The challenge

This $465-million company, with its operations spread across 22 countries, could not afford to lag behind in connectivity in this Internet era. Although Ranbaxy had the manpower to physically handle its business transactions, it wanted to leverage the Net to further enhance its operations, improve efficiency and increase customer response.

E-solution

Ranbaxy had already implemented its SAP ERP in August 1998 with the idea of improving business processes within the organization. It also had some kind of a Web presence. About six months back, the company decided to extend that to its business activities as well. It set up myranbaxy.com and ranbaxypartners.com for the purpose. Although the overseas customers have already started transactions through the Web sites, in India it’s still at the trial stage. Customers and vendors can see their order status, accounts and do online tracking of cargo. Orders placed online are transmitted through EDI and automatically updated in Ranbaxy’s SAP network. Although a payment gateway is yet to be established, a lot of information exchange has already started happening through the Web. An interactive site called ranbaxyfordoctors.com serves as a useful resource platform where doctors can share and enhance their knowledge.

Benefits

The company estimates that at the end of its e-activity about 2,500 of its partners can be connected within India, apart from a similar number in other countries. The Web sites are already serving as powerful marketing tools and knowledge resource for customers. Benefits like inventory reduction and cost advantages will happen gradually as it rolls out across 18 locations over the next six months. The number of stockists and dealers is so large that even if 10% of them start online transactions, the company will save a lot of costs in terms of physical man-hours.

Page(s)   1