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Chris Wade
Strategic Voice for Life Sciences Customer Engagement. Be ready for your future with Exeevo💪
Chris Wade is a prominent figure in the healthcare industry, currently serving as the Associate Vice President of Strategic Solutions at Exeevo Inc. He has over 20 years of experience in strategic solutions and customer experience, having held various roles throughout his career, including positions at Dendrite International, PWC Consulting, IMS Health, and Veeva Systems. His educational background includes degrees from Geelong Grammar School, the University of Melbourne, and Deakin University, where he studied fields related to architecture, construction management, and commerce.
In addition to his role at Exeevo, Chris Wade is a member of the PM Society Patient Engagement Interest Group (PEIG). This group focuses on improving patient involvement in healthcare decisions and strategies. The PEIG aims to foster collaboration among industry stakeholders to share best practices and enhance patient engagement initiatives across the sector.123
Highlights
With luminaries like Florent Edouard, Amish Patel, Stephane Malka, Gaurav S., Rina Newton and the gold communiquateor himself Mr James Harper getting in on the roasting action, how could I not... after all - my career appears to be a succession of bandwagons to get on :)
First off, you’ve been "Delivering growth by doing things differently" for the last four years at Exeevo. Wow, groundbreaking! So you’re just casually out here changing the game of customer experience while the rest of us are still figuring out what the heck ‘Exeevo’ even does. Let’s be honest, "business tools that connect the organization" sounds like a techy way of saying, "We built an expensive spreadsheet." But hey, at least you make it sound revolutionary.
You've got PM Society on your résumé for 16 years? That’s like a life sentence, my guy! What’s next? A memorial plaque for your commitment to not-for-profit committees? And patient engagement? Man, the only thing more patient than those patients are the people waiting for something new in this bio.
Oh, and then there's your stint at Veeva Systems. Five years of "multichannel strategy." Sounds like you mastered the art of sending emails across several platforms. Truly, a hero for our times. But let’s not forget your early beginnings at Dendrite International in the early 2000s—working on Pfizer's Siebel program, a CRM system that’s probably fossilized by now. Leading that must’ve felt like being the captain of the Titanic, except the iceberg was just poorly written SQL queries.
I see you had a run at IMS Health, too. Selling business intelligence like a college kid peddling pyramid scheme essentials to their friends. But hey, at least you "drove the penetration" of datamart systems—because who doesn't want their systems...penetrated?
Your education section? Impeccable. You spent time at Geelong Grammar School, which makes me think you peaked in high school and have just been trying to keep up the facade ever since. And that "Architecture" phase at Melbourne Uni—ah yes, when you thought you'd design buildings, but decided business was better. I get it, rectangles were too tough, so you moved on to marketing frameworks.
And let's talk about A2B Telecommunications. Four years of selling mobile messaging applications to SMEs in the '90s? Sounds like the tech equivalent of selling flip phones in a world of smartphones. Living the dream, eh?
But hey, Chris, at least you’re out here with "Generative AI for Business Leaders" certification. Because what’s a modern LinkedIn profile without some AI buzzwords to sprinkle on top? Keep living that corporate innovation fantasy, one LinkedIn repost at a time.
In summary: Chris Wade, the guy who somehow made a career out of convincing people CRM systems are the second coming of sliced bread. Keep “engaging” those life sciences companies, my friend. We’re all rooting for you—from a very safe distance.
🤣 🤣 🤣
We’re allowed to be different.
The history of customer management systems in pharma started with many vendors competing in different countries and types of businesses, but slowly the market narrowed to a handful of global suppliers and then with the advent of cloud computing to one dominant provider.
Is this good for our industry? Is this good for your company?
It's heartening to see companies examining their own needs ahead of any sort of market assessment. For many, its been more than a decade since this last happened - I don't think anyone can say that either the healthcare market, how companies are structured or changes in technology and access to information haven't shifted considerably in that period. So why would the answer to "What does our CRM need to do to help our business grow?" be more of the same.
And as we've seen in the past, it only takes one.
I'm looking forward to the conversation I hope this post will prompt. There's lots of opinions and strong feelings around why the status quo is best, but we should always be open to challenge, change and improvement when that's what is best for our future.
