Client

Cluster Call Planning (CCP)

Period

2002 – 2005

Client Bio

In 2002 Pfizer merged with Pharmacia to become the world’s largest pharmaceutical company.

Personal History

This story reads like a tale of David and Goliath. Thirst was asked to quote on this project but we were up against several large well-known companies but we knew why were asked to bid and we were glad we did. Because of internal restructuring, Pfizer needed help building this sales application from the ground up, they did not want to use any of their previous tools and thought that the right approach would be a fresh one. Thirst worked with various third-parties, large and small, to create this application that was basically a moving target because of the need for new functionality that crept into the scope on a weekly basis. This was an open source project based on the LAMP standard applications that worked within the confines of proprietary software. As a special point of interest the sales tool was an ‘AJAX’ application before AJAX was even defined or coined.

Objective

In response to the merger, Pfizer developed the CCP methodology to bring together its sales analytics and valuable first hand sales force knowledge. Pfizer turned to Thirst to transform this abstract methodology into a powerful sales targeting application for use by its 45,000 strong US sales force.

Noteworthy

An over 11% upsurge in sales directly resulted from this new application. CCP evolved from a rapid prototyping development process conducted over a 9 month period with four representative sales force teams. CCP was built using an open source toolset including Linux, Apache, PostgreSQL, PHP, AJAX and DHTML. CCP included a local data store that was automatically synchronized with targeting data from fellow teammates and Pfizer analytics. In 2005, Thirst’s CCP application was merged into Pfizer’s S3 flagship sales platform.

Vendor

Thirst

Client

IBM – Logo Merchandise Site

Period

1998

Client Bio

IBM is the world’s largest information technology company, as well as the world’s largest business and technology services provider and the world’s largest IT financier.

Objective

IBM procurement wanted to migrate its internal purchasing process for IBM logo brand merchandise to a web solution. The Logo Merchandise site needed to serve IBM personnel and vendors yet be flexible enough to evolve into a consumer commerce site.

Noteworthy

Thirst customized Net.Commerce to provide integration with IBM suppliers and integrated the website with IBM’s internal procurement systems. Other tasks involved were the development of the templates and custom reports, the creation of a backend database containing product information for over 2000 standard items, and implementation of a variety of payment options in accordance with IBM’s needs.

Vendor

Thirst