Improving Communications and Cutting
Costs with
a Complete Solution
the company Biogen is a global biotechnology company specializing
in discovering and developing
drugs for human health care through genetic engineering. Established
in 1978, the company operates independently and strategically researches,
develops, manufactures, and markets its own products. Biogen’s
research and development activities are focused on novel products
to treat inflammatory and autoimmune diseases, neurological diseases,
cancer, fibrosis and congestive heart failure. The company also
licenses drugs it has developed to other top pharmaceutical companies
such as Schering-Plough, Merck and Abbott Laboratories.
The company has its headquarters in Cambridge, Massachusetts and
has additional offices in Canada, Australia, Japan and throughout
Europe. The company currently employs over 4,000 employees worldwide.
the challenge
The worldwide pharmaceutical market is highly competitive. Rising
drug development and operating costs as well as fierce competition
among rival companies has accelerated the need to curb operating
expenses, including communications costs. In this environment, Biogen
challenge is to remain at the forefront of technology while putting
in place an infrastructure that allows for efficient use of administrative
resources.
For Biogen, document distribution and delivery is mission-critical
for its R&D. Many of the company’s research centers are
off-site and rely on fax communication rather than email to maintain
the integrity of confidential material and research data. It’s
essential that the volume of documents that the company generates
— study protocols, research coordination, reporting and updates,
and general corporate communications — are delivered unaltered
and with confirmation of receipt.
A solution was needed to enhance the company’s competitive
edge and reduce administrative costs at the same time. Furthermore,
their previous document delivery infrastructure didn’t meet
advanced demands for efficiency and flexibility.
Biogen’s goal in
selecting Venali was to leverage its existing infrastructure
and investments. Due to Venali’s flexibility and customized
integration, Biogen now operates and communicates more efficiently,
both internally and externally, when sending and receiving
urgent documents.
Biogen also wanted
to improve the process of prescription requests and information
submittals from doctors. The previous solution, whereby customers
faxed requests that were manually entered into a database, was
cumbersome to internal departments. A fax to email solution
was needed to integrate these databases into the company’s
corporate CRM application, enabling the company to provide better
customer service for increased long-term sales.
The venali solution
Internet Fax messaging is a cost-efficient, secure and reliable
method for corporate communications. Biogen chose Internet Fax because
it offers superior benefits over a conventional fax server solution
without the need for new capital investment and associated maintenance
costs. The company looked at several competitors offering an Internet
Fax solution, but Venali was able to accommodate Biogen’s needs
by providing a smooth, seamless integration into their Lotus Notes
system, and by offering feature-rich fax functions that are secure
and reliable. Venali offered a cost-effective, easy to implement,
and scalable solution for a growing user base.
Venali helped Biogen create a customized user interface in Lotus
Notes by adding a fax option for sending documents quickly and easily
– the user just clicks the “fax” button from the
application. This solution enables the company’s personnel
to conveniently deliver their corporate communications to multiple
sites simultaneously and to track delivery of these documents through
the Venali Account Management Center.
Venali was also able to incorporate the company’s vast quantity
of existing toll-free company numbers, and provide additional fax
numbers in their local area code, as well as many U.S. cities, France
and Germany.
