Industries
Animal Health
We help animal health companies, from global leaders to focused challengers, grow revenue and profitability, starting with a deep understanding of the customers they serve.
Who we are
Animal health team
BCE supports animal health companies of every size, from global leaders to growing, more specialized players. Our work centers on companion animal and equine health, across five sectors.
We bring a deep understanding of the customers our clients serve, from veterinary clinics and corporate groups to distributors and pet owners. That understanding carries from one engagement to the next.
Our engagements are senior-led and grounded in proprietary primary research, so our recommendations are built for real-world execution.
Our focus
- Companion animal health
- Equine health
Sectors we serve
- Diagnostics & Equipment
- Therapeutics & Vaccines
- Nutrition
- Practice Software & Services
- Distribution
Sector experience
Our expertise
We support our clients' strategic, operational, and tactical needs across markets, platforms, and sites of service, from innovation and strategy through commercialization.
Breadth
Projects supporting animal health strategy, innovation, and commercialization
Network
Established network of >5,000 KOLs
Global focus
Experience in all key markets: US, Canada, EU, Japan, APAC, LATAM, ANZ
Where we work
Where BCE works in animal health
The sectors follow the clinic's own workflow: diagnosing, treating, and feeding patients, then running and supplying the practice. Each one below shows its scope, our representative work, and the questions we hear most often from commercial and strategy leaders.
Sector scope
Diagnostics & Equipment
In-house and reference lab diagnostics, imaging, monitoring, and animal medical devices
Representative work
- Customer segmentation for a market-leading animal diagnostics company (80+ DVM and practice manager interviews)
- Corporate account and commercial strategy support for a global diagnostics leader
Questions we help answer
Value creation
“Which tests will clinics want in-house vs. at the reference lab as staffing gets tighter?”
Value delivery
“What does a placement offer need to look like to win a corporate group’s network-level decision?”
Value capture
“Where can we bundle instruments, consumables, and software to consolidate wallet share?”
Sector scope
Therapeutics & Vaccines
Parasiticides, vaccines, and therapeutics for companion animals and horses
Representative work
- Concept test of a novel pet health monitoring solution for a global medicines and vaccines leader
Questions we help answer
Value creation
“Which unmet needs in companion animal care will clinics and pet owners pay for over the next five years?”
Value delivery
“How should our message differ for a corporate group’s medical director vs. an independent practice owner?”
Value enablement
“What evidence and pet owner education will move a new therapy from the clinic’s shelf into its protocols?”
Sector scope
Nutrition
Therapeutic and prescription diets, premium pet food, and supplements
Representative work
- Opportunity assessment for using diagnostic results to build personalized nutrition and wellness plans for individual pets, as part of a fully integrated Dx and nutrition offering
Questions we help answer
Value creation
“How are pet owner expectations of therapeutic and premium diets changing, and what does that mean for our pipeline?”
Value delivery
“How do we keep the clinic’s recommendation when pet owners can buy the same diet online?”
Value capture
“How do we capture value when clinic-recommended diets are bought through retail and e-commerce?”
Sector scope
Practice Software & Services
Practice management systems, pet owner engagement, telehealth, and payments
Representative work
- Brand equity analysis for a global veterinary practice management software company
- Go-to-market and messaging strategy for a new clinic software and pet owner engagement platform
Questions we help answer
Value creation
“Which clinic workflows are still underserved, and which will practices pay to fix?”
Value delivery
“Which clinic segments want an all-in-one platform vs. best-of-breed tools, and how do we sell to each?”
Value capture
“What pricing model works for both single-site independents and 500-clinic corporate groups?”
Sector scope
Distribution
Manufacturer-to-clinic distribution, online pharmacy, and home delivery
Representative work
- Opportunity assessment of the link between practice management systems and clinic inventory, identifying where the channel can create value for both clinics and suppliers
Questions we help answer
Value creation
“What services beyond fulfillment will clinics and manufacturers value as buying shifts to corporate groups?”
Value delivery
“How do we stay relevant as manufacturers sell direct and corporate groups centralize procurement?”
Value capture
“Where is margin moving in the channel, and how do we protect ours?”
Key themes
What we know about the animal health market
Our work across the industry gives us a clear point of view on where the market is heading. These are the themes we see shaping growth for animal health companies today.
