When industry alliances collapse, the tremors often extend far beyond the boardroom. The Veeva-Salesforce split, finalized in 2025, is one such rupture. For over 15 years, Veeva’s CRM software—used by over 80% of pharmaceutical field teams—ran on Salesforce’s platform. That foundation has now officially crumbled. And you, the pharma marketer, are left standing in the debris with one urgent question:
Now what?
This is not just a technology breakup. It’s a forced strategic realignment. A shift that compels every pharma marketing leader, from digital to brand, to rethink how teams engage with healthcare professionals, manage regulatory compliance, and execute multichannel campaigns.
Why Did the Split Happen?
This wasn’t a sudden fallout. The divorce was pre-announced in 2022 and finalized in September 2025. Here’s what drove the decision:
1. Platform Independence
Veeva’s reliance on Salesforce’s infrastructure limited its ability to innovate quickly. By transitioning to its own Vault Platform, Veeva gains full control over its roadmap, scalability, and data architecture.
2. Market Expansion Constraints
Salesforce is a horizontal CRM giant. Veeva needed vertical flexibility. Its plans to move aggressively into MedTech and Consumer Health required tech agility Salesforce couldn’t offer.
3. Cost Pressures
Salesforce was taking a considerable cut—around 12% of Veeva’s annual revenue. Building and running its own cloud reduced long-term overhead while improving margins.
4. Data Sovereignty & Risk
Relying on a third-party infrastructure introduced risks—outages, regulatory challenges, and limited control over customer data residency. That’s no longer tolerable in a world increasingly governed by data privacy.
The New Battleground: Vault CRM vs. Salesforce Life Sciences Cloud
Pharma companies are now forced to choose. Stick with Veeva’s new Vault CRM platform? Migrate to Salesforce’s Life Sciences Cloud with IQVIA integrations? Or look for entirely new options?
Here’s the current state of the field:
| Option | Strengths | Weaknesses |
|---|---|---|
| Veeva Vault CRM | Built for pharma, integrated with Vault ecosystem, strong regulatory alignment | Requires full migration, new workflows, field retraining |
| Salesforce Life Sciences Cloud | AI-enhanced, extensible platform, strong partnership with IQVIA | Less domain-specific, steeper customization cost |
| Other CRMs (e.g., Exeevo, Cloudbyz) | Flexible architecture, competitive pricing | Immature integrations, unproven scale in top-20 pharma |
Pharma Marketers Are Now Facing Key Strategic Crossroads
1. Data Migration Nightmares
You’re likely sitting on terabytes of HCP interaction data, consent logs, and sample transactions. Migrating that—accurately, compliantly, and quickly—is no small feat.
- Field notes and call history risk corruption during migration.
- Audit trails required by regulators could break.
- Mismatched data schemas delay go-lives and can incur fines.
Is your data clean enough to move without creating compliance liabilities?
2. Workflow Disruption
New platforms mean unfamiliar interfaces. Your reps need to relearn how to log calls, plan visits, and access materials—at a time when HCP face-time is shrinking.
- Will your reps need weeks of retraining?
- Can your MLR-reviewed content move without re-approval?
- What happens to your integrations with SAP, Veeva Vault MedComms, or IQVIA OneKey?
This isn’t just about a new login screen. It’s a cultural reset.
3. Budget Shock
Initial migration costs are steep—some estimates peg the price of a full Vault CRM migration for global pharma players between $4M–$15M depending on footprint.
And that’s not including:
- Consultant costs for validation and Veeva configuration
- Custom code rewrites for integrations
- New licenses for training, support, and field enablement
Will your CFO back your platform choice if it’s not aligned with commercial ROI?
Marketing Execution Will Fundamentally Change
1. Campaign Planning
In a dual-platform world, marketers can no longer assume universal access to Veeva Approved Email or CLM modules.
If your reps are split across systems—or worse, mid-migration—you’ll need dual assets, dual training, and dual analytics.
2. Omnichannel Analytics
Veeva CoBrowse. Salesforce Einstein AI. Vault Suggestions. IQVIA ChannelMix.
Each offers different capabilities. But they don’t speak the same language. That creates analytics blind spots unless you invest in middleware or real-time data lakes.
- How will you stitch engagement data across ecosystems?
- What KPIs will unify reps using different CRM systems?
- Can you get a 360° HCP view anymore?
If you can’t answer these questions now, your Q3–Q4 campaign planning is already at risk.
