HERMES SFA implemented at the leader medicines distributor in Romania
Provider: Transart SRL, Cluj-Napoca
Client: A&D Pharma Holdings SRL, Mediplus Exim SRL
Industry: Pharmaceuticals
Solution: Sales Force Automation
Devices: TabletPC, PocketPC, mobile printers
Mediplus, the distribution company of A&D Pharma Group has significantly increased the efficiency of its sales force by implementing the mobile solution Hermes SFA, supplied by Transart.
Challenge
Due to increase in number of its sales force, A&D Pharma felt an acute need for the implementation of a unitary and user-friendly informational system to be used by the whole sales force. The following were targeted: simplifying the way of recording the activity carried out by sales agents on the field, an improved cash collection capacity on the market, as well as the reduction of logistical support costs of sales/delivery force, all within the context of an increase of sales act quality.
„By implementing HERMES SFA mobile solution, the main benefit consists of improving the services provided to our clients in the distribution area. From the perspective of developments intended by the A&D Pharma Group, whether it is about regional extension or partnerships with new suppliers and implicitly new pharmaceutical products added to the distribution portfolio, another significant advantage brought about by the implementation of HERMES mobile solution is an increased capacity of coordination and control of very large teams – hundreds of people. It is about sales representatives, medical representatives carrying out promotion activities and who spend more than 80% of their time at client’s place..” said mr.l Robert Popescu, CEO A&D Pharma
Why HERMES SFA from Transart?
HERMES Solution provided by Transart was chosen by the team designated by A&D Pharma to perform the selection, based on the following reasons, at the very least:
• HERMES system’s high degree of adaptability to the specific needs of pharmaceutical area and the working mode by divisions employed in the relations with A&D Pharma distributors;
• High degree of satisfaction of Transart clients (references) using HERMES solution – multinational companies in the FMCG field with sales forces of a number comparable (hundreds of sales agents) to that of A&D Pharma Group;
•Transart’s rapid response capacity – assuming the pilot implementation in the Hungarian subsidiary in an extremely short period of time;
• Transart’s availability to make a series of developments and adaptations of HERMES system with a highly experienced and numerous team;
• Create solid premises for the increase of company’s sales as a result of the increase in the efficiency of activities carried out by sales representatives in the field;
•An improved cash collection capacity from clients with arrears falling due and automation of the process of issuing receipts on the spot when collecting these debts;
• Reduced delivery times, which is possible due to the functional extension of Hermes system with a specialized module intended for the automation of delivery agents’ activity;
• Desire to adapt Hermes’s Target Module to define clear, easy-to-set and easy-to-monitor objectives for each particular sales representative;
• Diversification of the activity carried out by sales representatives with specific Merchandising and Marketing activities: collection of information from points of sales (pharmacies) based on questionnaires, directly in Hermes, by means of mobile terminals (for instance: collection of inventory for focus products, price data collection, monitoring of shelf display of focus products, etc.)
Choosing HERMES SFA from Transart, A&D Pharma would get a flexible instrument allowing to generate a permanent informational flow, from the field to the executive management, of specific market information extremely useful to substantiate decisions which are to be taken.
„We chose Transart following a detailed analysis of solutions and offer existing on the Romanian market. Good references received from multinational companies using Hermes SFA solution, Transart openness to make a series of developments we wanted, the quality of people we were in contact as well as soundness and experience of the team behind the Hermes product, highly influenced our decision” ” said mr. Bogdan Dumitrescu, IT Director A&D Pharma
Benefits
After employing HERMES Solution for a longer period of time, A&D Pharma got a number of benefits:
• Company’s sales growth within the context of a crisis period, thanks to a more efficient use of work time by the sales force;
• Increase of sales force’s productivity through full automation of activities carried in the field;
• Use of a unitary system to register the orders from clients (pharmacies) for the entire sales force (all divisions/ distributors with whom A&D Pharma works), as well as the delivery force;
•Time periods 40% shorter to draw up and validate orders received by agents in the field;
• Reduce most administrative tasks which agents had previously to complete when visiting the client (for instance: draw up receipts) as well as at the end of the working day (for instance, the documents required to hand over collected receipts at the end of the working day) or to draw up periodical reports concerning the completed activity
• Flexible system to deal with the offers existing for a certain product and automated application of granted discounts (financial / quantitative);
• Control of bad payers, as there is blocked any possibility to input new orders for clients whose late payments exceed the maximum established credit (blocking is possible at the level of client and of division);
•Improvement of sales activity planning and control both at the level of department and at the level of each particular sales representative;
•Extensive support for the implementation of concerted promotion and sales actions (for instance to sell off stocks whose date of expiry is nearing, special offers and actions to present new pharmaceutical products put on the distribution portfolio; define “focus products” which could be more carefully dealt with and monitored by means of trade-marketing questionnaires which agents using Hermes – PDA mobile application may use in the field);
• Improved control of money collection from the market through rapid identification of clients with payment arrears and making easier the drawing up of receipt for the amounts due (including printing by means of mobile printers). At the end of the workday, by automatic drawing up of the deposit slip (with all necessary details: agent code, receipt list) directly from the mobile terminal, the agent may deposit the money directly in the company’s accounts through bank without having to return to the registered office;
• Increase of agents’ motivation and responsibility by comprising sales targets in HERMES system (value sales targets, breakdown by: agent, pharmacy – POA and division) as well as some quality targets (for instance: monitoring presentation achievement for new products);
• Gathering information on medicinal products stocks from drug stores for products classified as “focus”-type;
•Possibility for the permanent assessment of the status of the whole sales team as compared to the established targets;
• Operational and control support for the sales executive management, thanks to an extended set of standard and dynamic reports specific to this activity;
• Possibility to take pictures from the visited locations (with the application running on the PocketPC) – for monitoring and justification of complying with the merchandising standards imposed by company
• Reducing and keeping under control some logistic-operational costs (e.g. fuel, promotional materials), thanks to an increased control of the activity carried out by the agents in the field.
„Hermes implementation allows us to render more efficient the activity of sales force by removing downtimes of the sales process, reducing most of administrative tasks of the agents and also through an increased support in setting up and managing all sale-related issues. In short, we became more efficient. The continuous flow of information from the field to the management is, however, the greatest benefit of this application. Planning, execution and control quality increase. But most important is the ability to support improvement and growth, provided by this application”. said mr.Horaţiu Dumitrescu, Program Manager, Mediplus Exim SRL, part of A&D Pharma Holdings
About A&D Pharma
A&D Pharma Holdings N.V. is a Dutch holding company controlling A&D Pharma Holdings S.R.L., the largest pharmaceutical activity of integrated distribution, sales and marketing services as well as pharmaceutical retail in Romania.
Established in 1994, the Group comprises Mediplus – a leader in the distribution of pharmaceutical products, Sensiblu – the largest pharmacy network in Romania, A&D Pharma Marketing&Sales – marketing and sales platform in Eastern Europe and Anima – division of medical services.