Pharma Technology, based in Nivelles, specialises in process equipment for the pharmaceutical industry. The company is one of the main players in the de-dusting and polishing of tablets and capsules. They also integrate metal particle detection systems into its equipment in order to control the quality of tablets. Last but not least, Pharma Technology has recently developed an external lubrication device, as well as a sorting system for non-compliant tablets.
The company, which was founded in 1993, employs about 80 people in three subsidiaries: Asia (Hong Kong), the United States (near New York) and Germany (Hamburg). These are responsible for the marketing and after-sales service of the equipment. From a commercial point of view, the company has 6 salespeople.
Pharma Technology works with 2 main types of customers.
- End customers: users and manufacturers of medicines.
- The "integrators": those who buy their machines.
2 major needs: traceability and information exchange
In 2012, Pharma Technology's commercial structure expanded considerably, in particular thanks to the introduction of new patented technology that enabled them to take a dominant position in the market.
However, whereas the company was previously used to working with archaic media such as Excel or Word documents, it soon became a matter of urgency to standardise all its working methods.
"As soon as the sales team started to grow, we had to find a way to standardise our working methods," says Hervé Dengis, Sales Director at Pharma Technology.
"Our objective was to acquire a tool that could centralise our sales people's visit reports, synchronise information and have a single medium for our sales people operating on different continents", Hervé points out.
"When you have colleagues abroad - sometimes up to 6,000 km away - there's always the risk that there is an information gap, and that this isn't consistently well conveyed to the outside world. SmartSales has enabled us to avoid such occurrences and ensure that all the information our sales people need is updated automatically," he adds.
The SmartSales application was chosen for several reasons
"EASI is a company with an excellent reputation. It was essential for us to have a partner with a good head on their shoulders who would be able to continue to grow with us if necessary. We were also looking into a number of companies abroad, but it was this Belgian-Belgian aspect and the quality of EASI's products and services that finally tipped the balance. "
"A number of our customers have had the opportunity to see the SmartSales application for themselves and they all think that it's great. Some of them have even told us that they dream of having a similar tool themselves".
2 features that make a difference
Visualisation of customers on the map
Being able to easily view where customers are located on a map in the application and see which ones haven't yet been visited is a key feature for Pharma Technology.
"For my sales colleagues, it is of major benefit to be able to locate all our customers at a glance on a map. For example, when my colleague is going around southern Germany, he uses this feature to see which customers he has to visit, which allows him to create and optimise his itinerary. This is a feature that I think is very sexy!"
Independence through the Web Manager
As Sales Director, Hervé Dengis has access to the Web Manager platform, which allows him to communicate, update and modify the media on the tablet.
"The Web Manager is really great because everything can be configured as you wish. In addition, we aren't dependent on the supplier if we wish to make a change to a particular component. This saves time for everyone. If the layout doesn't suit us, or if we want to add a new product, new type of report, communicate with sales, etc., all of this can be done independently.”
A well-received application
"There are always questions when it comes to stepping out of your comfort zone, but in the case of SmartSales, the application has been quickly adopted by everyone. Our employees were quick to see genuine added value in it, especially thanks to the centralisation and synchronisation of documents."
"I'm not going to beat around the bush: SmartSales is a high value-added tool and extremely easy to use."
A positive relationship based on listening
"Our relationship with EASI has been most positive from the outset. Programme set up went extremely quickly and we have a lot of freedom with the Web Manager."
"We were also thrilled with EASI's attentiveness and openness to customer feedback. In particular, we were able to submit our opinion on the layout of the reports. Today, we are delighted to see that our comments have been taken into account."
