ERP for pharmacies

The pharmaceutical industry is faced with challenges, including a rapidly changing landscape, competitive pressures, and the supply chain challenges brought by the global Covid-19 outbreak. With the Covid-19 vaccine likely to be available in early 2021, it can be expected more pressure will be placed on distribution chains of the industry.

The pharmaceutical industry may better perform with a solution, which is designed specifically for pharmacies. This includes an integrated approach to centralised management of pharmacy outlets, interoperability between systems, real-time financial solutions, optimal revenue generation and collection, and integrated financial reporting.

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) technology aims to address the potential shortfalls pharmacies may face. Seidor Africa’s development team makes use of the processes of SAP Business One, which has enabled it to design solutions for pharmaceutical sector customers that enable critical functionality. This includes automatic stock reconciliation, real-time access to information, and the ability to capture batch numbers and expiry dates.

Why ERP?

From a stock point of view, pharmacy businesses are disadvantaged by not having solutions in place that provide a single overview of what is in store. This is because pharmacies often purchase from one system and sell from another. The lack of systems integration may lead to pharmacies not knowing what is on the shelves — items like syringes, for example, are purchased in bulk but often sold individually. This potentially increases the challenges of managing non-connected systems.

Additionally, integration with financial systems is a key requirement. Without that, it is difficult to assess the financial health of a pharmacy during a specific period. This makes it impossible for management to understand its profitability and financial stability, and to make decisions about the business’s future.

Cost-effective solutions that are secure and meet specific needs

As the ERP is built on SAP Business One, the solutions are cloud-based. This ensures that they are secure and cost-effective, and does not require customers to maintain servers, back-ups, and infrastructure.

The solutions are also developed in line with each customer’s needs and offer point-of-sale (PoS) capabilities. The solution also provides automated alerts for lot expiring and minimum inventory levels, keeps inventories at optimum levels and avoids out of stock scenarios.

Efficient business operations in pharmacies

By automating business practices with a workflow engine, processes are streamlined, reducing costs, enabling more efficient business performance, and allowing employees access to information.