3. Regulatory & Compliance Headaches
With any CRM switch, compliance leaders want assurances:
- Is this new system Part 11 compliant?
- How are electronic signatures stored and timestamped?
- Can we still track consent per GDPR and HIPAA standards?
Marketing teams must partner tightly with legal and regulatory from day one—or risk launch delays, audit failures, and black marks with authorities.
Thought-Provoking Questions for Every Pharma Marketing Leader
- Can your current tech stack handle two CRMs during transition periods—or will it break under the weight of integrations and reporting fragmentation?
- What’s your post-divorce roadmap for content ops—will you rebuild MLR processes from scratch or retrofit them with APIs and AI tools?
- Will your data science team need to re-architect models trained on Veeva data formats?
- Are your sales reps equipped to navigate this disruption without losing HCP trust or message consistency?
Your answers will determine whether this shift becomes a setback—or a strategic leap forward.
Action Plan: How to Prepare in 2025
If you’re a pharma marketing lead, here’s a battle-tested sequence to follow:
1. Run a CRM Exposure Audit
Document every process, content pipeline, and API that touches your CRM today—from Salesforce integrations to Veeva multichannel usage. Map dependencies. Quantify risk.
2. Engage a Migration PMO
Create a dedicated project management office for the transition. Include IT, compliance, training, brand, and analytics. This is not a job for a junior PM.
3. Refactor Content Strategy
Build modular content. Prepare duplicate versions of materials for Vault CRM and Salesforce-based platforms. Focus on reusability and localization to save cost.
4. Replatform Reporting
Invest in dashboards and middleware that can harmonize KPIs across platforms. BI tools like Tableau or Power BI must support CRM-agnostic views for VPs and brand heads.
5. Negotiate with Vendors
Don’t accept default pricing or migration timelines. Veeva, Salesforce, and third-party integrators are highly motivated in 2025. Use that leverage.
A Shift in Power: Who Gains, Who Loses?
Winners:
- IQVIA – Now a critical Salesforce partner for life sciences data and HCP targeting.
- Veeva – Frees itself to innovate on its own timeline, without revenue sharing or technical limitations.
- Specialist Integrators – Consultancies fluent in both ecosystems are commanding high margins.
Losers:
- Small Pharma IT Teams – Forced to upskill or hire expensive migration support.
- Field Sales Reps – Grappling with new tools during an era of digital-first HCP engagement.
- Legacy Vendors – Tools hardwired to the Veeva-Salesforce combo must now refactor or die.
What This Means for the Future of Pharma CRM
This split is not an isolated event. It’s a wake-up call.
The pharma tech stack has long relied on tight but inflexible vendor dependencies. That’s no longer viable. Future-ready companies must prioritize agility over lock-in, data portability over closed platforms, and interoperability over proprietary code.
Your CRM shouldn’t just track calls. It should empower your entire commercial model—from omnichannel orchestration to field decision support to compliance automation.
If this split forces a rethink, that may be the best unintentional gift Veeva and Salesforce ever gave you.
Reference Links
- Appexchange: Salesforce Consulting Listings
- Arpu: Salesforce Poaches Pharma Clients From Veeva
- AWS Marketplace: CRM Migration Tools
- Cloudbyz Blog: Veeva vs Salesforce vs Cloudbyz
- Intuition Labs: Veeva-Salesforce Split – Pharma CRM Shake-Up
- Assemble Studio: Goodbye Salesforce, Veeva Launches Vault CRM
- Brillio Blog: Salesforce-Veeva Split – Adapt and Strategize
- Contract Pharma: Veeva Launches Vault CRM Service Center
- Digital Hive: Salesforce-IQVIA Partnership
- Everest Group Blog: Salesforce and IQVIA – A Match Made in Heaven
- GlobeNewswire: Global Pharma CRM Market to Surpass $20B
- LinkedIn Pulse: What the Salesforce-Veeva Split Means for Life Sciences
- PharmaVoice: How Biotech Is Navigating the Veeva-Salesforce Divorce
- QPharmaCorp: CRM Split Risks and Mitigation Strategies
- Salesforce Newsroom: IQVIA and Salesforce Expand Global Partnership
- Salesforce News: Life Sciences Cloud AI Availability
- SalesforceBen: What Salesforce Life Sciences Cloud Means for Veeva
- Veeva Product Page: CRM Suite Overview
- Veeva Resource Center: Vault CRM with AI Capabilities
Photo Credit: Linkedin
