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 EASY AND COMPREHENSIVE IT ADMINISTRATION AT NOMECO
2008-10-07
A solution from Efecte gave Denmark's biggest pharmaceuticals supplier a better service desk and easier administration of the IT infrastructure. But the solution also functions as a support tool for the company's product development department, creates clarity for its HR staff, and even helps to manage the practical maintenance of the physical facilities.
A large proportion of the medical supplies on the shelves of Danish pharmacies are supplied by Nomeco, Denmark's biggest pharmaceuticals distributor. This places great demands on the company's IT infrastructure. Accordingly, in 2005, IT director Preben Nielsen launched a project designed to improve the company's service desk with the help of incident management.
"We already had a rather basic, Lotus Notes-based help desk system. It worked well enough, but it required a lot of data entries in the daily routine," he explains.
Projects ended up as slips of paper
But as Nomeco’s IT staff learned more about how the principles behind ITIL (IT Infrastructure Library) could streamline and structure their work, Preben Nielsen and his colleagues had to recognise that their ongoing efforts were not being adequately registered.
"Many projects ended up as slips of paper on the desks, because it took too long to enter them into the help desk system. That meant we weren't able to systematically keep track of events, or measure how efficiently we were serving our colleagues in practice," he explains.
Solution impressed the Danish consultants
In the meantime, Tamro, the Finnish parent company of Nomeco Denmark, had implemented an ERP for IT solution developed by Efecte which simplified the administration of IT infrastructure, processes and support services, as well as providing correct information as a basis for development and new investments. The solution automatically keeps track of hardware, software, contracts and network units.
"Both we and our external ITIL consultants were impressed when we took a closer look at the solution. The consultants actually assessed that there were no other systems around which were technically on a par with Efecte's solution. And certainly not at the price at which we could obtain it," says Preben Nielsen.
Nine out of ten tasks are completed on time
As their Finnish colleagues were enthusiastic about the solution, Nomeco decided it would also sign a contract with Efecte. The solution was implemented in March 2007, and according to Preben Nielsen, it has operated faultlessly ever since.
"Today, we can measure that more than 90 percent of all the service desk's task requests are solved punctually, even in periods when we are short-staffed or have a high staff turnover. That is a lot higher than the 60-65 percent which is the standard level in most other companies. Our colleagues are also more satisfied with the work of the service desk than previously. Personally, I am in no doubt that the solution has both improved our efficiency and raised the quality of the work we carry out," says Preben.
Easy tool management
When Efecte opened its Danish office in 2007, it made co-operation on the ongoing system development even more convenient. For even though Nomeco utilises Efecte's Service Management solution along traditional lines – i.e. incident management and unit handling with the help of the solution's Configuration Management Database (CMDB) – Preben Nielsen and his colleagues were thinking further ahead.
Today, the solution also functions, for example, as a support tool in the ongoing developmental work, as all support tasks can be logged in the systems as incidents. This secures a clear picture of which staff members are handling which support tasks, and how far they have progressed.
"But the software is extreme versatile, so we can use it to handle more than just IT-related tasks – we use it, for example, to administer tools such as telephones, internet connections, cars, newspaper subscriptions, key cards and so on. It streamlines the administrative work when staff join or leave the company," says Preben Nielsen.
Advantages
- Centralised, dynamic monitoring of support tasks, hardware and installed applications
- Facilitates faster, higher-quality work by the service desk
- Versatile and flexible solution which can be used to administer more than just IT-related tasks, such as staff requisites and tools
- Easy integration with other IT infrastructure
- Simple and straightforward user interface
About Nomeco A/S
Nomeco A/S is Denmark's leading pharmaceuticals supplier, and has 815 staff members, divided between the company’s head office in Copenhagen, a warehouse in Brøndby, Site Halmtorvet (formerly Unikem), and branches in Odense, Aarhus, Kolding and Aalborg. Nomeco has a turnover of more than DKK 10 billion, and is owned by the Finnish-based company Tamro, which in turn is part of the German Phoenix group: the world's fifth-largest pharmaceuticals supplier.
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