Three Sixty pharmacy forges partnership deal with IBM

CEBU, Philippines - Opening 60 branches within the Visayas region in just two years, retail pharmaceutical company Three Sixty Pharmacy agreed a strategic partnership on technology solutions with IBM Philippines to increase productivity and reduce administrative and support costs.

For a robust and scalable storage environment, the drugstore chain selected IBM’s Storwize V700 Unified Disk System and the IBM Tivoli Storage Flash Copy Manager to streamline its operations to support its expansion plan.

IBM Territory Manager for Geographic Expansion Ana Joy Bellosillo said that the partnership is still at the planning stage and finalization to help Three Sixty Pharmacy in its goals towards growth in terms of information and technology infrastructure.

She added that they have implemented upgrades to the storage of the servers for the collection of data from the original set-up.

“As Three Sixty Pharmacy continues to grow, we made sure that IBM offers the products and services that are robust and very reliable solutions, catering to the expansion plans Three Sixty has made for,” she stated during the media briefing at Parklane International Hotel last Sunday.

She further said that IBM has tied up with the IT team of the pharmacy before coming up with the right solutions specifically fit to the requirements of the drugstore company.

Now that they have the data information through the IBM-based solutions, she added that the pharmacy would do away from manual processes; giving more value to the customers they currently serve.

Three Sixty Pharmacy Business Operations Manager Glordelyne Ramos said that the acquisition of the business intelligence software not only reduces costs but also doing more in less time, thus being more responsive and productive.

“As we continue to expand, we are happy to partner with an excellent company. Technology may give you an advantage but it really matters on how you make use of that technology,” she stated.

Describing each branch with various idiosyncrasies, she said that the company has to tailor fit the operations of each outlet as they serve different segments of the society to be more efficient and customer-oriented.

Ramos further clarified that the name of the pharmacy is made after 360 degrees of service from a drugstore chain, changing the way of how pharmacies operate and how customers are being served, not after the number of branches they intend to build.

As they express support to the Cebuano community, she explained that Three Sixty aims to open more branches in communities where access to life-saving drugs is difficult since it can only be bought in the cities.

Planning to open 20 more branches within the year, Business Development Manager Carlo Yap said that 10 of which will be situated outside Cebu.

With two branches in Tacloban and Bohol, he added that they are planning to open another one in Bohol, three more in Tacloban, two in Dumaguete, one in Bacolod, two in Iloilo and one in Tagum, Davao.

Yap also said that Three Sixty Pharmacy may open more branches in every town of Cebu to better serve the public if a strategic location could be provided in each municipality.

As they recently opened outlets in Carcar and Moalboal, the company-owned store also aims to open branches in San Fernando and Marigondon next month and looking forward to another branch in Bogo to gradually end with 80 branches before the year ends.

Meanwhile, IBM Country Manager for General Business Chestnut Andaya said that the new storage infrastructure system would enable the pharmacy to maximize data requirements and management to go along with the rapid business growth of the company.

“We would like to grow with the progress Three Sixty has opened in. Every time a sale is made; it is fed back to the server. It will make them become aware if they run out of inventory and replenish stocks quickly,” she said.

She also noted that with an efficient use of inventory and accuracy of data, the pharmaceutical company can have an easy access of information and better understanding of the public.

Considering Cebu as one of key cities outside Metro Manila with a booming industry, she further said that IBM supports the aggressive vision of Three Sixty to expand more, riding with the growth of the local market. - THE FREEMAN