COVID-19: Learning from the pandemic 

Which memories will you share with future generations once the COVID-19 pandemic is over? While millions of people are now dealing with movement restrictions and significant changes in their daily lives, many are doing their best to replace hardship with an opportunity to learn. Boehringer Ingelheim Animal Health is innovating and investing in a series of online tools to ensure veterinarians and animal health professionals not only recycle their knowledge, but also acquire new business skills and exchange insights about the latest market trends.

In Spain, the training platform Profesionales de la mascota (Pet Professionals) has been dragging massive attention from pet storeowners and veterinary assistants. Completely free of charge, the portal is a safe haven of reliable information for anyone interested in developing professional skills during the pandemic. Variety lies at the core of this initiative. From an introduction to healthy nutrition to the sustainable control of parasites and scientific developments regarding the behavior of cats and dogs, in-depth knowledge is just one click away with video tutorials and the possibility of using an app. 

Most of the courses can be completed in a few hours. Furthermore, in light of the global challenges that might arise in the long-term, there are also training opportunities focused on strategic management. That way, we help professionals continue to develop their business so that they can emerge from this situation stronger, with greater knowledge and well-adapted to any new market demands. 

“The best way to make the most of this time at home is studying. We are very happy to strengthen our commitment to the businesses of every professional in the pet health and pet care sectors. We are sure courses on marketing and sales techniques, customer service, retention, digital marketing and even the use of social media will help them be better prepared to run the business and to offer the best products and approaches to their customers and their animals,” says Elena Gratacós, Animal Health Managing Director at Boehringer Ingelheim Spain. 

A push to AAI: agility, accountability and intrapreneurship

Across Europe, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, there are also several teams jumping at new opportunities for career development. Every week, a series of webinars concerning poultry diseases such as Marek’s Disease and Bronchitis, new diagnosis and management tools has been attracting hundreds of veterinarians, producers and even researchers interested in learning about the state of art during the pandemic. To the team’s surprise, professors, academics from different countries and key opinion leaders have been an enthusiastic audience, too.

“The poultry community is very active, always on the road, meeting customers, talking to vets face to face and visiting farmers. These guys are out every single day! Can you imagine the frustration caused by the current movement restrictions? This has hit us very hard, and as people started feeling demotivated, we decided to react quickly. The first webinar had 120 participants, the second registered 182 and the inquiries keep coming. We’re bracing up to host up to 500 guests in the coming weeks,” shares Haitham Malkawi, Head of Marketing for Avian in Europe, Canada, Australia and New Zealand (EUCAN) regions.

That was possible thanks to Boehringer Ingelheim’s culture of agility, accountability and intrapreneurship (AAI), which enables quick creative responses to challenging market demands. Despite the massive amount of work to set up an interesting offer of webinars and to invite speakers and attendees, changes in the mood and motivation were immediate,” highlights Andrea Delvecchio, Avian Global Technical Manager.

“These webinars represent several opportunities. Not only can people use this time to learn and improve their abilities, but our colleagues are allowed to keep close to their customers, which is a very strong characteristic of the avian team. People feel confident, feedback has been fantastic,” he says. “Another important achievement is that we are now able to reach out to customers which are usually not so easy to reach, i.e. the smaller producers that we cannot visit in person that often. We are very happy to go beyond big, key accounts and succeed in improving our direct dialogue with other stakeholders in the poultry sector.”