We’ve been blown away by our customers’ resilience, creativity and leadership during the COVID-19 pandemic.

At Salesforce Live:EMEA we learned how two Trailblazers went above and beyond to support their healthcare organisations leading the fight against the pandemic.

You can get the full story on both here.

Powerful digital responses to COVID-19

Healthcare organisations around the world rely on Cytiva’s expertise to bring life-changing pharmaceuticals to market quickly and safely. “Our customers are the people the world is turning to for diagnostics, therapies and vaccines,” said Conor McKechnie, Cytiva’s Chief Marketing Officer.

In times of disruption, it’s vital to communicate at the right time, and in the right way. Transparency with customers is key. The pandemic struck as Conor was preparing to help sell the GE Healthcare Life Sciences brand to Danaher. “From the very earliest days of the announcement about the transition, we've been in constant contact with our customers,” he said.

“We made sure they understood what was changing, when it would change, what they could expect to change, and how to best prepare with minimal disruption. That way, we can help our organisation and customers prioritise what needs to be done and when.” Equally, Conor needed to get 7,000 employees around the world excited to launch a new brand and company, as part of the Danaher Life Sciences platform. That is not an easy task with concerns about employee wellbeing and job security spiking around the globe.

Cytiva had a launch day of global broadcasts from its sites around the world that were still open, and virtually for those sites that weren't. Remarkably, it reached 75% of its employees in a live broadcast on that day, by doing work digitally that they hadn't thought of doing previously.

“People found it hugely motivating,” Conor said. “We had a unifying purpose. We were desperate to communicate clearly to the families of our associates about why what we do is so important. And that engagement from them has really motivated them to stay focused during this time.”

This is especially critical right now in the healthcare industry where, at the height of lockdown, only 12% of research labs were operating normally. Cytiva is taking time to collate learnings, do strategic planning, learn, train, educate, and plan the next stages of research. “This is a time when organisations can think about how they want to approach the future. For us and our research partners, it’s reinforced the purpose and importance of our mission to accelerate and advance therapeutics.”

Uniting strangers to support hospitals in need

Hospitals around the world are bearing the brunt of the pandemic. Polish Salesforce partner Clorce, knew it had to do something. Led by CEO Jakub Tabedzki, the team founded Wsparcie Dla Szpitala (Hospital Support).

In just five days, Jakub and his team built a portal to coordinate donations between hospitals, individual donors and companies.Using donated Salesforce licenses, the portal was built on Service Cloud for scalability and integrated with Community for a seamless user experience. The beauty is in the simplicity.

Hospitals select items they need from a drop down list. Donors can see which hospitals require what, and offer to donate. Volunteer coordinators then arrange pick up and delivery, before updating the portal in real time to reflect any changes.

From the original roll out, Jakub’s team was doing as many as three releases a day to add new functionality. People who had never met were working together to build something bigger than themselves. Because it was easy to scale, the number of donations by individuals and companies grew rapidly.

The uptake has been remarkable. Most Polish hospitals now use the Hospital Support platform, with over 300 part timers to coordinate donations. The team is starting to onboard Care Homes, another area under threat. However, the enthusiasm for the portal meant the team was in danger of becoming overwhelmed by the sheer amount of incoming data.

Hospital Support integrated Tableau to visualise their results and get even smarter about supporting hospitals.“We can drill down into regional data and identify hospitals most in need,’ explained Jakub. “If they have a lack of coordinators, we can prioritise getting them the right support.

“One hospital requested 100 baby monitors! It removed their reliance on PPE when talking to COVID-19 patients. By doing this, they decreased their PPE costs by 70%.” Beyond COVID-19, Jakub intends to share the code with NGOs around the world for free – a Ukrainian NGO has already taken him up on his offer. “We’re not interested in making money. We just want to help where we can.”

COVID-19 has claimed thousands of lives – but Trailblazers like Cytiva and Hospital Support have demonstrated the agility, leadership and sheer determination needed to get through this crisis. It’s a privilege to see it in action. 

Watch the remarkable stories here