The company needed to integrate networks, communications and business applications across its growing global enterprise. Oman also knew he wanted an agile, scalable ERP solution that fit the manufacturing and compliance needs of a medical device company. Given the costs of acquiring, setting up, running and maintaining the necessary systems, outsourcing some or all of it looked very attractive.

The Solution: QAD On Demand Solution Convenient and Cost-Effective

“In order to attract and retain the highest level IT professional we need to be able to ensure they will not be spending their time on normal server maintenance, setting up printers and patching systems—so I was looking for alternatives,” says Oman. After considering various outsourcing scenarios, he notes, “The more I checked in to On Demand, the more I liked it.”

Alpine Biomed chose QAD Enterprise Applications using QAD On Demand—QAD’s Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) offering. QAD On Demand is a subscription-based application delivery model designed to reduce total cost of ownership and simplify applications management. The company selected QAD’s Life Science Vertical Business Solution, along with QAD Service and Support Management for managing repairs and warranties, and QAD Trade Management to plan, manage and track trade (promotional) spending activities and ensure compliance throughout its distribution network.

“QAD’s compliance capabilities are one of the biggest factors that swayed us to QAD,” says Oman. “QAD has everything covered: CFR part 11, lot trace through the engineering change module and audit trails. In fact, the application can even do lot trace through work-in-process, which helped make our decision easier. Most other ERP systems do not have that ability,” says Oman.

Performance Made On Demand: Global Diagnostic Device Company on Fast Track with QAD On Demand Solutions

The Company: Intelligent Diagnostic Tools

Alpine Biomed Corporation (Alpine Biomed) is a global leader in designing, producing and distributing specialty diagnostic equipment and accessories used in the gastroenterology and neurology clinical markets. Applying expertise in chemistry, physics, engineering and process manufacturing, the company focuses on delivering intelligent diagnostic medical devices that are comfortable for patients and easy for clinicians to use. Established in 1994, Alpine Biomed is headquartered in Fountain Valley, California with manufacturing facilities in Canada, Denmark and Vietnam.

The Challenge: Marketplace Demands Accelerated Growth Strategies Today’s medical device market is rapidly consolidating as the major distributors and customers demand that their suppliers provide comprehensive product lines and solutions. Size matters and companies must also be able to afford to adopt the sophisticated, high-end communications, networking, manufacturing and distribution technologies required to operate effectively in the global business environment. Alpine Biomed is building on its strong foundation of design and development to strategically grow the company into the world’s leading provider of specialty diagnostic devices. “The goal of the IT organization is to provide the most economical and functionally complete toolset possible that will enable Alpine Biomed to rapidly grow and integrate the business of providing medical device products to the Gastroenterology and Neurology medical segments,” says Cliff Oman, chief information officer for Alpine Biomed. To successfully execute its growth strategy, Alpine Biomed is pursuing a number of strategies including alliances, partnerships and acquisitions that will expand the company’s products, capabilities and global reach. At the same time, it is focused on ensuring that every part of the company is operating as efficiently and effectively as possible “Our goal is for our IT team to be strategic and efficient with experienced professionals who are focused on helping the company achieve its goals,” says Oman.

Fountain Valley, California, United States

Alpine Biomed Corporation

Customer Case Study

“QAD’s compliance capabilities are one of the biggest factors that swayed us to QAD.”

Cliff Oman, Chief Information Officer, Alpine Biomed

The Benefits: Faster, Better, Smarter ERP Implementation

“Leveraging On Demand deployment streamlined a lot of the issues that slowed down past implementations I’ve worked on,” says Oman. “Because of the industry acumen QAD has for the life sciences marketplace, we were able to shortcut a lot of the setups normally required to implement an ERP system,” he adds.

“The biggest benefit I’ve noticed is the speed with which we had the databases and environment up and the ability to make quick changes. And all by entering one ticket rather than having to hire someone new or pull in a consultant. We knocked about two months of setup time off the front end of the project. With most every line item, we’ve cut some time off the original project plan,” says Oman.

“Once we designed and co-located our data center, our infrastructure was set up and architected to enable our rapid growth strategy, we then ‘opened the back door’ for QAD’s hosting partner to do maintenance, patching, backup — and ensure our disaster recovery measures are in place.”

Alpine Biomed is working closely with QAD Global Services on the project. “It’s actually worked perfectly so far. For example, we were able to get 32 printers set up globally within a day of submitting a ticket,” says Oman. “Dealing with them is just so easy because we just entered a ticket, we get a response that they’re working on the ticket, and then it’s done and the ticket is closed.”

The Future: Keeping it Lean and Agile

Alpine Biomed kicked off the initial phase of its QAD On Demand implementation in the summer of 2008 and is on target to take the entire company live during the first quarter of 2009. The company plans to roll out additional functionality this year, including fine tuning QAD’s Service and Support and Trade Management modules, and adding QAD Business Intelligence and QAD EDI eCommerce.

“In our case, for a company that is growing quickly and focused on operating efficiently, it is the best way to go,” says Oman. “By doing it this way, we’ll be able to field half the IT staff we would need otherwise. My team is able to focus their time and talent on putting into place the tools that will enable Alpine Biomed to achieve its’ long-term, strategic vision,” says Oman. “With the rapid acquisition strategy we have in place, the QAD On Demand offering will help us get the system up fast, with the ability to integrate new acquisitions rapidly,” says Oman.

CompanyCompany Name Alpine Biomed

Industry Life Sciences

Products Specialty diagnostic equipment and accessories used in the gastroenterology and neurology clinical markets

SolutionsQAD Enterprise QAD On Demand Solutions; Applications QAD’s Life Science Vertical

Business Solution; QAD Service and Support Management; QAD PRO/PLUS; QAD Trade Management

Implementation QAD Global ServicesPartner Hardware Platform QAD On Demand – Dell Hardware,

EMC SAN

Operating System QAD On Demand – Linux RH 4 ES

Database Progress OE 10

Languages English, Danish, German, French

Number of sites 6

Results• Fast, smooth ERP implementation

• Maintain strategic and efficient IT organization across global enterprise

• Enable strategy or rapid growth through acquisition

• Integrate new acquisitions quickly

• Automatic disaster recovery plan

• Industry-specific functionality

• Life Sciences compliance capabilities

Highlights

Produced by QAD Global Marketing • 100 Innovation Place, Santa Barbara, CA USA 93018 • QAD is a trademark of QAD Inc. All other product or company names appearing in this publication are used for identification purposes only and may be trademarks of their respective owners • © 2009 QAD Inc. Item 73-3103