Kirsty Anderson, Digital Project Lead, took the time to discuss all things digital with us! In this interview, she shares insight into her role, the challenges and opportunities of a digital project, and her views on the future of digital.
Please can you briefly describe your role at Prime Global?
I work within the Digital Team as a Digital Project Lead. This means I work with Prime Global’s agencies and consultancies to help deliver digital projects varying from HTML emails, videos, podcasts, and websites to SharePoint solutions. What I love most about my role is that every day is different and I get to work with lots of different people. I’ve been here a year now, which has flown by!
What are the most important qualities for someone working in a medcomms digital team?
I would say the most important qualities would be attention to detail, strong organisational skills, and being a multi-tasker. You need to be someone who gets the job done with passion for all things digital.
Before your role here at Prime Global, what did you do?
I was a Project Manager at another medcomms agency, managing the digital and creative projects. I was there for about 5 years, starting as a Digital Project Assistant and working my way up.
Since working at Prime Global, what has been your favourite project?
I would say my favourite project is one that I have worked on since I started, which has been showcased internally and has gained a lot of interest. The project is a SharePoint solution using PowerApps, which was something that was quite new to me at the time so I’ve learnt a lot along the way. That is what’s good about digital, it’s forever changing and expanding! I’ve built a good relationship with the client services and scientific teams as well as the client.
How do you measure the success of a digital project?
In the words of my boss, Michelle, “metrics, metrics, metrics”! The great thing about most digital projects is that you can measure the performance by tracking metrics. It’s important to define specific KPIs and goals at the start of a project and identify how we will measure them.
What do you think is the biggest challenge during a project, and how do you address it?
One common challenge is a scope creep, which can sneak up on you all of a sudden. It generally happens when the client wants to add some additional features or functionality. The best way to avoid this is to create a requirements document at the start, which allows you to really understand what the client needs and define the scope of your project, and which you can always refer back to. Creating a clear project plan outlining each step in detail also helps.
What do you think is the next major trend in the digital market?
AI and wearable devices. AI is still massively growing and will continue to do so for a while so it’s definitely one to watch, especially in healthcare. The size of global AI in the healthcare market was valued at $6.7 billion in 2020 and is anticipated to expand at a compound annual growth rate of 41.8% from 2021 to 2028. We could see wearable devices that are capable of understanding our bodies become an essential part of our healthcare in the future. The wearable market is introducing new devices to monitor basic vital measurements like blood pressure, heart rate and ECG which will improve the quality of diagnosis and patient monitoring.
If you could have a dinner party with any three people, who would you invite?
This is tricky question as I am so indecisive with these types of things, but off the top of my head I would probably pick a chef, either Gordan Ramsey or Gino D’Acampo, so they can do the cooking. Let’s go for Gino as he likes a good drink!
I also think it’s important to have a laugh so I would invite John Bishop and Jason Mansford for a bit of northern humour!
Thanks Kirsty, we have enjoyed talking to you. You have made us feel very inspired and excited for a digital future!
If you would like to work in MedComms or are looking for a new MedComms role, we have several roles available as part of our growth plan – visit our our careers page now!
