Author: Christian Velten

Dear “family & friends”, Just a quick update that I have decided to leave Twitter. Actually, I am not happy with it for quite some while already. I am basically fine with Elon’s mindset towards “free speech”. And I appreciate him as an inspiring innovator challenging existing dogmas. But I am not happy with Elon’s autistic not-consideration of me as a customer. The renaming to “X” … is OK for me. If you are (partially) living in the digital space for >30 years like me, you have learned that nothing is for eternity. But what really hit and annoyed me…

Dr. Christian Velten presenting how Roche uses Voice-of-the-customer (VoC) to learn from HCPs’ & patients’ opinions.

Dr. Christian Velten speaking at 2023 Reuters Pharma Barcelona conference about Roche using VoC to learn from HCPs’ & patients’ opinions.

Over the last few months, since I had accepted the lead for the corporate Voice-of-the-customer (VoC, customer feedback) Program, I built and grew a cross-functional matrix team (squad), jointly delivering on developing and implementing the program at Roche Pharma The high-performing VoC Program squad unites colleagues from … … where a lean core team delivers day-by-day. And subject matter experts are pulled in punctually, where specific expertise is required. The VoC Program squad at ‘Global’ is also supported and guided by a steering committee (“VoC Experts Council”) being composed of representatives by affiliates and regions. What have been key success…

Panel on Medical Omnichannel Engagement at the Indegene Digital Summit 2022

I will be at the CX 3.0 Conference, held virtually next week Thursday, September 8th, at 9 a.m. CET. Find me representing Roche and speaking about “How to Build an Omnichannel Customer Experience”, where we have agreed on an interview-style presentation (so, no boring slides but true facts 😉 ). Just realized that my highly appreciated colleague Krishna Ranchhoddas, Head of Customer Experience & Continuous Improvement Leader at Tecan, will also speak the day after (September 9th) about “How can the Voice of Customer drive the organization’s strategy forward”.

After moving to an enterprise role as Strategic Lead Digital CX at Roche Pharma, my first effort had been to assess the internal readiness of the company for executing on state-of-the-art CX models and approaches. I provided an internal ‘Roche Pharma state of CX’ report which was revealing … The results of the assessment helped me to prioritize next steps and enabled me to take action on. One outcome had been that Voice-of-the-customer is absolutely foundational (how can provide better customer experiences without knowing costumers’ experiences) I took the opportunity to take the lead of the just-about-to-start corporate VoC Program.…

Those who know me a bit longer know me for being a big advocate for seeing patients as customers (of healthcare providers, pharma included). This can be perceived as a quite provocative statement. But I think, I have some quite good arguments at hand. A big thank you goes to Mark Doyle by “A life in a day” for the opportunity to share my thoughts today, to discuss them, and to the be challenged on it. Feel free to watch the recording on the ‘A life in a day’ website, please. Read more at …

I am proudly looking forward to joining Yigal Aviv from Pfizer and Dirk Abeel from OMNI-X-ELLERATION for a panel discussion about the current maturity of omnichannel in the pharmaceutical industry. I am representing Roche. Feel free to listen to us remotely, on March 8 at 3:30p.m. CET, in case the topic might find your interest, please.

Feb 2022 – present / ROCHE PHARMA Leading the Roche Pharma enterprise patient and customer feedback program (Voice-of-the-Customer). • On enterprise level, strategically and operationally enabling Roche in creating an outstanding, enjoyable, consistent and impactful patient and customer experiences. • Provide strategic guidance and expertise on e.g. patient-centric and impactful launch strategies and other enterprise initiatives with a holistic patient or customer journey perspective. Achievements Voice-of-the-customer program successfully deployed Achievements Business Intelligence Pharma November 7, 2024 Collective CX Exec Coaching on enterprise level Achievements Business Events Leadership Pharma September 15, 2023 Assessment of Roche Pharma CX Ecosystem and Gap Analysis…