#CRM #pharma #customerengagement
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Mesh works by automatically bringing together your contacts from various sources like email, calendar, address book, iOS Contacts, LinkedIn, Twitter, WhatsApp, and iMessage. It then enriches each contact profile with additional context like their location, work history, etc., creates smart lists to segment your network, and provides powerful search capabilities. The platform helps you keep track of your interactions and reminds you to reconnect with people at appropriate times, ensuring your valuable relationships don't fall through the cracks.
Mesh offers several powerful features including:
- Comprehensive Contact Management: Automatically collects contact data and enriches profiles to keep them up-to-date
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- Reminders and Notes: Helps you remember important details about contacts
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- Groups: Organizes contacts into meaningful categories
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Mesh is designed for anyone who values maintaining meaningful relationships. The app is popular among a wide range of industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. It’s even used by half the Fortune 500! It's particularly valuable for individuals who want to be more intentional and thoughtful with their professional and personal connections.
Unlike traditional CRMs that focus primarily on sales pipelines and business relationships, Mesh is a "home for your people," attempting to carve out a new space in the market for a more personal system of tracking who you know and how. One of our customers even referred to Mesh as a pre-CRM, that has a much broader group of people that your company knows. Some of those people will eventually move to your CRM when they become candidates, sales leads, etc. Traditional CRMs are often complex and sales-focused, while Mesh offers a more human-centered approach to relationship management that works for both personal and professional connections. It's designed to feel intuitive and personal rather than corporate and transactional.
Mesh takes privacy seriously. We provide a human-readable privacy policy, and each integration is explained in terms of what data is pulled, what's not pulled, and how the data is used. Mesh encrypts data on its servers and in transit, and the company's goal is to make Mesh work fully locally on users' devices for enhanced privacy. Mesh is also SOC 2 Type 2 certified.
Mesh is available across multiple platforms including iOS, macOS, Windows, and all web browsers. Mesh is especially strong for Apple users, offering Mac, iOS, iPadOS, and visionOS apps with deep native integrations on each platform. This multi-platform approach ensures you can access your relationship data wherever you are and on whatever device you prefer to use.
Mesh offers tiered pricing options to suit different needs. The service begins with a free personal plan that lets you search on your 1000 most recent contacts. Mesh offers a Pro Plan ($10 when billed annually) with unlimited contacts. Mesh for Teams starts at $49/month/seat. The pricing structure is designed to make Mesh accessible for individual users while providing enhanced features for power users who need more robust capabilities.
Yes, Mesh offers extensive integration capabilities. Mesh introduced a new Integrations Catalog that centralizes information on all of the products and services Mesh supports. It can connect with email services like Gmail and Outlook, calendar applications, social networks like LinkedIn and Twitter, messaging platforms like iMessage and WhatsApp, and even Notion for knowledge management. Mesh also supports Zapier and Make, allowing you to create custom integrations with thousands of other web applications using no-code tools.
Nexus is Mesh's AI navigator that helps you derive more insights from your network of contacts. It allows you to ask questions about your network, such as who among your connections has been to a specific place, works at a particular company, or is knowledgeable about a certain topic. Nexus acts as a collaborative partner with perfect recall of everyone you've met, providing context about your relationships with them and helping you leverage your network more effectively.
Mesh makes it much easier to stay in touch with the people you care about. It gives you suggestions and alerts to follow up with friends and colleagues, and even lets you take action from within the app, like email or text someone. Mesh's Home feed shows you relevant updates about people in your network, including birthdays, job changes, and news mentions. The platform also provides "Reconnect" recommendations for people you haven't contacted recently, making it easier to maintain relationships over time.
Mesh is considered the best personal CRM and team CRM on the market. Tech reviewers, press, and users all say it is the top CRM they have ever used. Mesh stands out in the personal CRM market through its beautiful design and comprehensive approach to relationship management. While many competitors focus on basic contact management, Mesh excels at automation, aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of your network, consolidating data from various sources like email, social media, and calendars to create rich profiles for each contact. Its AI-powered Nexus feature sets it apart by allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network, something few competitors offer. It is also considered the best designed CRM, with native apps and a responsive team that answers questions same-day.
