Beyond the Hype: A Holistic Approach to AI at Syneos Health Communications
There’s a lot of noise around AI (as if you didn’t know). Companies love to talk about their latest AI pilot programs or splashy partnerships. But when you dig a little deeper, you realize many of these initiatives are more about optics than impact. They’re early steps, but not real transformation.
At Syneos Health Communications, we’re taking a different path. One that’s grounded, purposeful, and already making a difference.
We’re not chasing trends or looking for shortcuts. We’re putting AI to work across our business to do what it does best—support people. This means harnessing AI to uncover strategic insights, understand behavior, and create smarter, more meaningful engagement. And we’re doing it in ways that feel practical and organic, not performative.
AI Is Only As Powerful As the Data Behind It
It’s easy to think of AI as a magic solution, but here’s the truth: AI is only as good as the data it’s trained on.
That’s where Syneos has the advantage. Our proprietary data platforms are designed to accurately simulate how people think, feel, and make decisions about healthcare—but it’s our teams who give that data its direction. AI alone doesn’t generate strategy; it multiplies the power of human insight.
- Our Mindset Engine helps us understand how nearly 15,000 healthcare professionals across 30 specialties make choices. It identifies the deeper drivers behind their behavior—things like their tolerance for risk, what motivates them, and how they handle uncertainty.
- Our Empathy Engine examines the patient side of the equation. It accurately gauges emotional dynamics, trust levels, and everyday concerns people face when managing their health.
Together, both Engines provide a crystal-clear, reality-based snapshot of how patients and providers can best align—and where challenges may exist. Our AI tools weren’t just created to be fast; they’re built on real human context.
We’ve invested heavily in these platforms because we believe in doing this right.
Better data lead to better insights, and better insights lead to better decisions.AI As a Strategic Multiplier, Not a Replacement
Some companies see AI as a cost-cutting measure that replaces human roles or automates historically complex tasks. That’s not how we see it.We see AI as a support system. It’s a multiplier—a way to help people make faster, smarter decisions without cutting them out of the decision-making process.
Across our Commercial, Medical, and Access teams, AI is helping us to work more efficiently, spot patterns earlier, and personalize health strategies in exciting new ways. This is no corporate side project—it’s a product of Syneos ingenuity, woven into how we think and operate.
The Risk of Fragmented AI
AI’s real power to compound value may only be seen when it can act as the connective tissue of a larger, orchestrated system. As the fervor for innovation deploys more and more promising solutions, they will start to accumulate digital debris that add noise instead of clarity. Without a powerful framework of connectivity, agencies in the future will become confusing graveyards of forgotten AI toys.Our Differentiated Approach
We are building the agency of the future on a modular orchestrated system that keeps every insight, asset and workflow in sync and flexible for the next innovation. New capabilities are designed and developed to plug into the system and unplugged as they are updated and upgraded. The result will be smarter faster decisions at the ready for everyone at the agencies. This will ensure all resources are used to their peak advantage and ultimately exponential value for our clients.Predictive Storytelling in Action
One of the ways we’re using AI most effectively is through something we call Predictive Storytelling.Predictive Storytelling combines AI and behavioral data to help us craft healthcare messaging that resonates with people on their unique care journeys and help guide where they’re going.
Whether the message is for a doctor or a patient, the goal of Predictive Storytelling is the same: Create communications that feel clear, timely, and organic. This means tapping into what people do and why they do it, with support from the very best AI engines available—our own.
Looking Ahead: Building Something Bigger
Right now, AI is helping us work smarter and connect more meaningfully, but our vision is much bigger than that. We’re working toward fully integrated AI across everything we do—Commercial, Medical, and Access—where insights flow seamlessly and decisions are supported in real time with human context. We’re not there yet, but we’re moving, progressing, and already making a difference for our clients.At Syneos, we’re focused on making AI our not-so-secret weapon for your success.