You know that feeling when you’re running late to catch a train, juggling your bag, coffee, and phone, and just as you reach the platform… the timetable changes, your train’s moved tracks, and your client’s calling mid-sprint?

That’s what market access consulting feels like now. Every day.

You’re trying to move fast, keep control, and stay strategic. But the landscape keeps shifting, the expectations keep growing, and the tools you’re working with weren’t built for this level of pressure.

Once upon a time, market access consulting was tough but manageable. Now it’s become a three-dimensional challenge and every axis is working against you.

Let’s break it down.

1. Research is harder: the data is endless, and nothing connects

You know the drill. Your team starts a new engagement, only to spend the first week, or two, just finding the right information. Internal decks, HTA decisions, pricing precedents, payer comments. It’s scattered across PDFs, emails, shared drives, Excel hell.

And external data? Good luck. You’re wading through global databases, trying to piece together a relevant view while every client insists “we just need it faster.”

It used to be like hunting for gold. Now it’s like trying to find one specific coin in an avalanche of currency.

2. Analysis is harder: the science is more complex, and the decisions carry more weight

Today’s therapies aren’t simple molecules with broad indications. They’re gene therapies, personalised combinations, niche orphan assets. That means consultants now have to understand not just the clinical data - but the biological rationale, the trial design, the evolving competitor pipeline, the payer mood, and how it all fits into pricing.

That takes thinking time. Strategic space.

But the pace of delivery rarely gives it to you.

So instead of shaping strategy, you’re often just explaining complexity under pressure, hoping no one sees the rough edges.

3. Delivery is harder: clients expect more for less, and faster

Every pharma client you speak to is under budget pressure. It’s not a secret. But what makes it harder is that they’re not lowering their expectations.

They still want global insights, payer engagement plans, a clear route through the HTA jungle… and they want it yesterday.

That’s why your PowerPoint decks are ballooning. That’s why timelines keep getting shaved. That’s why your team feels like it’s sprinting through every deliverable, when what’s really needed is stillness and thought.

It’s not just about doing the work anymore. It’s about proving the value of every hour you spend.

So what’s the solution? Spoiler: It’s not headcount

The default reaction is to throw more people at the problem. A junior to handle research. A senior to “translate.” Another PM to chase timelines.

But here’s the catch: more people means more handoffs, more gaps, more time spent aligning rather than delivering. And with slim margins, that’s a game you can’t win at scale.

The firms that are winning now are the ones rebuilding the system, not the org chart.

They’re asking:

• How do we get the right data, without wasting time on the wrong data?
• How do we surface insights instantly, not dig for them manually?
• How do we turn repeat work into reusable value?
• How do we give consultants more time to think, not just more tasks to do?

It’s time to change how the work works

Market access isn’t getting simpler. But the firms who can tame the complexity, who can standardise the grunt work and amplify the thinking, will pull ahead.

That doesn’t mean using AI for the sake of it. It means building systems that work the way consultants think. Prioritised. Structured. Strategic.

Because in this new consulting environment, speed alone won’t save you.

Speed + depth + clarity = the winning formula.

Consulting has changed. Your systems need to change too.

Let’s talk about how.