B2B Marketing Sartorius: Better Solutions with Process Mapping
The lecture was given by Stefan Schlack, Head of Marketing Bioprocess Solutions Division at Sartorius. He had come at the invitation of Professor Hans-Christian Riekhof, who conducted an interview with Stefan Schlack in this context, which we reproduce below.
Professor Riekhof: In your lecture, you emphasized that it is important “to run a different race”. To what extent has Sartorius embarked on this path to win a different race and thus be ahead of the competition?
Stefan Schlack: We very early on decided to generate a platform for the biotech market and to orient ourselves on the “Value Chain” of our customers. Our competitors at this time were rather focused on filtration and then tried to sell these products in different segments. Meanwhile, we are being copied. I think this is the best confirmation that our strategy was right.
Riekhof: You talk about Sartorius wanting to become a Google-like company. Can you outline the idea behind this in two sentences?
Schlack: Currently, everyone is talking about Customer Journeys and in this context especially about Digital Marketing. But now we are in an “Attention War”: The customer is bombarded with information from various sources every day. So how do I still get the customer’s attention? Two aspects play a role here: Firstly, a strong brand and secondly, digital tools that provide the user with high added value. With these tools, you stay in contact with the customer and are not dependent on traditional channels like social media, e-newsletters etc., which are used by all other competitors. Google practices it similarly: They provide their customers with such tools and get data in return. With these tools, the customer exclusively immerses into the brand world.
Riekhof: You mention that you have developed the vision of a self-driving bioprocess at Sartorius. What do you mean by that, and what contribution will Sartorius make in this context for your customers?
Schlack: For a self-driving bioprocess, you need various components. In particular, these are a lot of data to generate the corresponding models, the necessary software and algorithms, and beyond that, the necessary automation and sensor technology to make a process self-driving. We have all these components and tools together.
Riekhof: What advantages are generated by this?
Schlack: Currently, in the case of so-called “Deviations/Alarms”, an operator has to subjectively decide which corrections he makes. In the future, the new platform will take over this and independently adapt within the Design Spaces so that an optimal production result is always achieved. Furthermore, I expect that process transfers, volume adjustments and process developments will be significantly easier thanks to this technology.
Riekhof: The Process Mapping Tool you described enables process simulations in the biotech sector. Who are already the most important users of this tool today, and what support does Sartorius provide in the application and evaluation of the tool’s results?
Schlack: Process Mapping is not new for Sartorius. With our good process understanding, we can of course offer our customers better solutions and also better “challenge” them. In particular, our successful sales team has done this, but very often using Excel or Word. We are now making this easier with this tool. Here it is possible to make adjustments by “drag and drop”.
In addition, we have implemented an access hierarchy and a permission management to optimally protect our customers’ data. Our experts have also worked with process simulations. What is new is that we are now combining this with the Process Mapping in one tool. In this way, we are able to carry out digital process optimizations for our customers very easily and quickly.
The optimization potential can be quantified in this context and this across an entire process chain. In other words, we can depict interdependencies between the individual process steps and represent an effect on the “Total Cost of Ownership”. The tool is designed so simply that our field staff can work with it and not just process experts as in the past. However, the scenario analyses will continue to be carried out by process experts.
Riekhof: Sartorius wants to become the “Digital Layer” between Sartorius products and your customers. This idea is compelling. Do you see reservations on the part of customers if Sartorius takes on this role?
Schlack: No, I don’t see that. On the one hand, we generate a high benefit for our customers with our digital tools, on the other hand, the data obtained is treated strictly confidentially. If at all, “non critical” data is used anonymously.
Professor Riekhof: Thank you very much for the interview!
