A Qualitative Research Review of the CRM Strategies of the ...

18MERI Journal of Management and IT Vol. 11, No. 1, October, 2017

A Qualitative Research Review of the CRM Strategies of the

Selected Pharmaceutical Firms in Delhi

ABSTRACT

Indian Pharmaceutical sector that was practically non-existent in 1970s, is now considered as

one among the top five pharmaceutical emerging markets of the world. Marketing has always

been a major thrust area for pharmaceutical industry. Personal selling through MRs was the

only method of promotion of pharmaceutical products till about a decade ago. However the

period post liberalization saw many changes in Indian pharmaceutical Industry(IPL). Huge

expenditure, upto 15-20% of the annual product revenue on the sales force, with a questionable

ROI was putting a lot of pressure on these firms. To intensify the competition The Indian Patents

(Amendment) Act was implemented in 2005. This resulted in a paradigm shift in the marketing

and promotion strategy adopted by the industry. The traditional model of promotion through

personal selling was replaced by newer sales models like channel management & key account

management through customer relationship management (CRM) strategies.

This research paper gives a qualitative research review of the CRM & e-CRM strategies adopted

by the selected pharmaceutical companies of India with the help of secondary data sources and

opinion survey of company officials in Delhi.Although Indian Pharma industry has adopted the

newer technology to build and enhance its relationship with doctors but the ironic fact is that it

is still staggering with the proper and effective implementation of the selected CRM Software.The

major reason for the same is lack of willingness on part of the sales team (as found during

personal interactions with the sales managers of these firms), to accept and adopt this new

technology.

Key Words: CRM, E-CRM, MRs, Personal selling, SFA,ERP, SaaS

1. Ms. Gurpreet Kaur: Research Scholar, Department of Management, Mewar University,

Chittorgarh, Rajasthan, India

2. Dr. Deepali Saluja: Research Supervisor and visiting faculty, Department of

Management, Mewar University, Chittorgarh, Rajasthan, India

Ms. Gurpreet Kaur1

Dr. Deepali Saluja2

10.25089/MERI/2017/v11/i1/164010

INTRODUCTION

The Indian Pharmaceutical Industry which is now considered to be one of the fastest

growing industries in India, was practically non-existent in early1970’s. This industry


now has a wide range of capabilities to offer, in this highly complex field of drug

manufacture and technology. The Indian Pharma Industry (IPL) came into focus

when India took over as the primary center for pharmaceutical production of bulk

drugs and products without patent production(Mazumdar,2013).

Fig 1. Evolution of CRM based Marketing approach in Indian Pharmaceutical Industry (IPL)

ANCIENT TIMES: a) Ayurvedic system of medicine b) Arabic system of medicine

Marketing Approach-Customer focused treatment based on disease

19th Century: Allopathic system of medicine introduced by British

Marketing Approach- company focused ,on what is being produced

1901: First Indian Pharmaceutical firm, Bengal chemicals and Pharmaceutical works

established

Marketing Approach- country focused, on indigenous production of drugs

1947: Indian Pharmaceuticals Limited (IPL)

Marketing Approach- Production approach, to survive without any support from

British government

1947-1970: MNCs dominate the Indian Pharmaceutical market

Marketing Approach- Product as well as production focus

1970-2005: Introduction of Patent Law followed by its amendment

Marketing Approach- International markets(export focus) and selling approach

(domestic markets)

2005-till date- R& D, innovation, drug discovery, use of IT in Pharmaceutical

promotions, intensification of competition

Marketing Approach- Focus on relationship or CRM based marketing

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2 From a mere Rs. 10 crore base in 1947 to being the largest provider of generic

drugs globally, with Indian generics accounting for 20% of the global exports in

terms of volume, in 2015, Indian Pharmaceutical industry has come a long way. The

Pharmaceutical market of India is the third largest in terms of volume and 13th

largest in terms of value (Kaur&Saluja,2015).

