Customer relationship management (CRM) is here to stay and is at the heart of companies' digital initiatives for years to come, Gartner said in a report that came out in 2014. The hot topic in CRM across multiple leading industries, including healthcare, is the Internet of Things (IoT) as it joins cloud, social, mobile and big data as the fifth driver of CRM investments.

If the pharmaceutical industry doesn't "Get out the Vote" for innovation this election cycle, the consequences will be stormy waters, not business as usual, with a concerted attack on industry that threatens to spook the markets, lower valuations, and distract senior management.

It should come as no surprise that we're losing the battle to improve global wellness.

On the heels of the release of the movie "The Martian," NASA confirmed the presence of water on Mars. Sometimes, we Earthlings experience odd happenstances like this. But it underscores the quantum leaps and accelerated compression of technological breakthroughs and their applications to potentially solve human problems, while often, simultaneously creating new ones.

Reaching and engaging patients in today's fast-paced digital landscape requires a new way of thinking for healthcare industry marketers, business development and strategy professionals. Patients are more connected than ever before through mobile and other electronic devices, and in return, they expect the same when they enter a hospital or health system environment. This transformation is putting pressure on healthcare marketers to diversify hospitals' outreach methods to meet digital expectations and continue to do more with less.

Pharma has long been characterized as lagging behind the rest of the marketing industry in terms of branding effectiveness and overall media impact. Regulatory guidelines in the industry are the largest contributor to this delta.

Why do physicians continue to prescribe drugs that they have "experience" with over newer drugs with better clinical profiles? Why is there patient noncompliance in life-threatening disease categories? Why do some parents choose not to vaccinate their children? Why do guidelines for treatment issued across disease conditions always lag behind in-market treatment options?