutting-edge technology, CoE has the necessary strategic foresight to bring your omnichannel content strategy to life. You will have to bid farewell to workflows that are siloed or full of inefficiencies. But instead, you’ll gain a unified, future-ready content ecosystem made to amplify your brand, enhance engagement, and deliver measurable outcomes. 

In the end, you'll be equipped with the frameworks, tools, and organizational agility to stay ahead of tomorrow's challenges. By fostering a culture of innovation and data-driven decision-making, we ensure your content strategies evolve in sync with your business priorities and the demands of the market. 

If you want to leverage our decades of industry experience, expertise, and proven methodologies to build yourself a prospering content hub, our Center of Excellence is ready to take on your challenges.