Cegedim Rx is the market-leading supplier of healthcare software solutions and computer services to more than 50% of the UK pharmacy market.
This incorporates over 6000 pharmacies including some of the UK’s largest pharmacy chains and many independent high street retailers. It employs around 140 staff at offices in Lancashire and Surrey. It has been using Redcentric solutions successfully for the past three years and has recently renewed its commitment for a further three years.
The original catalyst for the move to Redcentric was the company’s desire to find a new network provider that offered:
Cegedim Rx also needed complete confidence that the subsequent switch over would result in minimal disruption to its customers; that services would be effortlessly scalable to cater for future development and expansion; and that the supply relationship would be founded on understanding, insight and responsiveness.
“We weren’t just buying a commodity, we were looking to build a long-term IT partnership. That meant looking beyond technical capabilities and digging into aspects such as account management, project management, consultancy skills and the attitudes and values embedded within the supplier organisation. And as an all-round proposition, Redcentric proved overwhelmingly compelling.”
One of the key influences in our original decision was the knowledge that Redcentric had this end-to-end portfolio. And while the early focus was all on taking the network to a new level, we were always aware that we could leverage additional managed services to strengthen our own commercial proposition.
The initial project saw a smooth changeover from the existing network to one with higher bandwidth providing speedier connectivity and better levels of resilience and protection.
Cegedim Rx’s clients saw minimal disruption and with the resultant improved visibility of issues and faults, they instantly benefitted from a more proactive service from the IT service desk. With confidence building in Redcentric, which was steadily developing its own understanding of the players, drivers and dynamics involved, Cegedim Rx looked to broaden and deepen its relationship further.
Clive Eckett:
We have made huge efforts to differentiate ourselves from our competitors, and over the last year or so we have been assessing the potential of new IT offerings to our client base to a) add further value, b) sharpen our point of difference and c) raise the barrier to exit higher.
“We’ve worked very closely with the Redcentric account management team during this time and the first fruits of our collaboration can be seen in the successful deployment of two new solutions: managed backup and 3G failover,
wrapping further efficiencies, time-savings, and resilience around our core offer.”
We’ve worked very closely with the Redcentric account management team during this time and the first fruits of our collaboration can be seen in the successful deployment of two new solutions: managed backup and 3G failover.
Clive Eckett has no doubts that the maturing relationship between client and supplier has delivered richly on its early promise – and has some way to go yet. “In conjunction with our account manager we’re already examining the rest of the Redcentric portfolio and there are some hugely exciting opportunities
still to mine that accord perfectly with our strategic direction. Very much a case of ‘Watch this space!’”.
Increased performance and availability – The quality of the software is only as good as the network delivering it, and pharmacies are now enjoying the speed, uptime and reliability they demand as standard.
Enhanced commercial proposition – A richer service ‘wrap’ utilising Redcentric’s managed service portfolio has allowed Cegedim Rx to consolidate its market leadership and strengthen its own client relationships through selected, added-value solutions.
Greater cost certainty and cost-efficiency – A progressive, growing business still has to have an eye on the bottom-line, and predictable, transparent pricing models together with competitive costings ensure that it can be certain about investment and confident about profitability.
Improved support function – The in-house team has the backup of a large, UK-based support team 24/7,
adding a further layer of knowledge and resource to secure delivery excellence to the user base.
Strategic and operational confidence – Cegedim Rx now enjoys a heightened degree of confidence in its ability to deliver consistently day in, day out, and to continue its market dominance through innovation, performance and exceptional client care.