In ancient times, the two systems of medicine that were popular in India were,

Ayurvedic and Arabian system of medicine. As such there was a need based approach

instead of a true marketing approach. But after invasion of British the Indian medicine

system took a turn towards Allopathic system of treatment, some time during 19th

century(Mohamed,2014). The foundation stone of the Indian Pharmaceutical Industry

was formally laid in 1901 when India’s first pharmaceutical company called, Bengal

Chemicals and Pharmaceutical works, was established. This is considered to be the

beginning of pharmaceutical industry in India(ICRA,2004).The focus was production

oriented for indigenous production and consumption because still a large chunk of

the domestic consumption was being fulfilled by the imported drugs and because of

this, IPL had a very small production base, having an estimated value of production

of Rs. 10 cr in 1947(Shah,2012). The period between 1945 to 1970s saw a major

breakthrough in Pharmaceutical industry at global level, there was a shift in the

approach of giving drug therapy to the patients. Earlier the focus of the drug therapy

was to treat the symptoms,but this got shifted to, treat the disease instead. As a

result Pharma marketers had to change their approach from production oriented to

market and customer oriented. Government of India in its Industrial Policy statement

of 1948 decided to take a liberal attitude towards MNCs and allowed them to set up

manufacturing facilities without the hurdles of licensing agreements there by making

competitive standards high for the pharmaceutical market. In 2005, the government

amended the Patents Act of 1970 under the WTO compulsion to recognize product

patent from 2005 onward and this again brought customer centric marketing into

the focus of pharmaceutical firms.

RESEARCH OBJECTIVES

A) To study the evolution of the CRM strategies in the Indian Pharmaceutical

Industry (IPL)

B) To understand the traditional selling approach adopted by the pharmaceutical

companies In India

C) To study the CRM & e-CRM strategies adopted by the selected pharmaceutical

companies in India


RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Research Design:

Exploratory Study

Data Collection:

It is an exploratory study therefore more focus is on secondary sources of data

collection. Primary data has been collected through opinion survey of the sales

managers of the selected Pharmaceutical firms. After a thorough review of the

research papers/articles in the domain of Pharmaceutical CRM/E-CRM strategies,

published in national and international journals, a preliminary idea about the common

CRM strategies adopted by the pharmaceutical firms, was formulated. Detailed data

about the CRM and E-CRM strategies adopted by the selected pharmaceutical firms

was taken from the information available on the website of the ten pharmaceutical

firms selected for this study. The data that was not available through websites was

collected through an opinion survey through personal interview with the area sales

managers of the selected firms.Total 50 sales managers, 5 from each firm covering

areas of North, West, East, South and Central Delhi sales territories were selected

for the study.

The firms selected for this study are:

1) RANBAXY PHARMACEUTICALS

2) Dr. REDDY’S LAB

3) SUN PHARMACEUTICALS

4) LUPIN INDUSTRIES

5) CIPLA

6) AURBINDO PHARMA

7) GLAXO SMITHKLIME BEECHAM

8) WOCKHARDT INDUSTRIES

9) CADILA HEALTH CARE

10) AVENTIS PHARMA


REVIEW OF LITERATURE

L.B.Yarmoff (2001) The author has found that although MR will always be the

back bone of the pharma sales and marketing but the use of internet along with

specialized software such as CRM solutions, have started developing as an alternate

source of information for the prescribers.

Peters&Peters (2002) In this book the authors have focused on the importance of

CRM in Pharmaceutical selling. The book highlights the importance of the concept

of ‘personalisation’ in pharma sector. The authors have pointed out that instead of

taking a ‘mass customization’ or ‘canned sales presentation’ approach towards every

doctor. The MRs should plan customized, individualized sales calls on doctors,

based on their needs.

O.Muntean (2004) In this article the author highlighted the importance of data

warehousing. Since information is the most important asset for a pharma firm

therefore pharma firms are realizing the importance of data warehousing and analysis

in improving the effectiveness of sales and marketing. The author mentions that

customer data repositories (CDR) are important to fulfill the needs of customer

relationship management (CRM).

M. Bernstein (2004) The article discusses about the benefits of having a realistic

CRM processes rather than idealistic ones, for Pharma companies. According to the

author ‘Ideal ’ CRM solution is not always feasible and CRM has over promised

and under delivered benefits to its practitioners. A well designed customer- centric

CRM system, helps the Pharma firms in building a brand architecture, brand advocacy

that presents a single face to the customer.

