Real Stories. Real World.

2020 has offered an unparalleled look at what companies, teams, and individuals can truly do together in the face of challenges. At S3 Comply, we’ve been amazed to see how our employees, as well as the team members of our clients, have come together to tackle new challenges with creativity, agility, and collaboration.

We’re big believers in looking back on how we navigate specific challenges, so that we can apply any learnings to future hurdles that may come our way. Here’s one of our favorite examples from the past six months – which reminded us that the core commitments we care about in “normal” times are more important than ever through an incredibly tough situation…

The Challenge

Flash back to Friday, March 20, 2020 – the day our team (and so many others) began to transition to virtual working following the directive of the PA Governor. We worked together to ensure all needed files were transitioned to a secure server, and we packed up hard copy files from our offices. We set up weekly project meetings to stay in close contact with each other, so that we could immediately address any client issues and needs.

During one of those spring meetings, we experienced a “Houston, we have a problem” moment. An Event Management Company that supported one of our client’s largest Contract Research Organization (CRO) vendor had gone dark! We quickly learned that many of the Event Management Company team members had been furloughed, and the office was closed due to the pandemic.

This presented a huge issue because this Event Management Company had previously organized and ran two very large events for the CRO on behalf of our pharma client – with over a million dollars of potentially reportable spend.

How We Solved the Puzzle

As with any other challenge we’ve ever faced, we relied on who we are as a team – and our core commitments – to start clearing roadblocks and piecing together the puzzle. (Although in this particular instance, it was all hands on deck!)

It’s All about Relationships… “Even though the Event Management Company was a tertiary client for us, we had a good relationship with the CIO, and because of this, we were able to connect with him right away,” said Sandy Kinsey, Chief Executive Officer. “He was truly committed to doing the right thing. And because he knew our team was supporting his company, he really went the extra mile for us – making special trips into the office to fish data out of their records.”

With Problem-solving, Tenacity Matters… “This project was a bit like putting together a puzzle without knowing what the full picture looks like,” said Lehar Pandya, HCP Data Analyst. “First, we gathered primary data: meeting attendee information; back up invoices to hotels, 3^rd party transit companies, and AV providers; credit card charges; and reimbursement information.

“Then, using that data and the support of the S3 Comply proprietary software (HCP HUB), we constructed a picture of the expenditures associated with each Healthcare Professional (HCP) and others who attended the event.”

This meticulous process allowed the S3 Comply team to attribute costs by date, including meals, accommodation, parking & incidentals, airfare, etc. – a picture made more complex by the fact that the meetings took place over a period of multiple days and the attendee numbers were high.

“It’s a good thing we love puzzles, because this one was a doozy!” said Sandy. “But thanks to the teamwork and tenacity of everyone involved, we were able to piece together all the data for a picture that was as complete as possible – one that fully met the reporting requirements.”

“When we wrapped up this project, there was a big, virtual ‘high-five,’” said Lehar. “The CRO was appreciative that in these trying times, the combined efforts across teams helped them meet their contractual obligations to an important client. And, of course, this work also ensured that our Global Pharma client was able to minimize risk and report accurate aggregate spend data.”

The Path Forward

“As with many companies and teams around the world, the unique challenges we’ve faced in 2020 have brought our values to life in unique ways that will be remembered long after a return to normalcy,” said Sandy.

Until then, we on the S3 Comply team plan to keep doing what we love to support our clients. Building relationships. Solving puzzles. Jumping over hurdles with grit and tenacity. We might be doing those things in new ways through the challenges we’re all facing together, but our core commitments remain unchanged.

To all of our clients and partners…thank you for your collaboration through these unforgettable times!