Management Summary
Since 2001, the slogan „Surely there's something by ratiopharm!“ is winning the pharmaceutical company from Ulm publicity. The company's web portal offers patients, doctors and pharmacists extensive information on health issues. Professionals have their own private zone which makes it easier for them to obtain information. ratiopharm operates its international company intranet with more than 350 editors, as well as about 20 websites in different countries based on the innovative Web content management platform CONTENS.
Situation
The pharmaceutical company ratiopharm was one of the first in its industry to appear on the Internet. In order to maintain their leading role within the online sector, a revision of the previous online presence to meet new expectations was necessary.
By considering all marketing aspects of the company, the service provider developed a concept for the new Internet appearance. The goal: a ”state of the art" information platform on the Internet regarding the topic of medicine.
Solution
ratiopharms' significant technical requirements impelled them to use the Web content management system CONTENS. Numerous ratiopharm-specific applications of the project demanded a CMS as well, ensuring easy integration and administration of all those modules.
The flexible extensibility and the modular concept of CONTENS offer the ideal basis for ongoing changes due to new developments. The user interface, which was designed considering usability aspects, was another key reason to decide on CONTENS. Content is integrated quickly and updated within the ratiopharm system, all without programming knowledge or costly training. The plausible WYSIWYG user interface by CONTENS allows the editors of the ratiopharm website to update Web content, as well as react quickly and easily to new challenges posed by the user. New products can be published online quickly. Through the easy and intuitive administrative interface by CONTENS, the number of editors at ratiopharm grew from 50 to more than 350.
The website is impressive in the way it appeals to visitors' emotions, with its appropriate design and the added high utilization of the online presence. Besides information about the company and more than 750 pharmaceutical products, interested visitors will find an online guide. This guide helps laymen to learn more about symptoms and enables them to better understand experts. In addition, the company provides customers with tips on health care, and a search engine on drugs, which indicates active ingredients as well as information regarding package sizes and prices.
Complete search areas are available to doctors and pharmacists, which significantly facilitates the search for information for these professionals. Additionally, ratiopharm offers a separate search area for specialized journalists which provides special information about ratiopharm and topics on medicine for media representatives. All registered users have several modules at their disposal, allowing them to order advertising materials, or to order from an online shop; physicians’ offices and pharmacies can utilize a form-making module. The number of registered doctors and pharmacists continues to grow. The success of the website is immense concerning the growing number of users and the feedback received.
Within the scope of an international concept, other ratiopharm websites were also realized based on CONTENS after the relaunch. No matter which country, all visitors enter the central product database, the core of ratiopharm, from their own applications: a process which is unparalleled when compared to other similar companies. The question “What do they call my prescription abroad?” will become a thing of the past. The centralized installation facilitates administration and has reduced costs significantly.
Due to the good experiences during the international implementation of CONTENS, ratiopharm decided to also establish the CMS in the Intranet. As well as an area accessible for all coworkers, the Intranet of ratiopharm also has closed areas, so-called lounges. These lounges support international cooperation between coworkers during projects and offer, among other things, integrated forums, document administration, and virtual project areas.