With a market share of approximately 40% and an annual turnover of €1.8 billion, Febelco is the largest pharmaceutical wholesale distributor in Belgium. They deliver medicines to over 3,200 independent pharmacies from seven locations every day.

Febelco is a pioneer in its sector when it comes to digital services. Pharmacies have had real-time access to stock information for over 20 years, but Febelco’s ambitions extend even further than this – so a new and modern platform was needed to offer customers more autonomy and make internal processes more efficient.

Together with Providit, Febelco developed MyFebelco: an integrated customer platform that is actively used by thousands of pharmacies today.

2000+

unique users per day

89%

customer satisfaction score after two years

15%

fewer customer queries

99%

adoption rate among customers

”We opted for low-code to roll out MyFebelco faster, but it went quicker than we ever expected. Thanks to Providit, we went live in record time.

Sebastiaan RubberechtIT Manager at Febelco

Challenge

Self-service as a lever for more efficient customer relationships

Pharmacists expect a modern self-service experience when managing their orders and administration. In practice, this means they can adjust reservations, submit return requests, consult delivery notes and invoices, and track deliveries in real time.

Febelco’s previous customer portal could no longer meet these expectations. What was initially a very innovative platform had become an obstacle to further growth – with the platform’s limitations placing an unnecessary burden on customer service and preventing smooth self-service.

The idea for MyFebelco was born: a scalable, user-friendly self-service environment that maximally serves customers and eases internal processes. With a challenging timeline: the portal’s renewal ran parallel with the implementation of a new ERP and warehouse management system (WMS), making integration technically complex and organisationally demanding.

Why Febelco chose OutSystems

Outstanding local expertise

Speed and cost savings

Real-world impact

Solution

Low-code hits the spot

Febelco started with a proof-of-concept to better understand the low-code platform, OutSystems. ‘We wanted to see if the platform could achieve the flexibility we needed to build MyFebelco,’ says Sebastiaan Rubberecht, IT Manager at Febelco.

Febelco chose OutSystems because they saw more possibilities in it. The OutSystems development environment is aimed at software developers, allowing for more opportunities to add custom code if needed – providing more flexibility and configuration options.

This speed and flexibility were also proven during the development of MyFebelco, with only one year passing between the internal ‘go’ and delivery. Traditionally, this would have taken at least two years and offered fewer features in the customer portal. It was also achieved with a team of just four people working on it.

Providit immediately brought expertise to the project. Their consultants not only provided knowledge-building for the internal team but also direct supervision on more complex issues. ‘It clicked straight away. Our people learned quickly and could start building MyFebelco independently after a short time – while also always having an experienced expert on hand.’

Febelco decided to go live with the platform sooner than expected – largely because the development of MyFebelco with low-code went so smoothly, but also due to unexpected technical problems arising with the old application. All 3,200 customers were therefore transferred at once – and more than 99% of them are actively using MyFebelco today.

As the application now offers much more than initially planned, some menus and screens are starting to become a bit cumbersome. Febelco is therefore currently reviewing and improving user-friendliness. And this is where another major advantage of low-code comes into play – adjusting the design would take much more work with traditional programming, but now it can be done relatively quickly.

”Providit has grown to be much more than just a supplier for us. They actively think along with us, and their guidance was indispensable for the success of MyFebelco. If we were to start over, we would definitely choose low-code and Providit’s expert guidance again.

Sebastiaan RubberechtICT Project Manager

Results

Self-service that makes a real difference for pharmacies

What began as a technical innovation has now grown into an indispensable link in the daily operations of thousands of pharmacies. Customers perform their administrative tasks themselves, while Febelco continues to add new functionalities flexibly and quickly. The results speak for themselves:

  • More and smoother self-service
    Customers now handle their reservations, returns and administrative tasks themselves, without customer service intervention – with the number of phone calls decreasing by as much as 15% as a result.
  • Higher customer satisfaction
    The satisfaction score rose from 76% in the first year to 89% in the second. The success is also noticeable internally: ‘Our customers now regularly ask if new applications can be integrated into MyFebelco.’
  • Always up to date in real time
    Pharmacies have 24/7 access to the self-service environment, including real-time updates. Return requests are also processed faster and more accurately because customers immediately see which products are eligible for return.
  • New features rolled out faster
    Thanks to low-code, Febelco develops new components in a fraction of the time. Where adding a new feature like a delivery note traditionally required four months of development, it is now often live within a month.
  • Future-proof
    The platform remains easily manageable thanks to its modular nature and Providit’s support. For example, design adjustments can be quickly implemented without complex reprogramming.