When I joined, it was a small consulting firm with deep expertise in the pharmaceutical industry. The team had a firsthand view of the sector’s pervasive challenges: operational inefficiencies, immense regulatory burdens, and a patchwork of legacy systems that failed to communicate. We saw a clear opportunity to codify this expertise into a product.
I was brought on as a founding member of this new SaaS venture. My mission was to help bootstrap the product from the ground up, translating years of consulting insights into a tailored SaaS platform.
The Problem: 29 different systems
We did build the first version of the software in collaboration with a customer in the pharmaceutical industry. The customer was using 29 different systems to manage their operations. Excluding bookkeeping, HR, …, we did not build our solution for that.
The Vision: An Integrated, Compliant, End-to-End Platform
Our vision was to build a SaaS platform designed exclusively for the demands of the pharmaceutical industry. Every step should always be compliant with the regulations, removing the need for manual (paper-based) workarounds.
We architected around these four key pillars:
1. End-to-End, Batch-Centric Traceability The entire platform was built on a foundation of batch-based tracking. This is non-negotiable in pharma. From the moment raw materials were procured to the final sale of a finished product, every item was tied to a specific batch (and serial) number. This builds a clean chain, enabling precise inventory management and instant traceability for audits or recalls.
2. GMP-Compliant Manufacturing We designed the manufacturing to be fully compliant with Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP). This included features for digital batch records, integrated quality control checkpoints, deviation management workflows, and complete electronic audit trails, ensuring every step of the manufacturing process was documented and verifiable.
3. GDP-Compliant Logistics and Warehousing For logistics, adherence to Good Distribution Practices (GDP) was needed. The entire warehouse lifecycle was managed with compliance at its core. A key innovation was the integration of specialized pick-by-scan handheld devices. This system guided warehouse staff through picking and packing processes, validating each item against orders in real-time to drastically reduce human error and ensure the integrity of shipments.
4. Seamless Regulatory Integration To operate effectively, our clients needed to communicate directly with national and international regulatory entities. A cornerstone of our platform was its direct API integration with entities like the EMVO (European Medicines Verification Organisation). This allowed our clients to automatically upload unique product identifiers, manufactured batches, and serial numbers to the European hub, a critical legal requirement for fighting fake medicines in the EU.
The Outcome
The result was a platform that empowered pharmaceutical companies to move to a unified, proactive, and digital-first workflow. entroit eliminated data silos, ensured compliance, and delivered significant operational efficiencies across the entire supply chain. The platform is currently in production and is used by several pharmaceutical companies.