What Shanghai told us about the future of clinical trial technology

Clinical trial technology has come a long way. Yet as trials become more complex and generate data across more sources, study teams face a growing challenge: turning all that information into timely decisions.

That tension surfaced throughout Viedoc Experience Shanghai. We heard it in customer conversations, live polling, industry presentations and a roundtable with local clinical research leaders.

The conversation reinforced an approach that has long shaped Viedoc. We create user-friendly technology that customers genuinely like to use, and we are committed to solving the challenges created by an increasingly complex and fragmented clinical trial ecosystem. We are building on our strength in EDC by connecting more data and workflows across the trial, making it easier for study teams to see what is happening and make informed decisions sooner.

Trial complexity is creating more work around the data

Clinical trials now draw information from EDC, ePRO, labs, imaging, health records, connected devices and other sources. These systems give study teams access to more data, but they can also leave information spread across different places.

During the event, Everest Group shared a broader view of this challenge. Across the industry, study build, edit checks, query management and data cleaning still require significant manual effort. Protocol amendments may depend on programming support and additional testing. Connecting systems can involve custom work, file transfers and repeated reconciliation.

The result is that study teams can spend too much time finding, preparing and checking data before they can use it.

Our live audience survey reflected this need. We asked attendees to rate six areas of clinical trial technology. Reporting and data access ranked highest at 4.5 out of 5. System integration, AI and faster study setup each received 4.4. Flexibility for complex studies scored 4.3, while automation received 4.2.

The narrow range was the real insight. Customers did not identify one feature that would solve everything. They want the entire clinical trial experience to work better together.

The strongest opportunity starts with study build

When we asked attendees where our product roadmap could have the greatest impact, study build ranked highest.

Before a study can begin, teams must translate a protocol into forms, fields, visit schedules, edit checks and other requirements. Much of this work relies on experienced study builders completing detailed and repetitive tasks.

AI can help prepare an initial draft, allowing the study builder to focus on reviewing and refining it. The person remains in control, and nothing moves forward without approval.

This is the kind of AI use case that resonated in Shanghai. It applies AI to a familiar problem and gives study teams a clear, practical benefit.

The same thinking applies once a study is underway. Teams should be able to ask a question about their study and receive an answer grounded in the underlying data. They should not need to request a report, wait for an export and reconcile information from several sources first.

This is the potential behind Viedoc Vantage: helping study teams move from a question to a reliable answer more quickly, with every number traceable to its source.

Ease of use must extend across the trial

Viedoc has always believed that powerful clinical trial technology can also be intuitive. That focus on usability has helped us create an EDC platform that customers enjoy working with.

Now, we are extending that same philosophy across the broader clinical trial ecosystem.

As EDC connects with more systems and data sources, those connections should make work easier for the people running the study. Data should move more smoothly. Information should be easier to find. Teams should have a clearer view of study progress without having to assemble it themselves.

This is where usability and connectivity come together. A platform should be easy to use within each workflow and make the experience across the trial feel more connected.

Different markets are pointing in the same direction

What we heard in Shanghai closely reflected feedback from Viedoc Experience Berlin earlier this year.

The two events used different questions and scoring, so the results should not be treated as a direct comparison. Even so, the overall priorities were similar. Customers in both markets placed study setup and dependable platform performance near the top. Data and AI followed closely, while the experience for sites and participants ranked lower.

The similarity suggests that these pressures extend beyond a single region. Clinical research organizations may operate in different markets, but their teams often face the same fundamental challenge: too much time spent preparing information and too little time using it.

Meeting customers face to face in Shanghai gave us more than feedback on individual features. It gave us a clearer view of what clinical trial technology needs to accomplish next.

It should make studies easier to build, connect data across the trial and help people reach informed decisions sooner. That is the challenge our customers are asking the industry to solve, and it is one Viedoc is committed to taking on.