Software solutions deliver the goods

Simon Shorthose, md of software provider IBS UK, looks at supply chain needs and solutions for the pharma sector.

Meeting institutional, item restriction, traceability, speed, accuracy, storage, despatch and, not least, customer service requirements are the number one deliverables for any pharma company looking for software. Among the most advanced areas within distribution and supply chain management, pharma has the added challenge of large transaction volumes coupled with demanding time constraints. All these needs are addressed by IBS's vertical software solution, IBS Pharma.

The processing time for the distribution of pharmaceuticals is very short, with fast order cycles. Other critical requirements for pharma distribution software include error minimisation (defects) and strict warehousing conditions. Using IBS's vertical software, which it helped to develop, leading Swiss pharmaceuticals distributor Galexis accomplishes delivery to a multitude of recipients within three hours of the order being sent electronically by the customer.

Co-operation between software suppliers and their customers on product development is likely to be seen more frequently in the future. Rapid advances in medical science and new research technology will pose even greater challenges both to the pharma industry and to its software suppliers.

The best value proposition is proving to be standardised software that caters for industry-specific functions, conditions and requirements, but that can still accommodate modifications that differentiate a company from the competition. Software companies need to provide the customer with the source code and interfaces so that modifications and additions can be easily implemented.

Choosing a solution based on standard software components minimises the risk of falling behind in terms of functionality, performance and new version updates. Another vital factor is ensuring that the components for areas such as supply chain automation, warehouse and inventory management, logistics planning, call planning, finance management, business analysis and e-commerce all lock in together as an integrated system. In addition, all these superficially disparate functions need collectively to be able to live up to peak performance transaction volumes.

In a recent benchmark session at IBM's Rochester laboratory, more than two million order lines per hour were handled by IBS' standard pharma software package running on a 24 processor IBM iSeries eServer. The average response time was 0.04 seconds. This is the realm into which doors are opening for pharma distributors.

Return on investment is, of course, a key component in systems selection. For the pharmaceutical industry, the risk - in conjunction with systems implementation and loss of customer confidence - is an even higher consideration. This is a compelling reason for purchasing standard software from a partner that understands the pressure faced by the industry.

A source of costly and potentially dangerous human error is the incorrect pronunciation, and consequent misspelling, of pharmacological terms, product names and medical expressions. Phonetic correction is a good example of how leading-edge computer technology can help. In addition, fully automated order creation, 'one key-stroke' order line entry, item authorisation, emergency purchasing to handle sudden changes in customer buying behaviour, as well as avoiding defects, are other features that tomorrow's pharmaceutical supply chain partners are going to demand as a matter of course.

Handling item restrictions will always be an issue. Pharmaceutical distributors are not allowed to sell all items to all customers: dangerous substances, e.g. narcotics, are subject to extensive reporting. Automated systems that include functions such as alert management, authorisation lists and palm order entry will facilitate speed, accuracy and security throughout the supply chain.

new opportunities

In the past, integrating systems has been a very costly and time-consuming process. New integration technology can provide new opportunities for disparate systems to work together, opening the way for synchronisation of the whole pharmaceutical supply chain - from clinical trials, initial marketing efforts and full-scale market availability to large-volume sales and state-of-the-art customer relations management - all in compliance with safety and data integrity requirements.

All the advantages of real-time data availability offered by the next generation of Internet-enabled applications will not only fulfil the need for accuracy, traceability, security and speed, they will also provide opportunities for rapid return on investment. The cost-benefit ratio for implementing industry-specific distribution and communication software, especially in combination with the latest in IT systems co-ordination, could see pharmaceuticals management teams managing the virtual enterprise of the future sooner than they think.