Secured Connectivity for Pharmacies
There is an ever increasing demand for telecommunication in public health. Uninterrupted data connectivity is today in this business as necessary as electricity and running water. Many countries have implemented or are in a process of implementing centrally based electrical so called eprescription systems. The challenge with these online services is the need to connect to the central location always. If not, the business is stopped.
Goodmill Systems Ltd. And Receptum Oy have jointly developed a solution to handle ever occurring data connectivity problems. Recetum offers a whole package of Pharmacy IT systems and Goodmill supplements the solution with always online managed broadband access. The solution practically guarantees 100% availability for the necessary IT services. Best of all, the solution has been proven to be 60-70 percent cheaper than the competing solution in Finland and thus provides a payback period of only 6-7 months.
Solution description
The used solution is based on remotely managed routers that each have a fixed line and a mobile back-up connection. When the fixed connection is not available, the router connects automatically to the systems using the alternative mobile link. This switch over time is very fast and is unnoticeable to the users. The operators and mobile network technology and can be freely selected based on local availability.
An additional benefit is that the system provides also seamless connectivity from branch pharmacies and home office. All connections are automatically created by the system and no local configuration is needed. The connectivity can be assured thus to all payment services, eprescription data bases and other needed applications.
Solution benefits
The solution is operator independent: customer can select which ever operator gives the best prices. It is actually recommended that the customer selects different operator for fixed line and mobile connectivity for resilience reasons. It is very rare that two operators would fall down simultaneously.
Operator independency also provides for cost benefits. One does not need to buy high cost secured MPLS or expensive VPN solutions from a single vendor. The needed encryption is provided by the router system. Despite the presented savings the service quality is actualy improved by the system!
Data traffic can be also prioritized so that e-prescriptions and payment data will go through even if someone uses higher bandwidth services. No one can thus block the crucial and critical applications’ connection.
The home office availability has been very well appreciated solution. The pharmacy owners want to have access to all the systems also from their homes outside of business hours or during the late evening open periods. This solution is also widely used and almost always wanted.
The routers are remotely managed. The connectivity and the functionality of the routers and some systems behind the routers can be continuously monitored. This ensures that the back-up connection is fully operational also when not in use. All status reports and logs are collected and can be presented to the customer when needed. The customer can thus have a reliable report on true availability of connections when ever needed.
Customers like the solution. Several pharmacies have indicated that customers come directly to
buy the products from a place they know can provide the goods due to well-functioning system
Expanding customer base
The presented back-up solution is the market leader in Pharmacy systems in Finland. Receptum
has a customer base of already app. 400 pharmacies and more than half of them already use the
solution. Receptum strategy is to expand to other special retail sectors where uninterrupted
connectivity is needed. The joint solution has thus interesting growth opportunities.
Summary
High availability IT solutions are here to stay. The branch has been looking for a more flexible
player that is operator independent and offers more flexibility for the customers. Receptum and
Goodmill have found a remarkable solution that is expanding from Pharmacies quickly to dentists,
medical centers and other special retail sectors. If you want better service at lower cost, don't
hesitate to contact us.
Receptum system solutions provide enhanced business, better customer service and possibility to
focus on key business. Receptum provides IT-solutions and IT-services for commerce, pharmacist,
dentists and dental clinics, doctors and medical practices. The extensive range of Receptum
solutions also includes comprehensive bank- and data- transfer packages.
Goodmill brings you revolutionary managed multi-channel router solutions that enable
outstanding Broadband connectivity ensuring constant data flow in demanding conditions where
connectivity is critical.