Make the Most of Your Life Sciences CRM Platform. Salesforce or Veeva?
Veeva Systems built Veeva CRM on Salesforce’s platform, utilizing the latter’s infrastructure to deliver specialized CRM tools for the Life Sciences Industry.
However, in 2022, Veeva announced that it would no longer continue its partnership with Salesforce and migrate their CRM to their own proprietary Vault Platform starting September 2025. Salesforce has entered into a new partnership with IQVIA, licensing the latter’s Orchestrated Customer Engagement (OCE) platform to underpin and augment Salesforce Life Science’s Cloud offering.
Making a Decision
With the September 2025 deadline approaching, Life Sciences Organizations need to evaluate which platform offering best suits their needs:
| VEEVA VAULT CRM | LIFE SCIENCES CLOUD | |
|---|---|---|
| PLATFORM INTEGRATION | Fully integrated with Veeva Vault ecosystem | Integration with Salesforce technology stack: Einstein AI, Tableau, MuleSoft, Data Cloud. Capable of leveraging out-of-the-box and custom Salesforce Integrations with other platforms/applications. |
| AI & ANALYTICS | Veeva’s “Andi” works within CRM to manage rules, simulate/forecast suggestions, deliver actionable suggestions to specific channels. | Salesforce’s “Einstein” will leverage IQVIA’s “ADA” engine for better predictive insights and guidance. IQVIA’s dataset will be leveraged for more comprehensive insights. |
| COMPLIANCE | In-built validation, audit trails, out-of-the-box regulatory alignments. | Requires configuration for validation, templates require setup for use in relation to regulatory requirements. |
Veeva Vault CRM is ideal for organizations requiring out-of-the-box validated, compliance-ready CRM who operate within the Vault ecosystem.
Salesforce’s Life Sciences Cloud is ideal for organizations with broad enterprise systems, offering a variety of in-built and customizable Integrations with existing cloud infrastructure, finance systems, or analytics platforms.
How Salesforce and Veeva Are Positioning Themselves Now
Salesforce and Veeva are clearly taking different paths post-2025 and their recent product positioning highlights what’s at stake for Life Sciences companies.
According to Salesforce’s latest comparison of Salesforce Life Sciences Cloud versus Veeva CRM, here’s how the offerings stack up:
Customer 360 vs. Life Sciences-Specific Tools
Salesforce Life Sciences Cloud is part of the broader Salesforce Customer 360 platform. This means it can natively tie into sales, service, marketing, commerce, and analytics tools across your entire business. For companies already using Salesforce elsewhere, this centralized platform can simplify workflows and reduce data silos. Veeva Vault CRM, in contrast, focuses exclusively on life sciences CRM functions and does not offer a broader enterprise suite.
Flexibility and Innovation Speed
Salesforce promotes faster innovation cycles and more flexibility through low-code customization, its large app marketplace (AppExchange), and robust partner ecosystem. Veeva is more rigid by design, offering tightly controlled, validated solutions that are slower to change but easier to maintain for compliance.
Data and AI
Salesforce will rely on Einstein AI and IQVIA’s ADA engine for predictive insights, giving customers access to IQVIA’s deep dataset. Veeva’s “Andi” provides AI-guided suggestions within the CRM, but it lacks access to the scale and breadth of Salesforce’s larger data ecosystem.
Compliance and Validation
This is a key differentiator. Veeva Vault CRM provides out-of-the-box compliance features that are ready to go, making it easier for regulated teams to stay audit-ready. Salesforce requires more configuration to meet specific regulatory needs but can be tailored to unique workflows or jurisdictions.
Key Question: Do you prioritize validated compliance and standardized workflows—or do you need enterprise-grade flexibility, broader integrations, and deep analytics?
For those evaluating long-term digital enablement strategies, this choice is not just about CRM. It’s about whether you want to invest in a single-industry platform or a scalable ecosystem that supports enterprise growth.
Your Life Science Platform Is Only as Good as Its Implementation
The difference between “deployed” and “delivering value” comes down to execution. At Smartbridge we have experience with both Veeva CRM and IQVIA SmartSolve, and have a firsthand understanding of the workflows and compliance considerations that matter to your organization.
Additionally, we’re a Salesforce Consulting Partner with proven success implementing and leveraging Salesforce features and tools such as Salesforce SHIELD, Salesforce CPQ, Life Science Cloud and Health Cloud Industry Solutions.
What sets us apart is our ability to bridge the best of both worlds in Life Science & MedTech:
Choosing the right partner is just as important as choosing the right platform. We’re collaborations with the domain knowledge to translate your organization’s priorities into a scalable solution.
Consulting Partner
Managed Services Provider
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