Development and Implementation of In-House CRM for Pharmaceutical Manufacturer

11 August 2025

CRM

Medicine

Sergey Isaev, Director of Digital Business Development at a major pharmaceutical manufacturer, shared insights on developing and implementing a custom CRM system.

Case: The development and implementation of a proprietary CRM system for a pharmaceutical manufacturer became a response to the limitations of standard "boxed" solutions that could not fully satisfy the unique business needs. The project, implemented in 2024, allowed the company to achieve 20% sales growth through process optimization, artificial intelligence integration, and the creation of a unified digital space for managing sales, marketing, and analytics.

From a technical perspective, the system includes: a computer vision model for analyzing product placement in pharmacies, machine learning for employee visit planning, and a modern web interface based on React, ensuring ease of use and scalability. The project combined the company's internal expertise in web development and AI, which made it possible to create a solution that surpasses third-party products in efficiency.

Problems with "Boxed" CRM Solutions

The modern pharmaceutical market places specific requirements on CRM systems that standard solutions often cannot satisfy. The company faced a number of limitations when using ready-made platforms such as Salesforce or Bitrix24. These systems, despite their universality, proved to be either excessive or insufficiently flexible for pharmaceutical manufacturer tasks.

For example, trade marketing functionality and field force management (medical representatives) required significant customizations, which increased costs and implementation timelines. As for external AI/ML solutions offered by contractors, they were often supplied as separate applications, creating integration difficulties and increasing data fragmentation. This led to process fragmentation and reduced interaction efficiency between sales, marketing, and analytics departments.

Disadvantages of ready-made solutions: only 30-40% of functionality is used, making license investments unjustified. Lack of specialized modules for the pharmaceutical market.
Lack of flexibility: inability to adapt the system to complex processes such as product placement management or visit planning considering pharmacy specifics.
External AI/ML solutions: fragmented applications, integration complexity, high customization costs.

Solution: In-House CRM

To eliminate these problems, the company decided to develop its own CRM system, fully adapted to its business processes. This approach allowed focusing on key tasks: sales automation, trade marketing, and analytics, as well as integrating advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning.

In-house development made it possible to create a "single window" — a centralized platform where employees can perform all tasks in one interface, minimizing switching between systems. This not only increased work convenience but also reduced time for routine operations such as visit planning or data analysis.

Tailor-made approach: the system is developed considering business process specifics, excluding unnecessary functionality.
AI/ML integration: machine learning models are built into the CRM core, ensuring seamless analytical function operation.
Single window: unification of all processes (sales, marketing, analytics) in one web interface to increase efficiency.