Delivering value, growth and long-term sustainability for SCDM with L&D

SCDM is committed to advancing Clinical Data Management and Science through education, certification and thought leadership. In 2023, the organisation began evolving its membership strategy to strengthen global engagement and position itself as an industry leader. Partnering with MCI, SCDM shaped a sustainable framework for continuous learning and professional development that can grow with the needs of the global clinical data community. MCI supported SCDM in refreshing and activating expert-driven learning into an ongoing education journey, deepening connections with members and corporate stakeholders. The pilot phase, from March to September 2025, established a platform for scalable engagement and long-term value creation.

Brand Society for Clinical Data Management (SCDM)

Industry Healthcare

Service Revenue Generation & Partnerships

Contact < Back to All Work

THE CHALLENGE

Modernising learning for sustainable growth

Professional associations face a critical moment: to stay relevant, financially sustainable and trusted as knowledge leaders, they need to rethink and refresh education in line with community needs. SCDM faced key challenges including outdated monetisable content, overdependence on traditional learning formats and a fragmented content ecosystem constrained by current technological limitations. The organisation partnered with MCI to evolve and reshape its approach in education.

THE SOLUTION

Education strategy for continuous and connected content

MCI partnered with SCDM to shape an education strategy that strengthens its relevance across the clinical trials ecosystem. We started by supporting the design of a competency framework to anchor professional standards, then developed learning pathways aligned with industry needs to support practical application and career progression. Beyond curriculum design, we helped open up opportunities for SCDM to co-create content with a wider set of stakeholders, extending collaboration and thought leadership beyond the core data management community.

This work moved SCDM from event-based learning to continuous education journeys, underpinned by robust technology, including AI-enabled capabilities. In the pilot phase, that shift came to life through clearer structure, more varied formats and more tailored learning experiences, expanding delivery from five webinars in 2024 into a portfolio of webinars, masterclasses, online courses, learning nuggets and curated pathways.

THE RESULTS

Revenue growth and learning continuity

By reimagining SCDM’s educational offerings, MCI helped shift the approach from traditional learning to content monetisation, generating revenue that is reinvested to create higher-quality content and strategic collaborations, fuelling continuous improvement and greater value for corporate partners and members.

In the March to September 2025 pilot phase, SCDM’s online education revenue reached $115K, up from $23K in 2024. Online education engagement and satisfaction also increased, from 113 users and 42% completion (2024) to 220 users and 70% completion (pilot phase).

SCDM reported that 19 partners have signed under this model, with an advanced pilot in progress with three household-name pharma partners, alongside ongoing development of onsite and online content and collaboration across initiatives.

1 pilot phase

education revenue

70%

completion

Participation doubled in 1 year

FAQs that this case study answers

Some of the questions associations ask us when exploring how to modernise education, strengthen relevance and build long-term value through expert-driven learning.

Q1. How can an association monetise education content and create long-term value from its expertise?
MCI: By collaborating with a partner like MCI that supports associations with consulting and services that activate expert-led content into learning offerings designed for revenue generation and reinvestment in future value.

Q2. What should an association education transformation roadmap cover?
MCI: For SCDM, MCI’s roadmap combined strategic alignment (goals, standards and member needs) with delivery mechanics (steps, resources, timelines and budget), stakeholder buy-in, stronger technology with AI capabilities and an improvement cycle to keep learning current.

Q3. How do we extend association learning cycles and improve completion rates?
MCI: A good start is to shift learning philosophy from one-off moments to ongoing journeys by evolving content into structured assets designed for continued learning.

Q4. What outcomes can content monetisation deliver for online learning performance?
MCI: By aligning their educational offerings with the real needs of their communities, associations can strengthen their value, deepen engagement and secure long-term impact. This case study demonstrates that collaborating with partner that is well-versed in association management, can quintuple (a 5x increase) education revenue.