Technology in the Medical Distribution Industry

Shortages of medicine and other healthcare supplies have affected countries globally. In South Africa, pharmaceutical procurement is under the spotlight as medical distributors seek ways to improve the distribution process in an industry that is fiercely competitive.

TECHNOLOGY IS THE ANSWER?

Now is the time for the sector to look to technologies that will increase the efficiency of its manufacturing and distribution functions. A recent US healthcare industry challenges survey found that the current situation has forced the vast majority of the industry to consider rethinking the business processes and approaches, that many companies don’t use innovations and automatisation, and that they were coping with the current pandemic situation by adapting innovations to ease business and operational processes.

The situation is much the same in South Africa. When the COVID-19 vaccine becomes available in the new year, we can expect the challenges in medical distribution to a spike in line with the demand for the vaccine, highlighting where the inefficiencies lie. This calls for the ability to control the supply chain with a single, integrated solution.

DON’T BE HELD BACK BY SYSTEMS AND PROCESSES

Today, the best way to streamline a business’s functions is by moving to a cloud ERP (enterprise resource planning) technology solution, designed for the medical distribution industry and it's particular needs. Chief among those needs are tools that enable management to access and interpret data to support effective decision making. This gives the business the ability to be agile in its approach to market changes and responsive to customer demand. In addition, being agile means that the business can expand or change its product range in line with market demand within weeks or days rather than months. It also enhances the ability to fulfil orders, take on more business, and customise their product ranges to suit customer requirements.

WHAT TECHNOLOGY IS BEST?

SAP Business One for Medical Distribution is an affordable, integrated solution with financials, operations, sales, reporting, inventory and warehousing at its core. It is also the solution of choice for many of the world’s fastest-growing businesses that want to improve everything from demand planning to inventory and complete supply chain management.

A solution specifically for medical distribution

By taking advantage of the functionality of SAP Business One, Seidor Africa’s development team has successfully designed an affordable solution for medical distribution companies. With financials, operations, sales, reporting, inventory and warehousing at its core, it offers several important benefits:

• Full details of historic transactions to analyse the buying behaviour of customers and balance stock levels as appropriate.
• A robust solution for the business management that provides secure functioning of inventory, sales, purchase, CRM, accounting, and financials.
• Automation and improvement of the entire business process with efficient inventory and warehouse reporting tools.
• Streamlining of processes which allow companies to reduce errors, increase margins and save time thereby improving collaboration with customers.
• Improved inventory control and material planning that reduces inventory costs.
• Information regarding invoices, goods receipt, customers and suppliers can be managed and analysed without much effort using a single data source which allows you to keep a constant check on your business processes.
• The system supports mobility and can be tailored according to the particular needs of the business.

Why ERP for this industry?

ERP improves efficiency, especially in organisations with operations in multiple locations or with employees out in the field. Instant access to data enables decision-makers to react to problems without delay and makes it easy to quickly respond to customer needs.

Seidor Africa’s approach is to develop solutions that enable responsiveness, can easily be personalised to suit the user, and are easy to use. Importantly, the customer is enabled to control operational costs and improve efficiencies. The result is a business that is positioned for profitable growth.