Skin care bellwether generates big benefits with Security Weaver.

Background

Coral Gables, Florida-based Stiefel Laboratories makes premium products that soothe the skin. Founded in 1847 this family-owned business today operates in more than 30 countries. It's renowned for its exceptional quality, with brands such as Claripel in the U.S. and Sebiprox for the international market.

About Stiefel Laboratories

Stiefel Laboratories makes the products that give your skin a healthy glow. For more than 160 years, this family-owned dermatologic pharmaceutical company has outshined all others in its industry by creating the highest-quality, premium skin care products. Its prescribed and over-the-counter brands are in demand by people in 100 countries. And from a small upstart firm in 1847, Stiefel has grown to be the world's largest independent dermatology company with operations in 30 countries, headquarters in Coral Gables, Florida, and cutting-edge research and development facilities in North Carolina and California.

And behind its superior products are outstanding people who rely on technology to get their jobs done. Stiefel uses software by SAP to run its operations, including human resources, financial, warehouse management and other processes. But SAP alone wasn't enough to enable Stiefel to perform crucial segregation of duties (SOD), reporting and other tasks. For SOD Stiefel relies on Security Weaver.

Customer Quote

"Security Weaver was quicker to install, quicker to configure and did not require additional hardware", said Paul Kohler, Stiefel's Senior Manager, Global Application Operations. "It allowed us to quickly identify where we had SOD issues. With SAP that process would have been time-consuming and almost impossible."

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Focus on FDA Compliance

Pharmaceutical companies must follow strict Food and Drug Administration guidelines and must be able to prove that they do. For instance, the FDA requires that two different people perform product quality inspection and release products for sale. For safety reasons those tasks cannot be performed by the same person. Such compliance is made easy with Security Weaver. "We can use it to locate any potential FDA issues and fix them before they become a problem", Kohler said.

FDA compliance is just one of the many benefits Stiefel gets from Security Weaver. As a privately held company its investors have a keen interest in how it's managed and Stiefel turns to Security Weaver to validate business processes. For example the company uses Security Weaver to track and manage accounts payable processes to make sure they are both accurate and efficient. Before deploying Security Weaver in 2008 Stiefel had less control over that process. "Now we have secure mitigating control", Kohler said. Reporting processes have also been greatly streamlined. In the past using just SAP, Stiefel staff had to create multiple spreadsheets and manually collate them and extract the right data, a process which could take days. With Security Weaver reporting is quick and easy.

Financial and Other Benefits

Strong SOD control and streamlined reporting lead to high-quality audit processes. Stiefel adheres to the highest possible standards of financial management. With Security Weaver its financial excellence is easy to demonstrate. "We can supply information quickly to external or internal auditors", Kohler said. "With SAP alone it was a bit of a scavenger hunt. Now it's simple." And there's yet another way that Security Weaver has created tangible benefits for Stiefel.

Because reporting and audits are so streamlined now Stiefel doesn't need as much manpower to do those processes. "Security Weaver has probably allowed us to avoid hiring another person", Kohler said. That saves the company money, a benefit that hits the bottom line. When asked if he would recommend Security Weaver to other companies, Kohler says he already does. "Security Weaver is a useful tool made by a good company", he said.

Security Weaver - Business Benefits