Australian pharmaceutical distributor reduces report runtimes by 75%

Clifford Hallam Pharmaceuticals, established in 1978 and later merged with Hospital Supplier of Australia to form CH2, is Australia’s only fully-integrated distribution chain of pharmaceutical and medical consumables. “We not only look after the big pharmacies and hospitals, but we also go to remote places to serve individual customers. If someone needs medicine, we deliver. That’s our vision and mission and motto,” said Nav Pillai, CIO at Clifford Hallam Healthcare.

With an aggressive business goal, the company is in hyper-growth stage in a very competitive industry. CH2 is a member of Community Service Obligation (CSO), a federal government program that provides Australian residents with equal and timely access to medicines regardless of their location. Since becoming a member, the company has seen a significant boost in revenue, accelerating its timeline to meet its goals while strengthening its position as a leader in the market.

As a CSO member, CH2 must supply critical data demonstrating compliance with the program’s strict requirements. To streamline compliance, CH2 sought to improve its reporting capabilities which relied heavily on SAP BusinessObjects. SAP BusinessObjects was also the core of CH2’s in-house developed application that produced sales data for timely payments from suppliers and manufacturers.

Rimini Professional Services simplifies complex migration

CH2 sought to upgrade its heavily customized, highly-integrated version of SAP BusinessObjects 4.1 to drive more speed, efficiency, and security to support its accelerated growth. CH2 turned to its trusted Rimini Street experts — who have provided CH2 with comprehensive support for SAP since 2019 — to discuss options.

The Rimini Professional Services team assessed CH2’s entire environment to provide a detailed, complete analysis of the impacts of a possible upgrade, including licensing and security considerations. “Rimini Street took the time to listen and learn about my environment, giving me clarity and peace of mind knowing what the outcome would be and how it would improve my operations,” said Pillai. “They even provided in-depth licensing advisory support, helping me understand exactly what my total cost of ownership would be if I were to make the move to version 4.2 versus 4.3.”

In consultation with Rimini Street, CH2 determined that the best option for its environment would be to move to SAP BusinessObjects 4.2. The Rimini Street team provided CH2 with roadmapping, migration, and expertise to quickly complete the upgrade and provide post-migration support. Pillai recalled, “Even after the migration was complete and we experienced some technical challenges, the Rimini Street team jumped in to help us work through them. It was a really well-executed project, and I’ve never experienced a partnership like this from any other vendor I’ve worked with before.”

Strategic partnership drives outstanding results

After upgrading, reports runtime decreased by 75%. “We’ve seen a huge impact in expedited reporting. Our report runtimes went from two minutes to 30 seconds,” said Pillai. “Now we are able to provide data related to complaints, governance, and regulatory information much faster, and with greater confidence.”

CH2 has also gained peace of mind from improvements in its security posture with the upgrade. “One of the biggest benefits of the upgrade was the security enhancement. Given the current cyber landscape in Australia and the associated risks, the enhanced security was timely,” said Pillai.

Pillai was especially pleased with the engagement model of Rimini Professional Services, explaining “I was really impressed by the way the Professional Services team took the time to walk us through the proposal, approach, timeline, and risks so that we had everything we needed to make the right decision for our business and execute quickly.”

Looking forward, CH2 plans on further leveraging modern data analytics to predict cycles for workforce planning, and using Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) to reduce errors in transactions while adding speed, agility, and instant response capabilities. With Rimini Street’s vast portfolio of services across support, managed services, and professional services, CH2 has a solid strategic partner to help them take on the future.