one of the nation’s largest long-term care pharmacy companies

David Martin

The healthcare technology landscape is ever changing. Our business – pharmaceutical distribution – is no exception. The drive for operational efficiency without sacrificing patient care requires constant innovation, forcing technology and operations teams into an ongoing state of change.To manage this innovation and change, Guardian and many otherswithin the healthcare industry are turning to cloud platforms and services. The cloud has historically suffered several stigmas in the healthcare space: security, “last mile” internet reliability, speed, loss of control, and more. These historic problems when relying on the cloud to run mission-critical systems have largely been resolved. Most major cloud platforms offer full HIPAA compliance, and even relatively rural locations have access to multiple reliable internet connections.The overall stability of cloud platforms now exceeds that of more traditional solutions.

The cloud has many uses in a healthcare distribution environment from the industry-specific systems that run the operations and large cloud-based services that handle CRM and ERP software for companies such as Salesforce and Workdayto nimble data analytics platforms. Each of these areas provide tangible benefits to the business, but for this discussion the focus will be on the use of cloud-based analytics tools. Utilizing the cloud to process and distribute data to disparate teams will “give your data legs”, providing users powerful new capabilities at a low marginal cost. Additionally, cloud platforms are almost infinitely scalable. Resources can be added and removed based on current needs, avoiding wasted capacity. To be clear, an organization needs technical analytics personnel to effectively execute business intelligence, cloud or otherwise. But a properly implemented cloud platform allows organizations to get the most out of those precious resources.

Let Clinical Resources be Clinical

As technology leaders, we must enable clinical and operational personnel to focus on what they do best: serving patients. To do this well, they need data. The historical struggle has been how to help these individuals spend their time not gathering data but ratherusing data to make better decisions and improve care. The goal is to create the tools necessary to make the right data available to the right decisionmaker at the right time.

Cloud platforms can make this possible. Gone are the days of month-long requirements and build cycles. Cloud solutions like PowerBI, Qlik and others allow for fast, iterative development. Analytics teams can quickly build prototypes with real data, secure feedback from users, make changes in near realtime, and redeploy. Thanks to this methodology, end users acquire a more complete solution at a quicker rate. Users can quickly grow in proficiency, taking basic reports and augmenting them with new data fields or groupings for their needs. This does not require significant technical proficiency.New users can be up and running in a matter of minutes with minimal training. This nimble operating modelleads to lower implementation costs, less risk, and a faster return on investment.

Leverage the Power of the Cloud

Cloud solutions also provide end users the ability to view data in realtime as summary dashboard visualizations or drill down to the “atomic” data elements. The mass processing power in the cloud makes manipulating large data sets behind the scenes seamless to the user. This simplification of the complex allows data in the cloud to be easily consumable and actionable by all levels, from front-line associates to executives. For the relatively savvy users, this leads to more self-service capabilities, which will provide leverage for limited data analytics resources.

Tell Your Value Story

A constant need in any competitive market is to use data to demonstrate the value of what your company does for your customers, particularly in a B2B setting. Once a foundation is built with a core set of analytics, this data can be easily turned around to customers with secure, easy access on the cloud. Analytics teams can deploy static reporting as well as customizable templates that allow self-service.In addition to keeping customers informed, this allows companies to tell their value story to customers in real time with hard data.

Get there Faster, Cheaper, and Better

Cloud analytics, when deployed properly, will become an invaluable asset to your organization. Ultimately, these capabilities can be a competitive advantage in your marketplace. Leveraging the existing infrastructure of the cloud will get you there faster, cheaper, and with more scalability.With no hardware or software investment, companies have less risk and more flexibility to deploy different solutions as the business needs change. At Guardian, we have deployed vast amounts of analyticsreporting to our partner pharmacies and customers with a relatively small data team. We continually tweak existing reporting, and add new analytics, to create a more agile organization.