Summary
Edkal Business Solutions helps a major player in the nutraceutical industry streamline information flows and operations across branches. From identifying the right technology platforms to full implementation and testing, we were able to provide a complete solution that helped our client improve operational efficiency and reduce costs.

The Customer
Sami Formulations is a nutraceutical formulation division in association with American Formulary Inc, USA. Backed by a strong research base, product development skills, and state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities, Sami Formulations is geared to become a leader in the Indian market and aims to acquire substantial share in global markets. Sami Formulations operates with diverse products at many locations with multiple agents, along with a team of marketing officers and managers operating in several locations in India.

The Challenges

• Difficulty in managing growing business operations with legacy systems
• Delays in information flow and reporting (often erroneous), leading to functional and process deficiencies
• Sales offices and manufacturing units not centrally connected – leading to problems with data consolidation and reporting
• Fast, accurate, timely information access and reporting required from remote locations
• Day-to-day recording and tracking of doctor and chemist calls by marketing officers
• Tracking of stocks and sales from the C&F agents of different states
• Problems streamlining operations across branches without putting additional pressure on manpower and department budgets

Our Solution
Edkal provided a multi-stage solution, involving extensive study and analysis before solution design and development. We developed a comprehensive software application, building the core modules for sales and distribution management first. Our choice of technology platform was the Citrix MetaFrame Presentation Server running on a Windows 2000 server operating system with Intel hardware; also an oracle database running on Windows 2000 server with Intel hardware.

Applications could now be deployed to 25 concurrent users in multiple locations. The deployment also resulted in real-time, bi-directional information flows across all locations. With our central deployment of applications, we were also able to reduce costs, as maintenance and monitoring processes became easier.

Process
Study

• Extensive and in-depth process study of administration of sales and distribution

Analysis

• Analysis of sales and distribution processes, determining the scope for automation
• Optimization of process, reducing human touch-points and therefore probability of human error

Solution Design and Development

• Development of the comprehensive software application to address business challenges
• Rigorous testing for all business rules and features

Technology Implementation

• Careful techno-commercial study of the process
• Implementation of chosen platform

Benefits

• Accelerated rollout of business-critical applications across the enterprise
• Scalable and reliable IT architecture
• Centralized management of applications resulting in easier upgrades
• Reduction in inventory levels
• 50% improvement in data accuracy and quality