Sigma Healthcare digitises pharmacy order system with SAP stack

Sigma Healthcare, an ASX-listed pharmaceutical wholesaler and owner of retail brands like Amcal, has transformed the way 1200 pharmacies nationwide order stock with a new ordering platform built on an SAP stack.

Head of e-commerce Luke Shaw told SAP’s virtual Sapphire Now conference that Sigma had built a new wholesale ordering platform on SAP’s commerce cloud and SAP Qualtrics.

“Not so long ago our pharmacies were ordering from us via fax - and that's within the last 12 months,” Shaw said.

“So this technology [is] a huge leap forward.”

Shaw said that Sigma had shifted its focus as an organisation in 2018 to become more customer-focused, leading to the ordering platform project.

“We saw that our technology stack wasn't up to the task,” he said. 

“Our legacy systems were antiquated and very fixed, and so we partnered with SAP to provide a new wholesale ordering platform, and ultimately that's what we thought we needed to deliver a better service.

“About six months later we put the Qualtrics platform in on top of that.

“The SAP commerce cloud platform enabled personalisation [of pricing, promotions and offers] for our stores. 

“The Qualtrics technology gives amazing analytical capability to a simple business user to be able to understand and plot and make decisions on what's going to happen next.”

Shaw said that streamlining the ordering process made it easier for pharmacies to do business with the company.

In turn, “it means [pharmacists] can get out on the shop floor and help patients, which is obviously what they want to do as well.”

Shaw added that the platform will also be used more as a “communications platform” in the immediate future, becoming “a central point [for customers] to be able to see important information that's important to them and that's tailored to them.” 

“We're able to not just blanket email the entire customer base but use that technology to clearly deliver information and help keep them up to date in what's happening and what is best practice,” Shaw said. 

Shaw noted that COVID-19 had led the company to quicken its moves online.

“We've had three or four initiatives that were ticking along [but] what was due to be released later this year is right on the cusp of being released now,” he said.