We have all had to adapt over the past few months – and it has been amazing to see the way our Community Pharmacy customers have coped throughout the recent challenges – from the huge surge in customer demands to the uncertainty regarding the availability of vital stock and managing extended opening hours, pharmacies across the UK have gone above and beyond. I have been in awe of you all (take a read of my previous blog for my personal Thank You to our pharmacy heroes).
At Cegedim we have changed too and I have been proud of the way the whole team has adapted and embraced these changes. As you know, in April we extended our support hours to ensure hard pressed pharmacies could reach out as and when required. For pharmacies overwhelmed with customer demands, adding an additional 20 hours a week of support availability meant that our experts were immediately accessible when you needed them – and that is a change that continues today.
To support each pharmacy’s need to keep both staff and customers as safe as possible, we have also made installations available outside normal trading hours – at evenings and weekends. In some cases the install process has been conducted remotely, and we are exploring ways to deliver more services – both new installs and upgrades – remotely.
We have also introduced new procedures to minimise the time engineers need to spend in store – such as preconfiguring and preparing equipment beforehand. And, of course, all our staff are provided with and fully trained in the correct use of PPE and social distancing.
This change has had a widespread impact: 50% of installs are now conducted out of hours and I’ve received some extremely positive feedback from customers about the experience. The ability to provide pharmacies with a seamless, painless transition to new software is incredibly valuable – and to do it when the store is closed, takes away all the concerns and fears around staff and customer safety during the Covid-19 pandemic.
We are also investing in the future to ensure we meet our customer commitments. Our sales and operations team has grown; and I have been pleased to welcome four new staff members this month to my existing team of 21. Focusing on both new and existing customers, they will play a key role within the team in helping us to further exceed our customers’ expectations and meet our company customer experience goal:
‘To differentiate through committed delivery of an outstanding customer experience that is passionately embedded at the heart of everything we say and do.’
With more people on the team, we can ensure we are always available and delivering an outstanding customer experience. I’m confident we have the people within our team to help your pharmacy maximise value by using Pharmacy Manager – providing you with more information about the new features and functionality we continue to roll out each month. We continue to listen to your feedback and pass that insight back into the development process. Listen, Act, Improve – the fundamental steps in meeting our customer commitments.
Every business has been affected in some way by Covid-19 – and we have all made significant changes in order to adapt to the new challenges. At Cegedim, we are committed to investing in our future – in your future. We are investing in the business; growing the team, extending support hours, changing processes and enhancing the software to support you, our customers throughout the crisis and beyond.