Cegedim Dendrite expands CRM operations in India

Mobile intelligence enables companies to capture data easily and build institutional knowledge. The solution provides sales forces with a robust set of customer relationship management capabilities that promotes team selling, multi-channel customer management, information sharing, field reporting, and analytics — all within a life science-tailored mobile application that is easy to use.  

Adil Vazifdar, account director of Cegedim Dendrite in India, says, “India is one of the seven most important emerging markets in life sciences. The domestic market is estimated to grow at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 10 percent per annum over the next 5-6 years and is expected to touch $13-15 billion (Rs 60,256-69,525 crore) by 2015. When considering the kind of complexity that presently prevails in the market place with more than 600,000 doctors and an equal number of chemists it is no wonder that most life sciences companies in India are looking at the best of breed customer relationship management (CRM) solution.”

“Mobile intelligence is a modular system that allows companies the flexibility to choose the most appropriate functionality for the various roles in the organization and the diverse teams. It offers modules that meet specific and evolving needs of the life sciences customers around campaign management, key account management, institutional sales (hospital) management and key opinion leader management. Similar flexibility is provided from a technology perspective since the system is available either as a SaaS (software as a service) offering or as an on-premise solution offering. It is available on various devices – desktops, laptops, netbooks and other mobile devices like the PDA, Blackberry and the iPhone,” adds Vazifdar.

Cegedim’s India strategy is to cater to companies spanning across the entire life sciences spectrum. “We are seeing different needs depending on where a company is in the sales force effectiveness maturity cycle. On the one hand, there are multi-national companies for whom CRM initiatives are driven at a global and regional level and there is a greater focus on optimizing resources, especially if they are in the growth phase; on the other hand, some of the companies have been through the first phase of call tracking and are now looking at new areas like superior targeting and segmentation, improved effectiveness of campaigns, and new team structures to address the changing landscape. Our strategy is to focus on these key areas of needs,” says Vazifdar.  

Having a market share of 35 percent in the life sciences space, Cegedim Dendrite had invested in an offshore development center in Bangalore more than five years ago. With close to 400 employees, the Global Solution Center currently provides services ranging from product development to end-user support.

Cegedim Dendrite’s activities are already activated in South America and Africa. So far, APAC is the largest market for the company. Cegedim has already established its presence in markets like Japan, Korea, Australia, China and South-East Asia. In the APAC region, India and China are the clear focus; and Korea, Thailand and Vietnam will also be given importance in the future.

— Nayantara Som in Mumbai