Schwabe Group - centralised multisite management

The Schwabe group comprises several different affiliated companies in the pharmaceutical and health industry. Its products are distributed in more than 50 countries. All of the companies within the Schwabe Group focus on plants as the basis for developing pharmaceuticals and health products. The company employs over 4000 specialists in 16 countries and manages more than 100 websites.

The family business, Dr Willmar Schwabe GmbH & Co. KG, boasts a successful 150 year history.  As one of  Europe's oldest pharmaceutical companies, it generates annual sales of over 900 million EUR, featuring well known products such as Lasea®, Tebonin®,  Gaspan® and Umckaloabo®.

When Schwabe Group reached out to 1xINTERNET the digital landscape of the company was run on different CMS systems or using static websites created with a very limited budget. There was a lot of inconsistency between the web properties and no exchange between the markets. 

One of the biggest challenges was to ensure security and compliance. The web properties were hosted on different platforms and updates had to be done manually on each individual platform, this led to high costs and made it difficult to keep track of the different legal requirements around the globe.

The most important project goal for the Schwabe Group was to create a scalable multisite solution that could fulfil current and future requirements in a timely manner.

Accelerated multisite launch

The new multisite platform was launched only 3 months after the start of the project. Since then, each year we have migrated 20-30 Schwabe Group websites to the new environment.

More efficiency for the brands

The platform provides enough space to emphasise the individuality of each brand and at the same time ensures adherence to corporate identity guidelines.

The extension of the multisite management platform can be implemented by internal employees, enabling them to independently create high-quality, relevant and well-prepared content for their market.

• Centralised design system to maintain the corporate identity guidelines for a consistent appearance.
• Autonomy of the individual brands.
• Cross-country and cross-brand use of all developed features.
• Independent expansion of the system by internal employees.

More efficiency in marketing

• Consistent brand awareness for the consumer.
• Increased awareness and visibility online.
• Lead generation.
• Standardised user experience, ensuring flexibility of the editors.

More efficiency for content editors

Editors want maximum flexibility when creating new content. The system, structured like a modular kit of paragraphs, operates intuitively. Editors can choose between predefined and existing brands within the design system. This set up is user-friendly and guarantees a standardised corporate design for all future websites. A new brand page can be added by the internal stakeholders in no time at all.

Features and highlights for editors: 

• Intuitive user interface
• Quick setup of a new website (approx. 15 min)
• System-wide content templates
• System-wide functions with centralised code management
• Efficient security and code maintenance
• Automatic content checks
• Simple onboarding of new editors
• Drag & drop functions
• Direct frontend editing
• Economical & modularly expandable

Consistency in corporate design 

The corporate design of the individual brands was broken down to see how they could be reflected in a design system. Storybook was used to create a design system for all the necessary components that could be used by all the company's websites. Initially implemented for four basic templates - Umckaloabo®, Gaspan®, Tebonin® and Lasea® product websites. The system was then expanded to include more than 10 brands which were integrated into the design system. Today, the design system boasts more than 20 colour schemes and serves over 50 websites. 

Following the successful introduction of the design system, we established a high-performance CMS in order to be able to operate it sustainably. Our open-source multisite management system, a backend technology based on Drupal, was implemented and hosted on Site Factory by our premium partner Acquia.

More about our premium partner Acquia

As much individuality as needed

Out of the box, the open-source multisite management system was able to fulfil over 80% of the Schwabe Group's requirements. The missing 20% are customised.

When presenting pharmaceuticals, manufacturers have to pay very close attention to country-specific regulations, which is why the Schwabe Group requires a separate, sometimes only slightly modified product website for its products in almost every country. Thanks to the distribution system in the background, the platform offers enough space to fulfil this requirement.

More about multisite management system

Complexity on demand

The platforms can be extended upon request using custom developments or through system integrations. Depending on the requirements, interfaces vary and can be tailored to specific needs.

A prime example is the DHU website. The website of the German Homeopathy Union (DHU) is one of the most complex sites in the Schwabe Group's digital landscape, reflecting the complexity inherent in both the site's requirements and the field of homoeopathy.

Comprehensive search

An efficient search is important to ensure that users can quickly find the publications they are looking for. The Schwabe Group places particular emphasis on a search that meets the industry standard. These implementations can be broken down into 4 searches:

Search in the data records of thousands of DHU products (PIM system with SAP API)

1xINTERNET implemented a PIM system to search across more than 18,000 products and their ingredients. The PIM system generates results from the article numbers and data stored in SAP. All data receives a daily update and is therefore reloaded daily.

Search for content

The content search includes, for example, the search for images, as suitable images have to be generated for a five-digit number of DHU products. Image creation software was connected specifically for this purpose.

Search for sales partners of the Schwabe Group

The search for sales partners for Schwabe Group products takes into account the content of several linked pages.

Country-specific search on schwabe-group.com

The Schwabe Group offers a search that returns results across national borders.

International recognitions

In 2021, the multisite solution for Schwabe Group won the Regional Excellence EMEA Awards at Acquia Engage 2021.

More about the Winner of the Regional Excellence EMEA Awards

In 2022, the project "Game-changing solution for a leading pharmaceutical company" was honored with the Splash Awards in the Healthcare category.

More about the Winners of the Splash Awards 2022

Webinars and presentations on this project

Acquia Experience Day Germany Baddy Breidert & Alexander Reisenauer (2021)

DrupalCon Europe (2021)

Shift/CX Webinar Acquia, 1xINTERNET, Schwabe Group (2022)

Schwabe Group decided to use Drupal after doing extensive market research and comparison of various content management systems. Drupal was chosen because of its flexibility as an open-source solution combined with enterprise grade features in the areas of security, scalability and availability.

When looking for hosting solutions, 1xINTERNET recommended Schwabe Group to use Site Factory from our partner Acquia to manage and host the web properties portfolio. By using Site Factory, Schwabe Group can manage all of its websites effectively from one single dashboard. It only takes around 15 minutes to spin up a new website, select a template, grant access to editors and start adding content.