That was my project

Originally Published 2004-03-23 02:33:10

Hot damn. That six weeks in the UK last summer was actually worthwhile.



http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/040322/nem005_1.html



DUBLIN, Calif, March 22 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- iAnywhere Solutions, Inc., a subsidiary of Sybase, Inc. (NYSE: SY - News), and Eli Lilly, a top ten global pharmaceutical company, today announced the completion of a pilot project in Italy to provide a PDA-based sales force automation solution to Eli Lilly's cancer specialist sales team. The solution leverages Mobile Pharma from iAnywhere to improve the quality and quantity of sales data, while eliminating time spent on paper administration. The iAnywhere® technology provided Eli Lilly with flexibility in the choice of mobile device while enabling it to mobilize its Siebel ePharma (6.x) system, business pages from the company intranet and information from other applications.



iAnywhere configured its Mobile Pharma solution specifically for Eli Lilly, allowing the sales team to capture call report information immediately following meetings with physicians, thereby enabling Lilly sales executives to build stronger relationships with physicians more quickly. The solution will also enable Eli Lilly to get more accurate, timely and pertinent drug information out to its sales force in order to boost productivity.



"Previously, our pharmaceutical sales executives spent a significant amount of time filling out data on paper, which then needed to be transferred to laptops. Eli Lilly realized that this system was not only time consuming, but also affected the quantity and quality of information from remote staff," said Geoff Kretzschmar, European CRM implementation manager for Eli Lilly. "We looked at various mobile options when considering the pilot trial in Italy and iAnywhere's Mobile Pharma was chosen as it offered the most flexible solution. The iAnywhere Professional Services team not only adapted Mobile Pharma to suit Eli Lilly's requirements, it also provided training to the IT administrators."



"Pharmaceutical companies operate in one of the most fiercely competitive industries, and it is becoming increasingly difficult to build strong relationships with physicians in order to enhance sales. Mobile applications offer a means to significantly improve the effectiveness of the sales executive, while increasing productivity and lowering costs throughout the sales process," said Alan Mair, new business development manager at iAnywhere. "The Mobile Pharma trial has given the Italian team of sales executives a more strategic view of the company/physician relationship, as well as easier access to the information they need to be more knowledgeable for the sales calls, such as key product messaging and data vital to the physician. In the future, Eli Lilly can also extend the mobile application to encompass more enterprise information so that sales executives can get all of the information they need anytime, anywhere."



Eli Lilly conducted a user survey with the participating sales executives three months into project. The feedback revealed that there has been excellent adoption among users with a marked increase in the number of updates made to its Siebel system, coinciding with an improvement in quantity and quality of data. Based on the increase in the motivation and effectiveness of the Italian sales force following the pilot project, Eli Lilly is now looking at other implementations of the Mobile Pharma solution across its European businesses.