One of Ireland’s largest phar-macy groups, LloydsPhar-macy was faced with theprospect of increasing its storenumbers from its existing 74,while simultaneously launch-ing an Express PrescriptionService, an online store and anew loyalty programme.The challenge lay in ensur-

ing that the group could man-age thes e developmentswithout restricting the ambi-tious growth plans for thecompany. Additionally, thegrowth continues to take placeagainst the backdrop of achanging healthcare land-scape,withmore exacting cus-tomer expe ctat ions andregulatory demands placingadded pressures on the com-pany.To meet these challenges

head-on, in 2009 LloydsPhar-macy started the process ofimplementing a new ERP so-lution. It did this in conjunc-tion with its sister companiesin Ireland (LloydsPharmacyis part of the Celesio group ofcompanies, a leading interna-tional trading company andprovider of logistics and ser-vices in the pharmaceuticaland healthcare sector), elect-ing to provide a singleERPso-lution for its more than 1,000endusers over its vast networkof pharmacies across thecountry.In addition to replacing ex-

isting legacy solutions and in-teg rat ing w ith exter nalpartners, the solution also hadto harmonise data across theunits and streamline report-ing; and to compound mat-ters, the project needed to bedelivered simultaneously toall companies across Ireland,so that controls and synergiescould be maximised.Obviously such a major

roll-out required a sophisti-cated, scalable and robust

ERP solution; and having es-tablished a high level teamand studied the market for themost appropriate implemen-tation partner, the decisionwasmade to chooseAvnetCli-ent Solutions due to its experi-ence, its professionalism andits ability to deliver a solutionwhich met all of LloydsPhar-macy’s needs.Working with Avnet Client

Solutions, the decision wasmade to implement SAP In-dustry Solution Retail (ECC6.0) in a package which in-cluded Business Warehouse(BW), Point of Sale DataManagement (POS DM) andMerchandise Inventory Man-agement (MIM).‘‘The successful adoptionof

the SAP processes and func-tionality at LloydsPharmacywas testament to the buy-infrom senior management andkey process owners within thebusiness from early in the pro-ject.These representatives be-came key users, trainers andthe go-to people within the or-gan i s at ion,’’s a id Den i sO’Leary,SAPBusinessDevel-opment Manager at AvnetClient Solutions.

The decision to opt for theSAP ERP system was madeeasier by the fact that Celesiogroup had a close relationshipwith SAP in Germany; Celes-io already had SAP IS-Retailin place in other countrieswithin Europe. However, a lo-calised solution had to be im-plemented for Ireland, whilePOS DM and MIM were ap-plicable specifically to Lloyd-sPharmacy.Once the decision had been

taken to go with Avnet andSAP, the solution was rolledout to all pharmacies acrossthe country on a ‘big bang’im-plementation,with each phar-m a c y g o i n g l i v e w i t hprocurement and inventorymanagement functionality.The benefits of the system be-came obvious from the end ofday one, and now each storeorders through the systemusing SAP’s MIM functional-ity,while also recording inven-tory counts through the SAPsystem. Additionally, sales in-formation is collated usingSAP POS DM and integratedwith SAP BW.‘‘One of the major benefits

is in reporting: the access to

the information is consider-ably enhanced which allowsus to make decisions quickerand more accurately,’’ saidMichael Keating, finance di-rector of LloydsPharmacy.‘‘The retail pharmacy marketis continually changing andhaving access to this informa-tionprovides uswith a compe-titive advantage over ourcompetitors.’’The SAP solution also pro-

vides LloydsPharmacy withsignificant efficiency savings,allowing colleaguesmore timewith customers to provide ad-vice and assistance. This iscrucial for a company whichprides itself on customer ser-vice.For example, the defibril-lators which are in everyLloydsPharmacy, have al-ready saved three lives.‘‘SAP has delivered the re-

quired objectives such as im-prove d c ont rol a roundpurchasing’’ said Keating. ‘‘Ithas also improved the qualityof our financial reporting andvolume of information forsales analytics via the inter-face (POSDM) from ourEPOS system to ERP. Butmost importantly, it has em-powered our pharmacists tospend more personal timewith our customers, providingexpert advice and assistance,all core values of the Lloyd-sPharmacy experience.’’

For further information onAvnet Client Solutions and its

products and services,contact Denis O’Leary

Tel: +353 1 620 4879 email:denis.oleary@avnet.com;

www.ts.avnet.com/clientsolu-tions/sap

Commercial profile: SAP

ERP system brings enhanced information and benefits to large pharmacy chain

LloydsPharmacy and SAP a life-saving combination