Account growth
Winning the account has masked a ceiling on growing it
For most animal health companies, the bigger prize is deeper share inside the clinics they already serve: broader portfolio use, a place in clinic protocols, and a larger share of wallet. Commercial models were built to win new accounts, with far less structure behind growing them after the sale.
Commercial alignment
Multiple sales teams, one customer, no unified owner
Product, equipment, software, and services teams often call on the same clinics, each with its own messaging, incentives, and accountability. The customer experience ends up reflecting the vendor's org chart.
Customer dynamics
Clinics want a partner, not a vendor managing them top-down
Practices see most vendor relationships as transactional. At corporate groups, decisions increasingly sit with leadership, yet many commercial models still treat the individual practice as the unit of change.
Structural change
Consolidation is changing who buys, and how
Buying decisions are moving from individual clinics to corporate groups with centralized contracting. The rep-to-clinic playbook that built many commercial organizations won't sustain the next stage of growth on its own.
Growth opportunity
Portfolios are converging faster than operating models
Pet owner engagement tools, practice software, AI, and core products are coming together into connected offerings. The capabilities increasingly exist; the operating model to deliver them to clinics often doesn't.
Org & accountability
Ownership is diffuse, and leadership already knows it
Initiatives launch, ownership fragments, and results vary by individual rather than by a repeatable model. The strongest performers show what durable accountability looks like. The challenge is scaling it.
Services
How we help
We advise clients across four practice areas and provide customized cross-practice engagement services, all built on our in-house market research and insights specialization.
Strategy
- Growth strategy
- Market entry strategy development
- Strategic planning support
- Operational strategy
Commercial Excellence
- Launch planning and support
- Competitive strategy and benchmarking
- Sales enablement and resource development
Strategic Transformation
- Commercial resourcing and compensation strategy
- Talent management strategy
- Organizational design
- Functional, program, and process support
M&A
- Rapid market evaluation
- Target identification, assessment, and sourcing
- Commercial diligence
- Sell-side diligence
- Post-deal support
Why BCE
What makes us different
Our firm was founded to offer clients a more engaged and hands-on experience. Five tenets are central to how we work with clients.
1
Senior-led
Experienced principals, partners, and senior partners lead BCE engagements, with hours budgeted each day for analysis and strategy development.
2
Research-driven
Teams combine practice and industry expertise with a market-facing global research toolkit driven by in-house researchers.
3
Actionable
We work with client teams to understand context and objectives, and design deliverables to be actively used, not left on the shelf.
4
Customized
Every client need is unique. Custom analytical tools and frameworks synthesize the data we collect, with no one-size-fits-all model.
5
Collaborative
Partnership with clients is key to success. Flexibility and communication are fundamental to achieving client goals.
Our team
BCE's Animal Health Leads
Our healthcare leaders drive engagement scoping, work plan development, synthesis and analysis, and strategy development on every project.
Richard Crumb
Managing Partner
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Richard is a co-founder and senior partner of BCE Consulting with more than 19 years of experience and over 700 projects across corporate and business unit strategy, adjacent markets, commercial models, and transactions. He leads BCE's Healthcare & Consumer division and holds an MBA from Michigan Ross and a BA from Middlebury College.
Walt Shepard
Partner
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Walt is deputy of BCE's Healthcare & Consumer division and leads several of the firm's private equity relationships. He previously led all corporate research and customer strategy at L.L.Bean, including its omnichannel voice-of-customer program.
Price St. Hilaire
Principal
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Price is a senior medical technology executive with more than two decades leading innovation and commercialization across general management, global marketing, sales leadership, and commercial strategy. He holds an MBA from Emory University and a BS in Nursing from the University of Florida.
Lizzie Schaeppi
Principal
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Lizzie held marketing and strategy roles at Medtronic and Boston Scientific, most recently leading competitive, clinical, and implanter marketing for WATCHMAN. She brings expertise in commercialization, value-based healthcare, and pricing, plus five years of consulting. MBA, Tuck; BA, Middlebury College.
Rachel Lewis
Manager
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Rachel supports business development, engagement management, insights generation, and thought leadership from BCE's London office. She holds a bachelor's degree in Psychology from the University of Bristol.