Organization
Manufacturer of basic and intermediate chemicals for the food, supplement and pharmaceutical markets
Challenge
Needed a faster, more effective and cost-efficient means than NPIRS for searching EPA databases for approvals and existing studies when performing registrations
Solution
Knowtify met requirements for ease-of-use, effectiveness and efficiency, greatly speeding assembly of data matrices for individual registrations
Results
In addition to supporting registration efforts, Knowtify benefits the Stepan sales team by providing intelligence to help them better prepare for sales calls to existing and potential customers
The Need to Mine EPA Data
Regulatory risk-management is built around ensuring that EPA records are accurate and complete. To achieve that, regulatory professionals must account for and plug any data gaps that exist in submission.
Stepan had been using NPIRS to meet that need, and decided to augment NPIRS with Kelly Registration Systems’ Knowtify to streamline the process of mining EPA data in support of EPA registrations. A Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solution accessible through web browsers 24/7 from any location, Knowtify gives subscribers the ability to conduct searches of virtually any aspect of regulated pesticide products, and to be notified immediately of any new information regarding products or active ingredients.
Knowtify is now the primary data-mining tool used by Stepan to determine the data needed to support specific registrations and to locate existing studies to request for support in exchange for compensation. Not long after Stepan adopted Knowtify, the company’s sales department learned of its data mining capabilities and began putting it to use in gathering intelligence to support sales calls. Today, Knowtify’s EPA data-mining capabilities double in supporting both regulatory and sales success.
“Knowtify’s ability to locate any EPA data that’s needed for any purpose, coupled with its flat-fee pricing for unlimited users and unlimited use, makes it a valuable tool across multiple departments.”
– Tom Isaac, senior regulatory specialist, Stepan.
Real-Time Data Mining Ensures Optimum Regulatory Compliance
Knowtify is easy to set up for automatic notification for any new EPA data of interest, and also delivers lightening-fast answers to any question that comes up at any time.
Stepan senior regulatory specialist Tom Isaac brought Knowtify into Stepan not as a replacement for NPIRS, but to supplement it. “NPIRS is really good for a customized search where you want to pinpoint a specific article or registration – it’s highly effective when you know what you’re searching for and need more info,” says Isaac. “Knowtify is better suited for general, overall quick searches, and that’s what I need most. I use Knowtify very often, partly because NPIRS charges per person and per search, whereas Knowtify charges one flat fee for unlimited access – it ends up costing less to get the job done with Knowtify.”
Knowtify today helps Isaac search EPA databases for approvals and for studies that support EPA registrations. He also uses it to develop data matrices for individual registrations. “It’s easy to search a registration and get all of the studies that exist under it,” says Isaac. “Knowtify quickly reveals whether someone has a study I need and, rather than pay everyone in the data submitters list, I go directly to the company that has the most appropriate study and offer to compensate them for it.”
“It also reduces risk by giving a quick snapshot of all data that supports a registration and shows whether we have data gaps that need to be covered in submission,” adds Isaac. Depending on what gaps we have, we may decide not to proceed with registration when it would be too costly to generate the necessary data.”
Benefits Beyond Original Solution Goals
Knowtify also delivers a major benefit to the Stepan sales force. Each salesperson now uses Knowtify to keep current on customers that sub-register products, with automatic notifications informing them of new developments. Before making customer rounds, a salesperson can easily export addresses and maps to customer locations, along with information on products the customer has sub-registered to enable better-informed sales calls. The salesperson can also research each customer’s product lines to uncover opportunities to educate them about technical chemicals or products they aren’t using that could provide market advantages.
Registrations and sales efforts are just two of the ways Knowtify’s data mining can benefit a chemical company. When EPA data is relevant to any chemical company function, the uses to which Knowtify can be put are limited only by the imagination.
