Medicine wholesaler Pluripharm operates in a complex and constantly changing market. As a result, the quotation process has become a substantial challenge. ICT Group developed the SmartQuote application based on the USoft low-code platform. This application supports the quotation process in a user-friendly way, but it is also flexible and quickly adaptable in case the market situation changes.
Since its establishment in 1984, Pluripharm has developed into a leading pharmaceutical wholesaler with a broad service package. Today, the company supplies hundreds of independent public, outpatient and hospital pharmacies throughout the Netherlands. Each new potential customer is unique, which calls for a tailor-made quotation. Until recently, this involved a complicated and time-consuming process.
Custom software development
"Our quotation process is very complex, which is why we can't get by with standard software," says Hans Stokman, Pluripharm’s ICT manager. Pluripharm was already using a customised application, but this no longer met our needs. "We wanted to simplify the process so that colleagues could take over each other's work.”
“ICT Group presented a realistic offer and we immediately felt a click. We felt confident that they would understand our complexity.” - Hans Stokman, Pluripharm’s ICT manager
During its search for a new application, Pluripharm was faced with the question: do we look for a party that will write code in the traditional way? Or do we use the USoft low-code development platform?
We chose the USoft option, and they referred us to ICT Group. Stokman: "ICT Group presented a realistic offer and we immediately felt a click. We felt confident that they would understand our complexity." That confidence was not betrayed, he says. "We had already done a lot of preliminary work ourselves, and this was necessary because naturally we know our market best. The result of this preliminary work was a detailed statement of requirements that we sent to ICT Group. They used this to develop, test and implement the application, called SmartQuote, and managed to complete the application."
Understanding complexity
SmartQuote’s speed is a remarkable achievement. The medicine market is different from other markets and there are many factors that determine the price. Stokman found it quite exciting to find out whether ICT Group would be able to grasp this complexity in such a short time and develop an application that properly supports the many different scenarios that are possible. "The question was: can they gain an in-depth understanding of our processes? Do they comprehend what is involved to properly support our many different process variations? Fortunately, we are very satisfied with the cooperation. ICT Group had to get to know our company, and they did this in a pro-active manner."
Excellent cooperation
Collaboration always requires two parties, says Marco de Bruijn, business development manager at ICT Group. "Pluripharm knows what it means to develop software themselves. They have experience with agile working and know that it’s important that you as the customer can be contacted in case of questions and that you respond quickly. The cooperation was extremely pleasant."
“By working with ICT Group and the way we develop software together, we know we will remain agile in the future.” - Hans Stokman, Pluripharm’s ICT manager
Besides a small core team from the ICT Logistics section, ICT Group occasionally involved additional specialists in the project. "For example, people who have knowledge of very complex SQL issues," says De Bruijn. Moreover, we also managed to train a new USoft specialist during the project. "That made this an extremely valuable project for us as well," he believes.
Agile foundation
During the project (development, testing, going live), both parties managed to work together very smoothly, and this created a solid foundation for future cooperation. Pluripharm will continue to call on ICT Group when new applications need to be developed. Moreover, ICT Group will become Pluripharm's permanent managed service provider and will be responsible for maintaining and managing the applications developed with USoft.
In addition to automating Pluripharm’s quotation process properly, SmartQuote was also used to automate the rest of the company’s application landscape. The SmartQuote system has allowed Pluripharm to save a considerable amount of time in processing its quotations and calculations. "Because our market is constantly changing, agility is most important to us," says Stokman. "By working with ICT Group and the way we develop software together, we know we will remain agile in the future."
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