Based in Humlebæk, Denmark,  is the global leader in providing products and services for "intimate healthcare." Working closely with the people who use its products, Coloplast creates solutions that make life easier for those with very personal and private medical conditions related to ostomy, urology, continence, wound, and skincare.

THE PROBLEM

For Coloplast, quality management has always been a top priority. As with many life science organizations, Coloplast is subject to intense regulatory scrutiny, as well as internal pressure to keep up with the company’s own high standards for innovation. Coloplast was ahead of its time when it developed a Lotus Notes-based quality management system (QMS) 15 years ago. When other organizations were still using paper-based methods, Coloplast was an innovator in creating an IT system to track, manage and report on all its quality issues. Yet as the company grew and internal and external demands changed, the increasingly outmoded Lotus Notes technology simply could not keep up – especially when it came to sharing information between different locations across the globe. The platform was not conducive to data sharing, and the information contained in one database at a specific location could not be shared with another database at a different location. For a company with 30 locations worldwide, this scenario created obvious problems.

Coloplast made the decision to phase out its Lotus Notes-based system and start the search for an automated, purpose-built QMS that would centralize the quality process across locations and meet and exceed the demanding and complex needs of a large, growing multinational corporation. The QMS evaluation and selection process was a lengthy one.

The company placed significant emphasis on end-user feedback, the IT department’s opinion on how well the solutions would integrate with legacy systems and the vendors’ ability to go above and beyond for Coloplast.

After a thorough evaluation of multiple offerings, it was clear to the Coloplast team that the TrackWise® enterprise quality management system (EQMS) was the most versatile platform to meet and exceed its needs. Not only did it have a stellar industry-wide reputation among life science companies, but its ease of use, configurability and flexibility to integrate with the company’s existing network and applications setups were better than the competition's.

IMPLEMENTATION PROCESS

The first stage of the implementation process was to migrate Coloplast’s existing customer complaint handling process into the TrackWise system. Another key reason for TrackWise’s success was the team’s ability to easily configure a prototype version that looked just like our system. The other vendors we were working with were either unwilling to do this without additional expense or within a relatively quick timeframe. The TrackWise demo version was up and running in a few days. It allowed us to experience TrackWise firsthand – and its configurability is amazing,” said Asger Dahlgaard, director of quality process.

“Another key reason for TrackWise's success was the team’s ability to easily configure a prototype version that looked just like our system. The other vendors we were working with were either unwilling to do this without additional expense or within a relatively quick timeframe. The TrackWise demo version was up and running in a few days. It allowed us to experience TrackWise firsthand - and its configurability is amazing." - Asger Dahlgaard, Director of Quality Process Development

THE RESULTS

With the customer complaint management process fully deployed in TrackWise, more than 50 of Coloplast’s customer care consultants now rely on the platform for logging and resolution of customer complaints. Benefits realized thus far include:

• Increased performance of the global complaints process. TrackWise has allowed Coloplast to run smoother, more efficient complaint management. Once a major administrative task, with little margin for error, TrackWise has now made the compilation of customer complaints reports much easier across the globe.
• Better preparedness for auditors. Like many life sciences organizations, Coloplast is audited at least once a year by external parties and regulatory authorities. The number of audits increases annually if there are quality-related complaints made. By ensuring that all the required customer complaint data is logged and reported in a timely manner, TrackWise provides a reliable audit trail showing the management, handling and rectification of complaints for when and if a regulatory agency comes calling.
• Easier access to data. Consolidating customer complaint data on one platform has given the local Coloplast team easy access to data no matter where they are located. No longer having to wait hours, or even days for information, with all the complaint handling happening on the same server, information is available in real-time, which makes for better global collaboration and faster overall complaint resolution.

“We chose to replace our customer complaint system first because it is truly a multinational process. Once TrackWise was implemented, we would then have assurance that it would work globally – in our offices in Japan, the United States, the Middle East – everywhere,” said Dahlgaard.