J.F.Kros,et.al (2007) The authors have found that employee education is a must for

the successful implementation as well as effective results for any type of CRM

system. The authors commented that although the operational aspects of the CRM

can be studied and implemented well but as the pharma firm adopt and implement

the CRM solution, its coordination with business functions and achieving desired

positive results on sales performance, is yet to be seen.

V.Troy(2008) In his landmark thesis, in the field of CRM, the researcher has found

that CRM is essentially the antithesis of traditional loyalty marketing which suggests

that stronger emotional bonds are fostered on the basis of good or excellent customer

service. The researcher has concluded that good service provided by a firm increases

the level of emotional bond/loyalty between the customer & marketer.


J.Wiltrout (2009) The author has suggested that instead of adopting a generalized

CRM strategy, the pharma companies should focus on PRM (Physician Relationship

Marketing) which focuses on delivering the right message to the right doctor at the

right time. This involves creating personalized messages, content and services to

fulfill the needs of specific, targeted physicians.

Sinha & Kaushik (2010) In this paper the author has identified the types/variations

of CRM systems, available for use by the Pharma firms. The author has also pointed

out a crucial fact that although there are many benefits of CRM to the pharma sector,

But there are many roadblocks too, the major ones being: there proper training,

implementation & updation of data on regular basis by the field force.

C.D.Thompson (2012) The author points out that the Pharmaceutical industry is

adapting to the changing business landscape via the use of innovative applications

such as CRM, data mining and personal health care portals to gather relevant data

.Therefore taking an integrated approach of offline and online CRM methodology

will help these firms to combat competition as well as maintain costs.

Pathak & Bhola (2014) The researchers have tried to study the impact of CRM

parameters on business outcomes. The study indicates that the use of CRM platform

and sales force mobility tools, has improved the quality of interaction between all

the stakeholders in pharma marketing. The application of CRM solutions will upgrade

the role of an MR from being a messanger to being a relationship manager. The

changes in pharmaceutical marketing scenario post patent regime in India and after

the implementation of marketing code of conduct in 2012 have not been studied in

depth in any of the latest research works carried out in this field. Further no company

specific or comparative analysis of the marketing or CRM strategies of

pharmaceutical companies in India has been documented so far. Studies on the impact

of contemporary methods of pharmaceutical marketing and promotion tactics, have

not been much studied in India. Especially after the introduction of Information

Technology solutions such as CRM systems, mobility solutions, SFA and ERP

software, SaaS etc. In this paper an attempt has been made to abridge the identified

gap in current industry practices and research studies.

EVALUATION OF PHARMACEUTICAL MARKETING STRATEGIES

A) THE TRADITIONAL VIEW- SELLING BASED APPROACH

Pharma firms usually bear a huge expenditure on marketing, especially on the sales

efforts. However, there has been a spurt in such activities in the recent years because


of an increased focus of the Pharma firms on sales for formulations. In Pharmaceutical

industry majority of firms work on monthly, bimonthly or quarterly sales promotion

cycles and promotional resources are carefully allocated to ensure generation of

maximum sales for the company.

These companies have always adopted a common set of marketing strategies for

promotion(Kaur&Saluja). The most popular in-field marketing tactics include:

Giving free samples of the drug to the doctors, providing details of their products

through journal articles or opinion leaders, giving away gifts that hold the company

logo or details of one or multiple drugs, sponsoring continuing medical education

(CMEs), seminars and conferences in the respective medical fields. The monitoring

PHARMACEUTICALS FIRM

MR conducts pre-call chemist survey to make

customer list and post-call survey to check

prescription generation from the doctor

CHEMIST

MEDICAL

REPRESENTATIVE (MR)

