From Excel to an industry platform

A pharmaceutical group came to us because its employees were spending too much time processing data by hand. Excel was slowing them down and making cooperation between departments difficult. We launched an internal system in three months. Over four years, we helped the client build a technology business of its own: a commercial platform and a team that took full responsibility for its development.

When Excel gets in the way

The group included manufacturing, logistics and trading companies that needed data from many sources. Employees manually processed files from government registers and business partners, combined the data in Excel, and passed the spreadsheets to other departments.

The data itself was messy. Different sources described the same product in different ways, mixing several properties, numbers and abbreviations in one field. Packaging descriptions, translated into English, might read “10 pcs – vials – cardboard packs”, “cart. pk. of 10 vls” or “10 vials in a cardboard pack”. An experienced specialist could understand all three, but searching, comparing and exchanging data required each property to be stored separately. Every new import meant more work.

One government register alone contained over a million records. Excel was slow, files travelled between colleagues, and in shared spreadsheets one person’s filters and notes got in everyone else’s way.

Turning inconsistent data into structured records

We built a system that accepted data from different sources and formats, including Excel, CSV and TSV, and converted it into a common structure. Each property went into its own database field. Employees received personal workspaces where they could make selections and save notes without affecting their colleagues.

Machine learning handled the incoming records. When the system’s confidence fell below a threshold, it sent the record to a specialist, who could confirm or correct the proposed interpretation. The system remembered that mapping and applied it to future imports, gradually learning from people’s decisions.

Work that had occupied around ten employees could now be handled by the system and one or two specialists reviewing difficult cases. Errors fell substantially and data processing became much faster. The first version went live in three months: the client needed relief from the spreadsheets quickly.

Data processing that once needed around ten people now needed the system and one or two specialists.

The wider market needed it too

We then opened the system to the group’s partners. Suppliers, logistics companies and pharmacy chains received accounts with access to the information they needed, and could contribute their own data.

One database served very different purposes. A logistics specialist needed a box’s weight, stacking rules and storage temperature. A merchandiser needed retail packaging dimensions to plan shelf space. A pharmacist needed product details and dispensing requirements. All of this information was already available in a common structure.

Partners could work through the web interface, import and export Excel, CSV or TSV files, or connect their systems directly through an API. This let them use the platform in a way that suited their operations and gradually automate their own data exchange.

The client then offered subscriptions to other companies across the pharmaceutical market, with plans for different needs. Subscribers received structured information they would otherwise have to collect themselves, and a way to exchange it with other participants. The internal system became a commercial product with its own brand.

Building the team to take it forward

The group had no experience of developing software in-house. As the product grew, we helped it build that capability and gradually take ownership of the system.

We defined roles, wrote job descriptions and conducted technical interviews with candidates found by the client’s HR team. New hires worked at the client’s office under our remote supervision, learning the system through real tasks. As they gained experience, we formed development and analytics teams and handed over more responsibility. A technical leader eventually emerged from within the team.

The new department reached 20 people: around 12 technical specialists, alongside staff responsible for data, user support and subscription sales. During the third year, the team took over most development; we stayed involved for roughly another year to help with specific issues.

A project that began as a way out of difficult spreadsheets became a technology business. We handed the system over in full, and Pharm-portal continued to operate and develop independently.