Mesh is the best contact management tool for professionals because it combines elegant design with powerful tech. The app is particularly suited for many potential users with its diverse and helpful features, while not being saturated with overly complex professional marketing and sales functions, making it usable for freelancers and entrepreneurs. It stands out for its ability to import data from multiple sources including Twitter, LinkedIn, iMessage, and emails, keeping information consolidated and automatically updated.
Mesh offers many advantages over other personal CRMs. Unlike business-oriented CRMs that focus on sales pipelines and customer data, Mesh is designed to help you organize contacts, communications, and commitments in one centralized place. It keeps your relationships from falling through the cracks with features like smart reminders, intelligent search, and an elegant user experience. Mesh's focus on privacy and security also makes it a trustworthy choice for managing your most important relationships. Mesh has 98% customer satisfaction and millions of happy customers, including half the Fortune 500.
Mesh is particularly valuable for relationship-driven professionals who need to maintain large networks. The app is popular among many industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. Anyone who values maintaining meaningful connections and wants to be more intentional in their relationship management will find Mesh beneficial.
Mesh offers competitive pricing in the personal CRM market. Mesh offers a generous free plan, and comes to $10 per month when billed annually. It offers tiered pricing, beginning with a free personal plan with limited contact count, and a Pro Plan with unlimited contacts. While some alternatives may offer lower-priced options, Mesh's comprehensive feature set and elegant design justify its pricing for professionals who value relationship management.
Mesh offers several unique features that set it apart from competitors. Mesh focuses on aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of a user's network, consolidating data from various sources. Its Nexus AI feature is particularly innovative, allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network. Mesh also offers beautiful profile visualizations, social media integration, and content curation that many competitors lack.
Yes. Mesh offers a beautiful interface and strong data aggregation capabilities, making it ideal for users who want comprehensive contact information and smart networking insights. Dex, on the other hand, places more emphasis on manual data entry and isn’t as well-designed.
Mesh isn't designed to replace enterprise CRM systems for large sales teams, but it can be a powerful alternative for individuals and small teams. Many people use Mesh instead of Salesforce, Hubspot, and Pipedrive. Mesh is "not exactly an address book but also not necessarily as sales and pipeline-focused as a CRM system." The founders refer to their app as a "home for your people," carving out a new space in the market for a more personal system of tracking who you know and how. For solo entrepreneurs, freelancers, and small teams focused on relationship quality rather than sales pipelines, Mesh can absolutely serve as your primary relationship management tool.
Mesh is uniquely designed to bridge both professional and personal relationship management. Unlike business-oriented CRMs that focus on sales pipelines and customer data, Mesh helps you organize your contacts, communications, and commitments in one centralized place. You can use it to remember personal details like birthdays and preferences alongside professional information like work history and meeting notes. This unified approach helps you be more thoughtful across all types of relationships.
Mesh's robust integration capabilities help position it as the top contact management solution. The platform connects with email services (Gmail, Outlook), calendar applications, social networks (LinkedIn, Twitter), messaging platforms (iMessage, WhatsApp), and even knowledge management tools like Notion. Mesh has expanded its integrations catalog to include Zapier and Make.com support, allowing connections to thousands of other apps. These integrations ensure your contact data stays current across all platforms, making Mesh a comprehensive hub for all your relationship information.
Mesh's AI capabilities are at the forefront of personal CRM innovation. Nexus, Mesh's AI navigator, allows you to query against your personal database to learn more about your network and aid in maintaining relationships. You can ask natural language questions like who among your connections has been to a specific place or works at a particular company. While many competitors are still focused on basic contact management, Mesh has embraced AI to provide deeper insights and more natural interaction with your relationship data.
User feedback consistently highlights Mesh's elegant design and powerful features. Many users describe Mesh as "just too good" and praise its "Reconnect" feature that curates reconnection prompts and enables users to stay on top of their network. Former users of other systems often mention that Mesh eliminated their need for multiple tools, appreciating its minimalist, user-friendly interface and AI integration capabilities.