Tanmay Saraykar

What does social intelligence mean to you?

Social Intelligence has been my bread and butter for the past decade and my most significant career achievement till date. I had the unique opportunity and the privilege to establish the Social Intelligence business at IQVIA from scratch and I have managed it successfully with consistent high performance in the past 11 years. My team and I have delivered impactful insights via hundreds of projects to as many clients in all parts of the world. Our clients are world’s leading pharmaceutical, biotechnology, consumer health, medical devices, cosmetics, digital health, digital therapeutics companies as well as government agencies.

What motivates you in your work? What makes you want to keep working in social intelligence?

To me, the motivation to keep working in social intelligence comes from many angles. Impactful social intelligence is as exciting as it is challenging. On the one hand, there is significant complexity in managing and organizing the ever-evolving unstructured social data that comes in various shapes and sizes and making sense of it to the extent that it is actionable. On the other hand, there is the satisfaction of generating insight that are used in developing and commercializing healthcare products which make a difference in the lives of patients, caregivers and physicians touched by our clients. Further, emergence of new networks such as TikTok presents new opportunities and poses new challenges. Studying the changes in demographics, cultural undertones, user behavior and the overall impact of the use of social media on people’s lives is quite fascinating.

What do you think makes you successful in your work?

I believe the following abilities/attitudes make me successful in my work.

• Intrapreneurship skills
• Ability to innovate
• Ability to lead multicultural and cross-functional teams
• Ability to drive and sustain business growth
• Ability to demonstrate thought leadership
• Attitude of constant learning and skill acquisition
• High tolerance for ambiguity
• Perseverance in navigating through complex internal and external environments
• Attitude of humility

What are the key skills that have contributed to your success?

Successfully delivering actionable and impactful social intelligence; according to me, the following (among others) have certainly contributed to my success.

• Analytical skills and problem-solving skills
• Ability to convert data into insights that drive tangible actions and produce meaningful outcomes
• Story-telling skills
• Open-mindedness in terms of correlating social insight with those from other information sources
• Business communication skills
• Stakeholder expectation management skills
• Project management skills
• Technical skills such as data management, quantitative and qualitative analysis, insights consolidation, etc.
• Knowledge of tools and technologies involved in the social intelligence process

What makes social data special compared to other data sources?

• The large size of social data which keeps growing
• It’s unstructured nature
• The fact it is expressed in various formats – text, video, images, emojis, etc.
• It’s unsolicited nature (as compared to a survey questionnaire or PMR)
• It’s instant accessibility and viral potential
• It’s power to make or break reputation of brands and companies and its influence on people in making decision that impact their lives

What does being a social intelligence pioneer mean in the context of your work?

Being a social intelligence pioneer in healthcare means championing the value of “patient voice” for more effective product development and commercialization. It also means overcoming complex challenges and effectively mitigating skepticism of stakeholders yet unsold on the value of social intelligence.

For instance, initially, because of the unstructured nature of social data, the scientifically and analytically minded client community showed low trust in social insights or their utility in driving clinical development or commercialization decisions. To mitigate this skepticism, I co-authored and published at least 7 scientific publications and research papers which were showcased at large scientific congresses and conferences, thus bringing analytical robustness, clinical validity, and scientific rigor to the discipline of social intelligence. Further, I also designed robust analytical methodology to win client’s confidence and trust output. My team and I successfully raised awareness of the significance of social data and promoted it’s use for research.

As a result, in the recent years, I have seen a rising interest in social insights from a variety of stakeholders within pharma and consumer health companies.

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