Mosadex Uses Remote Work and DevOps to Bridge Gap Between Teams

Mosadex Group is a Dutch pharmaceutical wholesaler that works with over 800 independent pharmacies, including 500 service pharmacies, and more than 500 drugstores and healthcare organizations to serve over 11 million patients and consumers in the Netherlands. In 35 years, Mosadex has grown to 2,000 employees and 20,000 products in stock managed in three locations: Elsloo, Nieuwleusen, and Leiden. The company has a cooperative structure. Members are joint owners and elect a board of representatives responsible for managing the company and its subsidiaries.

Combining Efforts

Mosadex created a robust strategic program with 22 objectives to remain competitive and offer the best services to pharmacies and customers. Because the company did not have an IT department, some aspects of the program needed to be outsourced. Managing communication and collaboration between internal units and external suppliers was essential to ensure a successful result for such a large scale endeavor. Xebia oversaw several aspects of the program, fulfilling the roles of enterprise architect, DevOps coach, and DevOps accelerator.

 

 

Streamlining Workflow through DevOps

Overall, there are approximately 80 people working on Mosadex's products every day. Xebia helped organize everyone into teams and gave contractors access to the Mosadex's internal systems. Through training sessions, Xebia helped staff transition from a linear mentality to an Agile approach, with more things happening simultaneously and less hierarchy between team members. Staff quickly adapted and began to see the advantages of collaborating in this way, kickstarting additional innovations. Some digital sessions are even more valuable than they were in real life, said a member of Mosadex's team.

Remote Work: Efficiency and Focus

For operations composed of teams from different locations, the travel required to work together in-person can be a big drain on resources like time and budget. Establishing a remote workflow process enabled a high level of collaboration while preserving these key resources. Xebia helped create structure and expectations, like creating a format for online meetings and limiting the number and length of meetings in a day, to streamline collaborations between teams. Additionally, times for socializing were incorporated to facilitate connections between the teams and maintain a positive atmosphere. Creating a clearly defined remote workflow enabled Mosadex to save money on operations and accelerate existing activities.