The essential components of a COE are also important drivers for success. Avoiding the tendency toward too much complexity and focusing on the COE components that are really needed is an art.

 and accelerating the agility to scale and communicate within its own organization. This community of practice composed of the SAM with enabling functions, management and leaders creates the cohesion to the journey, sustaining the vision while being the agents of change and ensuring agility of the COE and processes to always adapt to the customer and the customer’s customer. This process of building a community of practice is most essential in decentralized matrix organizations to break internal silos and contribute to ongoing alignment. To be successful in the SAM journey requires a cultural shift with a mix of mindset, skillset and process and the freedom to pivot and adapt to the account environment and needs. In our complex, often-matrixed organizations, a well-established COE will enable real differentiation for the benefit of the customer and for profitability.

About the Author

Dominique Côté brings  30 years of experience leading commercial teams in global pharmaceutical and biotech organizations.  Her consultancy work is focused on Commercial Excellence, Executive coaching &  leadership, KAM/SAM roadmaps & journeys, as well as Account based Marketing.

She is an accomplished international business leader, recognized as a chief architect of global account program journeys, leading corporate changes and cultural shifts for customer-centric innovation and patient value.

Dominique is  a panelist and keynote speaker in Europe and the U.S. in the areas of commercial  Excellence and Customer centricity. She writes and is published in journals like Journal of Sales Transformation, Velocity, and others on these topics.