The Client: Smith & Nephew

Smith & Nephew, a medical technology business specializing in orthopaedics, endoscopy and advanced wound management products, is dedicated to helping improve people’s lives. Recognized as a global leader, Smith & Nephew is one of the world’s fastest growing orthopaedics companies.

Smith & Nephew prides itself on the strength of its relationships with its surgeons and professional healthcare customers, with whom its name is synonymous with high standards of performance, innovation and trust. Smith & Nephew has over 8,500 employees and operates in 33 countries around the world, generating annual revenue of $2.3 billion.

The Situation

Smith & Nephew’s process of sending literature to customers and prospects – from creation to delivery – was taking too long. It took 33-steps and approximately four and a half months to create collateral. In addition to wasted time, Smith & Nephew was dealing with expensive waste of material due to changes in literature that often made pre-printed material obsolete. The waste was leading to increased costs, decreased employee efficiency and an overall slow selling process from start to finish.

The Solution

Smith & Nephew rolled out TOTUS to its U.S. sales force in March of 2005. Immediately, the lengthy 33-step procedure for creating materials was eliminated. The company’s sales force can now complete the process of sending literature to customers and prospects in four easy steps.

The print-on-demand feature allows Smith & Nephew more flexibility with literature, enabling sales professionals to print materials as they need them, reducing waste. The company has experienced a dramatic decrease in literature costs. It was able to implement a re-branding of all sales materials for millions of dollars less than it would have cost with the traditional printing process.

Smith & Nephew uses TOTUS to distribute materials all over the world, changing languages and paper formats with the click of a button. The company can also customize each piece of material sent, capture customized data through TOTUS’ detailed reports, and train sales people earlier due to TOTUS’ simple Web-based format. TOTUS’ HTML email and electronic greeting cards have also allowed Smith & Nephew to keep in touch with customers efficiently and effectively. All of this information is kept in a centralized repository that is easy to view and update.

“It’s as easy as shopping online,” said Cooper.

Now, Smith & Nephew’s process of creating, shipping and keeping track of materials is more efficient than ever, further solidifying the company’s important relationships with its customers.