How to find the Best Software for your Retail Pharmacy?
Hint: It depends on few things, like Type of Pharmacy, Team Size, Resource/Skills Available etc.
We already know the importance of software in the Pharmacy business. The role of software becomes even more crucial when you have to manage multiple pharmacies. The software should be able to streamline operations and make it easier for managers to oversee all of their stores from one central location.
In our previous blog, we talked about how to choose the right software for Retail pharmacy. The needs of a Chain Pharmacy differs from that of Retail Pharmacy. Here are a few important points that should be kept in mind while choosing a perfect software like Inventory Management, Real-Time Reporting, Integration capability with other systems, Warehouse Management, Staff Management, Loyalty Program and Customer Relations. Let us look at each of these points in detail.
Software should be able to track inventory levels at each location, view sales data, and automatically order new supplies when inventory levels run low. This helps to ensure that each store has the necessary supplies on hand to meet customer demand, which helps to improve customer satisfaction.
Being cloud-based is a prerequisite for a Pharmacy Software in today’s fast paced environment. Pharmacy chain management software should provide real-time reporting, which means that managers can view sales data and other metrics as they happen. This allows them to make informed decisions quickly and adjust operations as needed.
We are accustomed to many softwares in our daily life. For example, accounts team loves Tally. If your software is not compatible with Tally, then accounts team would find it difficult to do their tasks with full efficiency. Similarly point-of-sale systems are used at many places, different payment gateways are being used, delivery partners are onboarded for quick deliveries. Your Chain Pharmacy software should be able to integrate these systems so that the operations are streamlined and overall efficiency of your business improves.
Chain Pharmacies have a centralized warehouse where they keep all the inventory. The software should have Real-Time inventory tracking and optimized storage to save money. It should also help in sorting and order processing for faster fulfilments. From ordering to delivering the products, all steps should be streamlined and connected with all locations in real-time.
Customer relationship management is the key to success for any business. The question is, should you get another software to manage your customer relationships? The short answer is NO. Your Pharmacy Chain Management Software should have in-built capabilities like a Loyalty Program for your customers, sharing invoices, sending refill reminders to patients on WhatsApp, Sending Greetings on their Anniversaries, Birthdays and Festivals. Since all your locations will be using one software, the customer relationship management activities can be done centrally from the HO.
It is usually not expected from a Medical Billing Software to perform the tasks like Staff Management. But there are a few sofwares out there which have the staff management feature in them. Your Pharmacy chain software should be having features like Staff Logins, Profile Management, Rights settings, Edit history and Performance reports for each staff member. You can easily manage staff across all the locations from the H.O. itself. No need to move around every store location to see who is doing good or bad.
Gone are the days when we expected a Pharmacy Management Software to do just Billing and Inventory management. Now the times have changed. New generation software are much more capable. You need to think about all the above mentioned points before you decide on the right pharmacy software for your pharmacy chain business. By investing in the best pharmacy chain management software, you can run your pharmacy business more efficiently and provide better service to your customers.