Building Future‑Ready CDM Teams: Bayer’s Experience with elev8.
As clinical data work grows more complex and data‑intensive, many organizations are grappling with how to keep their teams aligned, skilled, and ready for what’s next. Traditional training isn’t keeping pace, and the need for structured, scalable, competency‑based learning is becoming critical. To illustrate how elev8 supports companies facing these pressures, we spoke with one of our corporate partners about their experience implementing the platform, from the challenges they aimed to solve to the early impact they’re already seeing across their teams.
with Alba Luque Bonet, Strategic Project Lead at Bayer
What challenge were you trying to solve when you decided to join elev8?
With Bayer’s CDM 2030 strategy, one of our key challenges was ensuring that our team’s capabilities could evolve in line with our long-term vision. We needed a consistent and scalable way to strengthen skills across the organization, especially as our work becomes increasingly data driven and complex. elev8, the SCDM learning platform we implemented at Bayer, provided exactly that structure. By giving our entire team access, we aimed to promote continuous learning, close capability gaps, and build a solid foundation for the future. Working with elev8 was therefore a way to ensure that our people have the right tools and knowledge to grow and stay aligned with where CDM is heading.
Why elev8 and why now? What made it the right fit for your teams?
elev8 arrived at the right moment because we were entering a phase where building capabilities was critical for delivering on our CDM 2030 strategy. With our work becoming more data driven and complex, we needed a structured and scalable way to support that evolution. elev8 was the right fit because it’s created by SCDM and fully aligned with the realities of clinical data management. Its industry aligned content and clear learning pathways made it immediately relevant for our teams and easy to adopt. Implementing it now allows us to build capabilities early, close gaps proactively, and strengthen our learning culture.
How did you roll it out internally, and what helped adoption?
We have just rolled out elev8 across our organization. Our first step was to align with the CDM leadership team on how we wanted to use the platform, test the tool ourselves, and adapt the content to our specific needs. From there, we focused on clear communication with the broader team and ensured everyone understood the value and the opportunities that elev8 was providing. A key factor that helped adoption was the close collaboration with SCDM. They made the process very smooth, always supportive, open to adapting the content when needed, and offering practical recommendations.
What value are you seeing so far – for learners and for the business?
elev8 is already bringing clear value. Learners appreciate how dynamic and interactive the platform is, and the AI tutor adds a level of personalization that really enhances the experience. The content is high-quality and directly relevant to our work – and being able to integrate Bayer specific material is a strong plus. Together, this makes elev8 a great fit for our needs, supporting consistent upskilling for the team and creating real capability benefits for the business.
How does the CDM Competency Framework mapping help you structure development?
The CDM Competency Framework is fully aligned with industry expectations and with how we see the future of CDM. Because it’s also aligned with our own strategy, it provides a clear structure to build meaningful learning paths. The mapping helps us identify the capabilities we need, understand where we stand today, and guide our teams through development plans that are consistent, relevant, and future focused.
What are you excited to build with SCDM on elev8, and what would “success” look like a year from now?
I’m looking forward to continue cocreating content with SCDM that benefits not only our organization, but the broader CDM community, and ultimately our patients. The opportunity to shape learning materials that reflect where the industry is heading is extremely valuable. For me, success in a year would mean seeing clear evidence that elev8 has helped our teams strengthen their CDM skills. If we can demonstrate real capability growth and a more confident, future ready workforce, then the collaboration will have truly delivered its impact.