DOCTOR

Mar

ket f

eedb

ack

gene

rate

d fr

om c

hem

ist i

s

used

for

des

igni

ng s

ales

strat

egie

sProvides sales training to its M

Rs and

equips them prom

otional tactics

Writes brand prescription w

hich is

honoured by the chemist

Use

s de

tailin

g &

oth

er f

orm

s of

pro

mot

iona

l

tact

ics

to inf

luen

ce p

resc

ript

ion

beha

viou

r

Fig 2. Traditional; selling focused marketing strategy in Pharmaceutical industry


of prescription is done through chemist. Since the beginning of the industry, personal

selling through Medical Representatives (MRs) or Pharmaceutical representatives

is the major tactic of promotion used by almost every Pharma company. Typically

the expense of the sales force of any pharmaceutical company comprises anything

ranging from 15-20% of the annual product revenue. Pharmaceuticals is an area

where scale delivers clear advantage in sales and marketing. Sales per representative

typically rise with company size. Efficiency of marketing that generally absorbs 30-

35% of revenue (greater than Research and Development) has a major impact on

company value. In selling focused marketing strategy the actual end user i.e. the

patient is often ignored or paid very less attention because they were not considered

as a customer by the pharma firm, they were just the buyers/payers. This strategy

was focused primarily on primary customers i.e. doctors who prescribed the product

and than on secondary customers i.e. chemist who gave orders and stocked the

product. The only objective of meeting the chemists, was to ensure product

availability so that the brand prescription generated is not substituted by some other

brand or generic molecule.

After the introduction of Product patent Regime in 2005, the whole scenario of

pharmaceutical marketing and promotion experienced a paradigm shift. The focus

shifted from product orientation to customer orientation. Due to the entry of more

international players in the market, the matrix of success for pharmaceutical

marketing shifted perceptibly from revenue generation to profitability from each

customer. The major premise on which the pharmaceutical marketing is based,is

the customer list that a sales/medical representative prepares for his or her sales

territory and the customer calls are planned in accordance with this customer list.

Generally the representatives do not enlist into the call plan, the doctors who do not

prescribe their products, and devote extra time and effort on doctors who are most

responsive to their products. The reason for the same was lack of appropriate

information about the prescription pattern and prescribing habits of the doctors before

they prepared for the sales calls to the doctors. The information generated from the

chemist was very limited and not completely reliable. The pharma companies started

realizing that if their MRs are equipped with the right and timely information their

efficiency can be improved. While calling upon doctors, they can carry out detailing

and sampling of only the selected brands from the entire product portfolio of the

company depending upon the prescription habits of the doctor. This would result in

higher customer profitability.


This lead to the origination of the concept of customer relationship management

(CRM) in pharmaceutical industry. The first and the most important change that

CRM brought in pharma marketing approach was that the parameters of the concept

of ‘customer’ was redefined for the pharmaceutical sector. The Pharma companies

started considering doctors and chemist as the primary customers and patients (who

were completely ignored in the selling based approach) were now being considered

as secondary customers.

CRM STRATEGY OF A PHARMACEUTICAL FIRM

Health awareness camps,

personal contact programs,

interactive sessions through

Patient health care

portals(PHCPs)

MR’s stock taking and

order booking visits.

Online association through

ERP, SCM etc.

MR’s detailing visits (offline

CRM), online detailing

(e-CRM), online and offline

seminars, conferences,

samples, gifts etc.

PATIENTS(SECONDARY

CUSTOMERS)

CHANNEL PARTNERS,

ESPECIALLY RETAILERS

(PRIMARY CUSTOMERS)

CRM objective: building

brand image, brand

preference and brand loyalty

CRM objective: making

the brand available,

improving primary sales

CRM objective: generate

prescription, generating

secondary sales

DOCTORS(PRIMARY

CUSTOMERS)

Fig 3. CRM strategy of a Pharmaceutical Firm (Contemporary view)

B) THE CONTEMPORARY VIEW-EMERGENCE OF PHARMACEUTICAL

CRM STRATEGY

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is the strategic process of shaping the

interactions between a company and its customers with the goal of maximizing

current and lifetime value of customers for the company as well as maximizing,

satisfaction for customers. CRM is a complex set of activities that together form the


basis for a sustainable and hard-to-imitate competitive advantage because it involves

vital customer-focused strategies. Foundation of CRM in the pharmaceutical industry

is based on the prescribers (i.e. doctor) and sales force relationship which is

substantiated by the distribution channel members especially the retailer i.e. the

