Primedia Unlimited subsidiary and specialist pharmaceutical procurement company X/procure® has been awarded the Eskom ‘Excellence in Management of Technology’ Award in the Established Companies category at the Technology Top 100 Awards ceremony.

“Of the 250 entries into the awards, 75 companies, both established and emerging, qualified for placement. By the end of the evening, there were just fifteen winners, and we are extremely proud to be one of the fifteen considered part of South Africa’s technical elite,” says X/procure®’s Managing Director Deon Lewis.

The Technology Top 100 award describes its Excellence in the Management of Technology award as one that ‘looks deeply at the processes deployed to develop, implement and monitor the technology strategy. A winning company devotes attention to the technology lifecycle ensuring a healthy mix of emerging, pacing, key and base technologies. Technology Top 100 winners focus on improvement of quality and productivity, higher flexibility, cost leadership and new market exploitation.’

“Of our annual turnover, 4% is dedicated to constant research and development. These processes are created and controlled in house which allows X/procure® the upper hand in the advancing of our technology offerings,” says Deon. “Our board of directors, EXCO and middle management are intricately involved in all advancements within our technology – and we review our progress on a monthly basis.”

X/procure® is stringent in ensuring innovation remains a top priority for the company. In its offerings to pharmacists, it has included many new and exciting advertising media. “In addition,” says Deon, “we have founded a dedicated loyalty programme called X/points® which rewards pharmacists based on utilization of the system.”

On Line Transaction Processing and X/procure® Mobile are further innovations which have been introduced, the latter allowing sales reps to remain in touch and on top of daily ordering and procurement 24/7 through mobile PDA’s.

“Through solid partnerships with industry suppliers and software vendors, we are well placed to introduce our software into any industry we have an interest in, and are by no means limited to the pharmaceutical environment.”