Medtronic is the world leader in medical technology providing lifelong solutions for people with chronic disease. Headquartered in America, operations are primarily focused on providing therapeutic, diagnostic and monitoring systems for cardiovascular, diabetes, spinal and ear, nose and throat markets.

Each year, 2.5 million patients benefit from Medtronic’s technology which is used to treat conditions such as heart disease, neurological disorders and vascular illnesses. The Australian division is headquartered in Gladesville, Sydney.

As a medical device company their focus is on making the best device for the consumer.

Sales tracking with Q4bis
“We originally implemented iQ4bis as a sales tracking tool to complement our other sales and marketing solutions,” says Eva Chow, Senior Project Manager Asia Pacific.

“We had already been using Pilot Software, an earlier iteration of iQ4bis, so we were familiar with their team. We liked the fact that iQ4bis had an extremely easy interface which made it ideal for non-specialist users. We didn’t have a Business Intelligence group per se, so the ability for staff to perform their own sales analyses was a major plus.”

Pre-defined reports was another key reason Medtronic selected iQ4bis. “The reports and views that come standard with iQ4bis met our business requirements, especially for sales and inventory analytics,” says Chow. “iQ4bis made our life easy as many of our reporting requirements were met from the outset. And what was not met was either easily customised by ourselves or one of the iQ4bis’ BI consultants.”

Pricing was also factor. “When we first implemented iQ4bis, the licensing was on a per seat basis which limited the number of people who could take advantage of its benefits,” says Chow. “However, based on our own and other customer’s feedback, iQ4bis changed their licensing procedures and introduced a site license option which made it extremely cost effective to roll out across the company. All of a sudden we saw a whole host of additional opportunities to put iQ4bis to work.”

Now with a site license, Sales Managers, Business Managers, Sales Representatives along with Marketing Managers could easily understand various sales analytics including customer and product information referenced by various regions and individual sales representatives, usually all with a few mouse clicks.

Improved inventory management
An important iQ4bis application for Medtronic has been the improved management of sales information combined with inventory data. Medtronic provides hospitals with medical supplies on consignment. It is extremely important for Medtronic to understand which products have been sold to which hospital and also what stock was on consignment.

Typically, about 50% of Medtronic’s stock is on consignment to their customers. A particularly vexing challenge was the constant struggle to ensure that consignment stock levels were sufficiently maintained to ensure optimal shelf placement in hospital storerooms. As in supermarkets, shelf placement is a key consideration for rapid turnaround.

The consignment stock also needs to be carefully managed, especially when packaging was nearing expiry date.

“Before iQ4bis,” says Chow, “we had a general idea of our consigned inventory at any given time. Now with the iQ4bis Sales and Inventory customised view, our sales people can see exactly how much stock a hospital has on hand in comparison to how much is sold.

This, in turn, allows them to re-order that particular stock. This works in real time so we can now see sales and inventory trends with iQ4bis and can make more accurate forecasts for expected sales and inventory requirements.

With iQ4bis we have our fingers on the pulse which allows us to easily manage our sales staff, reduce wastage and improve the servicing of our customer stock.”

More accurate data
Another benefit that has made iQ4bis even more valuable to Medtronic is the increased accuracy of the various and sundry databases. “iQ4bis has helped us improve our business processes and data integrity,” says Chow, “especially with the data sourced from the JD Edwards system. Tabular information is often difficult to prove but with the visual interface of iQ4bis, the quality control processes have been vastly improved.”

Medtronic’s Sales Managers, Sales Reps and Marketing and Business Mangers can now understand sales analytics throughout the organisation. “With a minimum of training, operational staff can easily understand and manage inventory levels,” says Chow. “Managers and business users alike can access business information from the easy-to-use interface and perform quite sophisticated business analyses, often just using the visual symbols that are printed on the iQ4bis mouse pad.

Click here to register for free iQ4Bis Proof of Concept

For more information contact

Asj Smith            
General Manager- APAC
iQ4bis Management Software Limited
+64 9 366 2635
Visit our website www.iQ4bis.com

September 2006