Artificial intelligence (AI)

It's the industry's buzzing conversation, and at MarketVision, we're diving deep into its practical applications. While identifying the “when, how, and what” of AI remain points of active discussion, we recognize the opportunities, as well as inevitable learning curve, that accompany any transformative technology.

We recently partnered with Jazz Pharmaceuticals on a high-visibility gap analysis, and in the process were able to explore a great application for AI. Through an in-depth analysis supplemented by AI, we leveraged Jazz’s previous market research data to streamline their planning process and identify key opportunities for 2025 and beyond.

The Goal

Understand critical differences between two key audiences to determine gaps in knowledge, perceptions, and usage of Jazz’s product, Epidiolex®. Jazz needed targeted and actionable recommendations for an internal team to use during upcoming planning meetings.

The Challenge

We were provided reports from ~20 primary quantitative and qualitative research studies (some executed by MarketVision and some executed with other vendor partners) and had three weeks to conduct the analysis and provide our recommendations. With hundreds of pages of data and insights to review, we knew we had to be efficient and focused to produce a high-value deliverable in time.

The Solution

Our solution to this challenge involved a few key strategies:

• Assemble a project team of seasoned researchers across departments (quantitative, qualitative, and business strategists) who are experts not only in healthcare marketing research, but are also well-versed in Jazz’s specific strategies, therapeutic area, product class, and stakeholder audience. Each of these researchers contributed valuable perspectives as we analyzed the wide range of research content.
• Leverage secure AI tools to be more efficient in parsing and synthesizing a large volume of data. This provided us a great launch point for our strategic, interpretive analysis. In other words, it allowed us to focus more of our time on high value strategic thinking – identifying the “so what” and “now what” for our client. We consulted internal AI experts to design an approach that would eliminate the risk of AI hallucination, including the selection of a tool with source traceability, prompt engineering, and output validation.
• Apply our team’s extensive category and client knowledge to craft a cohesive story focused on the information that mattered for Jazz. AI provided a starting point for iteration that, when coupled with human experience and expertise, resulted in an actionable report.
• Engage in several internal discussions and client workshops to validate progress and ensure alignment. This collaborative approach allowed us to refine our analysis and create an actionable report.

Our Thoughts on AI’s Role and Performance

1. Having the right inputs for AI is essential. AI can be leveraged most successfully for tasks and on topics where the user’s existing proficiency can be effectively put to use. Without a deep understanding of the topic and the platform, it will not generate useful outputs. It does not provide a shortcut to executing tasks that are beyond the user’s expertise. The researchers operating AI tools need to know the right questions to ask, what factors may influence the output, and how to provide critical context to guide the AI. Effectively querying AI systems, known as prompt engineering, is a discipline unto itself; researchers must cultivate prompt engineering skills to get the most value from using AI tools.
   
   • The MarketVision team relied on extensive knowledge garnered from 8 years of experience with the Epidiolex® brand to both construct effective prompts and efficiently validate the output.
2. While AI output is a helpful starting point and can synthesize large amounts of information quickly, it cannot create a deliverable at the level of quality that our clients have come to expect; and it can’t do everything for you. It’s not as simple as copying and pasting the AI output into a report. Areas of caution we noticed during our analysis include:
   
   • Repetition: Many themes and ideas were duplicated throughout the AI output, with the same key points repeated several times. An expert human researcher is still required to exercise critical reasoning to distill the AI output down into a high-value, strategically focused summary.
   • Misdirection: AI has a tendency to inflate the importance of some statements and data points. We extensively reviewed findings to validate which statements were backed with solid data. The AI output also attempted to tie together data that shouldn’t have been combined and jumped to conclusions that didn’t necessarily make sense. As researchers with in-depth knowledge of Jazz’s therapeutic area and offerings, we were able to efficiently identify these misdirections. 
   • Irrelevant Conclusions: AI provided some recommendations that didn’t necessarily make sense (e.g., things that have already been implemented by Jazz, things that aren’t feasible in the real world, etc.). Conclusions also tend to be more general and high-level. Our team applied our own strategic thinking to craft specific conclusions and recommendations that would be of value to Jazz.
3. Once AI returned its main themes, the MarketVision team still needed to do a deep-dive analysis. Subsequent analysis and activities included:
   
   • Expand on the findings for a more holistic view (i.e., combining themes, elevating important findings based on background knowledge, etc.).
   • Verify all findings with real data from the research inputs. The research team thoroughly reviewed the source material to identify the strongest data points to support our conclusions and recommendations.
   • Formulate recommendations without using the AI output, then compare to AI-generated recommendations, and combine where relevant.
   • Workshop the report with our client to produce the final deliverable. An iterative process is crucial in all of our work, so we engaged in several internal discussions and client workshops to ensure alignment.

Conclusion

We would not have been able to efficiently and effectively tackle this challenge without our team of expert researchers at MarketVision or the AI tools at our disposal. Our approach combined the power of AI with human expertise to deliver critical market insights, drive value for Jazz, and support their strategic growth objectives.

Concluding thoughts from Mikayla Measey at Jazz Pharmaceuticals: 

“My trust in MarketVision as a research partner is further built in knowing that AI was used as a tool, appropriately, and was not depended on to provide the final solution. The expertise and partnership here were critical. Most importantly, I walked away with GOOD work that was done quickly and at a fair cost. When I look for vendors to work with, especially those that want to incorporate AI, these are all important factors to consider.”