Chemist. Every year the pharmaceutical firms spend a large amount of money on

marketing communication directed towards physicians. The concept of sales and

Marketing automation has put behind the age old approach to selling and marketing

of pharmaceutical products. Re engineering of the sales processes through specialized

software like sales force CRM and the help of cloud computing model, has reduced

the burden on sales leaders & managers who were facing mounting pressure to

improve sales, win new deals and yet remain competitive enough to keep the arch

rivals at bay. In this entire Eco system, CRM plays a vital role to accelerate production,

drug innovation and hence pharmaceutical operations. As discussed earlier MRs

play the most important role in the sales cycle and the future decision making is

highly dependent upon tracking their day to day performance & field activities.

Data related to the number of doctor calls made, detailing notes, in-call discussions,

personal order booked(POB), sampling stocks etc. needs to be updated on daily

basis. Earlier MRs used to generate hand written reports on prescribed formats and

were posted on weekly or monthly basis to the head office. These reports were

received, filed and analyzed by the head office staff. The whole process was not

only very time consuming, tedious and elaborate but human errors often led to delayed

response to MRs product related queries and the managers could keep no control

over the disbursal of samples and gifts to the doctors.Companies, which implement

CRM, not only increase the efficiency of their sales and marketing efforts, but also

enhance their customer’s experience and loyalty towards the pharmaceutical

company.

The introduction of CRM concept, especially the E-CRM through mobility solutions

have made this whole reporting and updating process easier for the MRs as well

their managers. Now MRs carry a mobile version of CRM software, that helps them

to maintain data integrity, updating data while in calls or waiting for them. Keeping

a track of all detailing notes, data of samples/gifts given to the doctors etc. The

cloud model of CRM helps to unify the sales data generated on daily basis by the

entire sales team across the countries & continents and hence track end to end sales


RESULTS AND FINDINGS OF THE STUDY

1) All the firms selected for the study have adopted E-CRM along with the traditional

model of CRM, popularly known as MR detailing presentation.

2) The process of pharma marketing has significantly changed over the last few

decades. From a product or production oriented approach it has evolved into a

customer focused relationship marketing based approach.

INTERACTION

Selects a suitable brand

from company’s

portfolio for promotion

to the customer.

Prepares a

call plan

IDENTIFYMR

prepares a customer List

of the Doctors in his/her

sales territory.

DIFFERENTIATE

Segments the customers

into high/low priority

categories based on

chemist survey

CUSTOMIZATION

Monitors prescription

from the nearby chemist

and brings in desired

changes in sales call/

plan, if required.

Makes follow

up calls on

regular basis

Fig: 4. IDIC model used for traditional or offline CRM strategy adopted by allselected

pharmaceutical firms

3) The Pharma industry now adopts the IDIC model of CRM proposed by Peepers

& Rogers in 2004. The main aspect of this model and the major reason for its

appropriate applicability to the Pharmaceutical industry is that, that this model helps

build a closer one to one relationships with customers(which is the exact requirement

of Pharma marketing), by following the step by step approach.

3) All firms selected for this study have adopted one or the other software to enhance

and synergise its CRM activities.


CRM STRATEGIES ADOPTED BY THE FIRM

Name of the Patient Relationship Relationship In-Clinic E-CRM CRM Benefits

Pharma Firm Awareness Building with Building Activity Adopted Software Achieved

Health Doctors through Activity at Frome-

Campaigns Mr Visits Chemist level CRM

Organized

Ranbaxy Yes High Medium High Yes Cirrius A) Increased

Intensity Intensity CRM digital MR Pharma

platform on productivity.

Microsoft Doctor coverage

Azure increased upto

90% Improved

in-clinic

presentations.

B) 60% doctors

involved in

online

interactions

with the firm.

DRL Yes High High High Yes Sales Force A) Mobile app

Intensity Intensity CRM from has increased

Bodhtree. the efficiency of

Data the MR by

integration reducing the time

engine ‘Midas’ required to enter

integrated with daily reports. MR

the existing productivity

mail, calender increased by

and SAP 6-8% within 8

systems. months of

adopting

E-CRM.

