Office Depot OfficeMax BrandVoice: Growing And Thriving By Simplifying: Inside Terumo’s Transformation

In 2018, top leaders at Terumo Medical Corporation, a leading manufacturer of medical devices and supplies, needed solutions to streamline and simplify their growing business. After steadily building a reputation for producing innovative products that help answer healthcare needs all over the globe, the company was experiencing a significant increase in business and recognized the need for more infrastructure to support it. This presented new organizational and technical challenges, and as the company scaled to meet its increasing demand, the internal growing pains mounted.

Since its founding in 1972 as the U.S. expansion of its larger, Tokyo-based parent company, Terumo Medical Corporation grew to more than 5,000 employees throughout North America. A variety of new business demands surfaced as a result, including the need to manage multiple disparate technologies for all its employees. This included many sales managers who work off-site to sell and distribute Terumo’s products to hospitals and other medical facilities. The company also had to put in a lot of effort to manage the procurement of office supplies required to support staff in their day-to-day operations.

“Terumo’s rapid growth and complexity present a lot of challenges related to effective IT deployment and support,” said Kalyan Balsubramanian, chief information officer for Terumo Americas Holding Inc., which includes Terumo Medical Corporation as well as three other business units: MicroVention, Terumo Cardiovascular and Terumo Latin America.

Making Company Growth More Efficient

Terumo’s growth is likely tied to the international rise of the medical devices space—a market trend that’s driven in part by a rise in chronic diseases and infectious diseases, including Covid-19. In a recent study, for example, market intelligence experts estimated the medical devices market at $456.9 billion in 2019 and predicted an increase to $603.5 billion by 2023.

Terumo’s leaders recognized that many company needs, particularly in IT, were managed with unwieldy and inefficient processes as growth and challenges intensified. “We were dealing with a bunch of vendors in very different ways,” Balsubramanian said.

The company needed assistance to manage and track the laptops, phones and other devices of its employees. It also required on-site technical support for office staff and remote support for sales representatives who worked in the field as they navigated multiple computer applications.

To manage this overwhelming lift, the company was invoicing dozens of vendors. That changed in 2018 when Terumo was able to streamline and simplify its operations after joining forces with its longtime office supply vendor, Office Depot.

While Office Depot has long been known as a major retailer of furniture and supplies needed to make an office operate smoothly, the company has evolved since its founding in 1986. In 2017, after the arrival of CEO Gerry Smith and the acquisition of CompuCom, the company began its transformation to an integrated B2B distribution platform to offer its customers more relevant business products and services, including technology solutions.

Stepping In To Provide Crucial Support

In turning over all of its technology needs to Office Depot’s Business Solutions Division, Balsubramanian explained “part of the strategy was to bring it together under one umbrella.” By making Office Depot its biggest provider of IT desktop and service desk services, the company ultimately “centralized and went with a one-stop shop.” The shift was game-changing for Terumo’s business operations.

Today, Office Depot provides Terumo with the staffing, support agreements and service levels it needs to maintain business continuity and power future growth. Office Depot also handles everything from assisting Terumo’s employees with basic IT problems in an on-demand capacity to tracking all of the company’s devices and monitoring security.

The relationship also means Terumo is well-positioned to navigate the changing workplace demands amid the Covid-19 crisis. Prior to the pandemic, the company had already shifted from desktops to laptops. And once employees transitioned to remote work, Office Depot stepped in to assist Terumo with increased technology rollouts, a proactive strategy to manage the anticipated influx of IT help desk tickets and the extension of security protocols to the new remote work reality.

Through it all, Terumo and Office Depot collaborated during weekly calls to identify workflow gaps and inefficiencies, allowing Terumo to maintain business continuity, productivity and data security.

‘We Have Achieved Success’

That kind of communication set the tone for a successful partnership. Today, the two companies hold a quarterly business review meeting to discuss past accomplishments, brainstorm solutions and share future expectations. “Office Depot listens to what we need and how we need to get it done,” Balsubramanian said of Office Depot’s dedicated account team, led by Susan Lerner and Greg Vlassopoulos.

Michelle Joseph, director of strategic procurement for Terumo Medical Corporation, said Office Depot also helped Terumo simplify the process of buying supplies. Office Depot was the first to sign up with a collaborative network of suppliers, which enables “requisitioners to quickly and easily identify Terumo-approved products available for purchase through Office Depot,” she explained. “It has streamlined the process for procuring those goods quickly and efficiently,” ultimately eliminating cumbersome paperwork in favor of an automated electronic process.

Terumo also works to maintain its brand by providing associates with company-approved and branded clothing and accessories. In addition to Terumo’s business cards and stationery offerings, Office Depot also produces other customized promotional items, like branded T-shirts and hoodies. “We were tasked with working with many sources, and we were able to streamline and become efficient as an organization working with Office Depot,” Joseph said.

Balsubramanian agreed. “We don’t know what our needs may be in the future, but we do need a partner on whom we can rely.” He said the company planned to expand Office Depot’s services across Terumo, freeing up in-house staff to concentrate on more complex IT needs and support services. “We have achieved success with Office Depot, and we are hoping to extend the same success to other areas of our business.”

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