Servier Suisse digitizes majority of inbound order communication with wholesalers using Descartes STEPcom EDI Services

Servier Suisse, an affiliate of the independent pharmaceutical company Servier, has deployed the Descartes STEPcom B2B messaging solution to efficiently process orders from its most strategic customers within the healthcare space in Switzerland. The fully automated exchange of business documents has enabled Servier Suisse to save in-house resources and provide customers with error-free order processing.

Providing exemplary customer service to its wholesalers is an important focus area for Servier Suisse. Up until recently, the order intake process was handled in a completely manual way, potentially prone to errors. It was the strategic goal of Servier Suisse to significantly increase the efficiency of the wholesale order process, and avoid any interruptions in the information flow.

Servier Suisse looked for an EDI solution that allowed its wholesalers’ systems to communicate directly with the company’s own ERP without having to worry about different order formats or communication protocols. By collaborating with an EDI service partner, Servier Suisse wanted to ensure current and future business partners could be connected quickly and without great expense.

Descartes STEPcom B2B messaging provided a cost-effective EDI solution for handling inbound orders from Servier Suisse’s pharmaceutical and healthcare wholesalers through its EDI Service Center. The various orders are transmitted to Servier Suisse via a single interface to the Descartes Global Logistics Network™ (Descartes GLN™).

The number of different order formats used by the various wholesalers is high in Switzerland. The Descartes STEPcom solution is able to receive these different inbound messages and convert them all into one standard message format that Servier Suisse can process in its ERP-system. During the project, Servier Suisse migrated to a new ERP-system, making it necessary to update the mappings in place. However, as the Descartes STEPcom solution is flexible enough to work with any ERP-system, the transition did not create any interruptions in the project.

Within the Descartes STEPcom solution, Servier Suisse also has access to STEPview, a message control system, that allows the company to check and monitor transparently all incoming data, which provides full control and visibility over the order flow.

Descartes’ scalable EDI solution, coupled with extensive experience in onboarding and activating trading partners, allows customers to quickly benefit from improved operational performance, reduced costs, and greater agility to better satisfy customers. It offers Servier Suisse the option to easily expand EDI communication to other messages or additional business partners as the company continues to grow.

Improved Customer Service Insights and additional data gained from automating the order process allowed Servier Suisse to reply more quickly to requests and further enhance customer service as a whole.

Enhanced Order Accuracy Orders are no longer handled manually by e-mail. Instead, information is now entered in the system automatically, is more accurate and available much faster, resulting in time savings.

Greater Control As orders are received, they are immediately displayed in the system, ready for follow-up actions. Visibility has been improved as data is now available in a more structured way and with more details.