B) Company’s

revenue is

expected to

increase up to

30% within one

year of adopting

E-CRM.

SUN Yes High Medium High Yes Sales Force A) Regular

Intensity Intensity Automation customer profile

(SFA) updates have


improved

relationships

with core

customers.

B) Customer

centric strategies

have helped the

firm achieve no. 1

position.

LUPIN Yes Medium Low Medium Yes SAP A) MRs equipped

Intensity Intensity followed by with PDAs are

SCM able to deliver

followed by hi-tech product

CRM related in-clinic

solutions to presentation.

substantiate

SFA B) Company is

able to establish a

specialist image

among doctors

CIPLA Yes High High High Yes SFA & CRM A) Channelized

Intensity Instensity Solutions. digitization of

Cirrius medical

Pharma engagements.

CRM digital B) Phyzii

platform on engagement

Microsoft platform, a USP

Azure of Cipla’s CRM

helps fuel

effective

interactions

between the

company & its

customers.

AURBINDO Yes High High Medium Yes Cedegim A)The

Intensity Intensity Relationship commercial teams

management, maximize their

mobile interactions with

intelligence the stakeholders

for iPad, through CRM’s

software as a intuitive

service (SaaS) Graphical User

solution,CRM Interface (GUI),

tool that helps to


present vivid

multimedia

presentations.

B) The

unparalleled

hierarchical

architecture

model offered by

CRM solutions

enable the

company to

achieve various

commercial

strategies from

one centralized

platform.

GSK Yes High Medium Low Yes Cloud Based A) The firm now

Intensity Intensity digital provides globally

marketing standardized

platform, processes,

Global scalable assets

Digital and advanced

Service (GDS) Analytics to its

created by external as well

InfoSys, as internal

India. customers.

E-CRM B) The ‘Power

platform Center’ manages

Power consumer

Center, information,

Created by identifies and

Astute reports issues and

trends and

manages e-mail,

Solutions

fulfillment,

correspondence

and quality

feedback. It also

integrates

inquires from

multiple

communication

channels into one


consumer

information

system.

Wockhardt Yes High Medium Medium Yes ERP A) A single

Intensity Intensity followed by unified data

SAP followed platform and

by SAP CRM standardized

business

processes have

eliminated date

entry redundancy

and saved

valuable data in

real-time, which

enables the firm

to execute these

tasks more

efficiently.

B) The

centralized

system ensures

that information

across the

business is

available to the

management

professionals in

form of detailed

reports and not

just as a raw data

and hence

decision making

has become easier

and quicker and

this has increased

the company’s

visibility with

doctors as well as

chemists.

CADILA Yes High High Medium Yes ERP A) ERP has

Intensity Intensity SFA facilitated the

CRM, From flow of

SAP information

Germany within as well as

outside the


organization

wherein channel

partners such as

distributors,

stockists&

chemists, all are

integrated with

each other in form

of a single

channel of

communication.

B) Integration of

SFA & CRM

provides a view

of the stock

inventory at each

level in the

distribution chain,

stocks liquidated

at each level,

stocks kept on

hold due to some

reason and a

complete

overview of the

prescription

pattern from the

selected target

market doctors

and performance

monitoring of the

MR.

AVENTIS No Medium Low Low Yes (ETMS) A) ETMS has

Intensity Instensity Electronic enabled the

Territory company to

Management manage its sales

System territories, key

integrated accounts and

into CRM marketing

solutions campaigns, along

with flexible

reporting and

analysis,

extensive

data sharing

capabilities.


B) The ability to

deploy ETMS on

mobile platforms

such as notebooks,

PDAs and tablets

along with the

smart phones has

enabled the firm to

track the location

of its MR and keep

a check on false

reporting.

