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E-Commerce application for the Swiss Pharmacy Union

Unified pharmacies across Swiss cantons into a cohesive system, enhancing workflows and patient experiences through a new digital platform for online shopping and medication reservations.

ELCA customer story featured image ecommerce menu
CLIENT NAME ELCA
INDUSTRY E-Commerce
TECHNOLOGY Angular, Java, React
SERVICES Custom Software Development
METHODOLOGY Agile, Scrum
DURATION 2 years
LOCATION Switzerland
TEAM NO. 8
The Client

ELCA is a Swiss IT company with a 50-year legacy and a robust team of over 1300 specialists. It provides a comprehensive array of experience, skills, and technological innovations.

The Challenge

Connecting 1,000 pharmacies across Switzerland into a unified system. The client required an additional team to manage a large module that complied with varying cantonal regulations and to coordinate a global team across multiple time zones.

The Solution

Notch assembled a cross‑functional team to deliver a key module of ELCA’s eCommerce platform, connecting over 1,000 pharmacies into a single, compliant system across Switzerland. The team implemented business logic for differing cantonal regulations, integrated with ELCA’s backend and pharmacy systems, and coordinated work across time zones. This enabled a scalable, easy‑to‑use digital experience where patients can handle prescriptions, vaccination plans, invoices, and electronic records in one streamlined place.

ELCA product screen example

What does the client say?

  • Ferruccio Lagutaine ELCA customer story
    Ferruccio Lagutaine
    Chief Operating Officer at ELCA
    ELCA

    “The cooperation with Notch was characterized by a high level of technical excellence and a high degree of independence within the scope of our guidelines. In Notch we found a trustworthy and reliable partner that delivers cost-effective IT solutions.”

  • Process

    01
    Assessment & Planning

    Audit legacy modules, map dependencies and technical debt, and define scope, goals, and a modernization roadmap for the pharmacy platform.

    02
    Modernization strategy

    Decide what to refactor, rewrite, or replace, applying gradual, low‑risk migration patterns for critical eCommerce and integration components.

    03
    Migration & integration

    Migrate functionality and data step by step, integrate modern APIs, containers, and frameworks, and keep existing pharmacy operations running.

    04
    Testing & validation

    Use automated and AI‑assisted testing plus end‑user feedback to validate performance, compliance, and user experience at each iteration.

    05
    Evolving the product

    Operate CI/CD, monitor performance, and handle proactive maintenance and bug resolution to keep the modernized platform secure and scalable.

    Project Goals
    1. 1
      System consolidation
      Connect +1K pharmacies into an online shopping and medication reservations system.
    2. 2
      Digital transformation
      Use centralized system to enable e-prescriptions for patients and pharmacists.
    3. 3
      General usability
      Make the platform generally accessible, for both B2B and B2C interactions.
    ELCA product screens

    Results

    • 1

      Streamlined workflowsenhanced patient experiences with a new platform.

    • 2

      Efficiently integrated system components for a seamless user experience.

    • 3

      A scalable and easy-to-use digital platform for both business and private users.

    Technologies & Services

    Java Spring Angular React AWS/Kubernetes ElasticPath (eCommerce platform) Datatrans
    Custom Software Development Product Discovery Team Extension UX/UI DevOps QA Legacy Application Modernization
    The Product

    The ELCA eCommerce platform streamlines the delivery of medications to pharmacies in Switzerland. Notch created a system that simplifies regulations for all users. Registered patients can shop online, renew prescriptions, access vaccination plans, manage invoices, and set up an electronic patient record (EPR).