Pharmaceutical Distribution Company Reinvents Its Supply Chain

About the Client

Enabling Better Care, One Delivery at a Time 

Enabling better care for patients and customers by ensuring a safe and efficient delivery of medicines and treatments that people rely on every day is at the heart of what this large pharmaceutical distribution company does. It harnesses innovative technologies to ensure crucial medications are delivered efficiently, reliably, and securely — creating healthier lives one delivery at a time. 

The Situation 

Reimagining the Customer Experience to Remain Competitive 

Life sciences businesses have accelerated their digital transformations to survive and thrive in a world that puts the patient at the heart of their business. But when customers at a leading pharmaceutical company faced supply chain disruptions, shifting market dynamics, and outdated digital infrastructure, they could no longer deliver patient-centric outcomes, and remain competitive. 

The company needed a customer experience transformation to get the business back on track. Improvements in operational efficiency, decision-making, innovation, and operational effectiveness were needed to deliver best-in-class customer care. 

Having tried to undergo a customer transformation initiative in the past, the company knew it had to get it right this time around. Instead of attempting to undertake this initiative in-house, the company decided to move forward by bringing on an independent expert on demand. 

Key to ensuring that the right person was onboarded for this mission-critical job was to find an expert with a background in business process design and redesign in the pharmaceutical industry. The expert would need to have significant experience in improving the customer experience through current and future state end-to-end process mapping, root cause analysis, and solution identification. 

The Solution

An ERP Expert with a Proven Track Record 

The company was looking for specialized expertise in their industry. It required an expert with specific industry knowledge and experience with ERP implementations and process mapping tools. However, it didn’t have the time or resources to source a niche expert.

The hiring manager at the company conducted market research to source, vet, and onboard an independent expert on demand. After reviewing Graphite's unique offering, depth and quality of experts on the platform, and the ability to pay and manage the expert all in one place, the hiring felt that Graphite was their best bet in finding what they needed. 

To get the project started, the hiring manager connected with a Graphite Account Executive (AE). Together they discussed the business’s needs and outlined the job requirements before posting the project on the platform.

Over 450 highly vetted independent experts with a background in customer experience transformations and pharma industry knowledge fulfilled the requirements. Within 48 hours, four candidates were short-listed and presented to the hiring manager.

The hiring manager interviewed the candidates using Graphite's meeting rooms feature and ultimately selected a candidate with over 15 years of experience in supply chain and digital transformations. 

The chosen candidate had an extensive background in integrating digital supply chain solutions for sourcing, procurement, and demand and supply planning. They also had a proven track record of strategic leadership and tactical implementation at organizations like IndustryX, Lacerta Therapeutics, RTI Surgical & Biologics, and ThermoFisher Scientific

The Result

Elevated Customer Experience Drives Business Transformation

The project was started by conducting a current and future state analysis, identifying process pain points, technology dependencies, and leading process mapping and solution brainstorming sessions with key stakeholders. 

By conducting a thorough analysis, the subject matter expert could identify what the customers' needs truly were, what technologies were business critical, and how management could facilitate better communication. 

The subject-matter expert documented all processes in Miro and Visio tools. With that phase complete, the independent expert helped the client to prioritize solutions and develop an implementation plan and roadmap for when and how to initiate the recommendations. 

Conducting such a thorough analysis and recommendation can sometimes be uncomfortable for teams since it requires change. The independent expert drew upon years of experience to ensure stakeholder alignment and commitment at all levels.

The company enjoyed the frequent check-ins and Graphite's dedication to making the project a success.