High Intensity= 3 Visits /Week,

Medium Intensity=2 Visits/Week

Low Intensity=1Visit/Week

High= Mamimum use of Samples,Gifts,CMEs, Sponsorhsips

Medium= Less use of Samples, Gifts, CMEs, Sponsorships

Low= Negligible use of Samples, Gifts,CMEs, Sponsorships

CONCLUSION

MRs who earlier acted as the backbone for the Indian Pharma sector ,are finding it

very hard to compete, and make every interaction with doctors, count. Today the

Pharma companies that leverage technology solutions such as ERP, CRM, mobility

solutions, only have the scope of survival in future. The introduction of CRM concept,

especially the E-CRM through mobility solutions have made the whole planning,

presenting, reporting and updating process easier for the MRs as well as their

managers. The most popular and best fit model of CRM, to the Pharma industry is

that of IDIC model proposed by Peepers & Rogers in 2004. Each of the selected

company has almost similar strategy as far as offline CRM is concerned. Regular

visits by MRs, conducting CMEs, Seminars, expert panel discussions, distributing

samples and gifts, giving sponsorships for Medical conferences etc. are the common

tactics still prevalent with almost all the firms. Online CRM has made in roads into

the CRM strategy of every firm selected for this research. All the selected firms are

using SFA, CRM & ERP software from some national or international vendor. Almost

every company has opted for the mobile version of these CRM solutions and each

one of them have seen their sales team’s efficiency, effectiveness and productivity

improve after the implementation of the E-CRM. In fact technology adaptation is

no longer a matter of choice anymore; it has become a compulsion. But ironically


enough despite of putting huge investments and efforts into E-CRM solutions,

majority of the selected firms are not realizing the desired ROI(Return on Investment)

from them because the sales force of the companies are still finding it difficult to

implement and update the CRM requirements on regular basis. Except Glaxo and

Aventis(MNCs), sales people of the Indian pharma firms still feel uncomfortable in

implementing the CRM modules in their daily working routine because they feel

that they are under trained for the same.

SUGGESTIONS

1) Although Indian Pharma industry has adopted the newer technology to build

and enhance its relationship with doctors but the ironic fact is that, it is still

staggering with the proper and effective implementation of the selected CRM

Software(majority of company people whose opinion was sought in this study

felt ill equipped to update their CRM regularly). The reason for the same is

lack of willingness on part of the sales team (as found during personal

interactions with the sales managers of these firms), to accept and adopt this

new technology. It is therefore suggested that before buying or implementing

the CRM solutions, pharma firms must take an opinion survey of the sales

team (among the companies surveyed only people from Glaxo and Aventis

mentioned that their opinion was sought before implementing IT software).

2) Since the sales team has to work upon, update and manage the CRM software

on daily basis. Therefore it is suggested that firms must set up a separate

department at least during initial stages of CRM implementation. This

department should have members from sales, marketing, product management

and IT departments who work in unison to train and support the sales team by

solving their teething problems regarding the effective use and implementation

of CRM and make them understand that how they can increase their in-call

efficiency and sales performance by applying the same.

3) If these companies take a willful adoption approach instead of a forced adoption

approach, as far as implementing IT tools, techniques and software is concerned,

than probably the companies will be able to get higher returns on investment

from them(the benefits found in this opinion survey were far less than firm’s

expectations).

4) Further it is suggested that companies should not completely phase out

traditional methods of promotion. Rather the E-CRM strategy should be such


that it substantiates the impact of CRM strategy through personal relationship

development between MRs and Doctors .

5) Last but not the least it is suggested that pharma firms should design a proper

module based CRM training program. Quarterly monitoring and review of the

same is essential to record the progress of actual implementation of CRM, in

sales calls by the sales team.

LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY

It is a qualitative research therefore the generalizations/findings have been made

based on the data collected from the company websites (which at times is not updated

regularly) and opinion sought from the sales force of the selected firms only. Since

E-CRM is in initial phases of implementation in many firms, and this is just a

preliminary study of its expected and actual benefits. Therefore its detailed and

long term benefits to the selected firms could not be studied at this time and this

leaves a scope for future and further research. Chances of respondents biased or

prejudiced opinion can not be ignored.

REFERENCES

[1] Amit Tripathi.( 2004, July 27) Sun Pharma Gives Sales Force A Technology

Dose Retrieved From www.cxotoday.com.

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