Pharmaceutical Retailer: Operational Transformation

Accenture helped this pharmaceutical retailer improve its overall performance by providing it with the framework and tools needed to give managers a real-time view of business performance.

Among many benefits, the company’s increased performance has seen its stock price increase fivefold.

The client operates nearly 5,000 drugstores across the United States. In its stores, the company sells prescription drugs as well as other merchandise. Its 2010 revenues were in excess of $24 billion.

To reach its vision of high performance and outperform its competitors, the client wanted to enhance its operational effectiveness to reduce costs, improve margins and deliver enhanced customer service.

Accenture was the natural choice as the two companies were already working together to optimize the client’s sourcing and improve its cost structures. Accenture’s wide experience in finance and enterprise performance, as well as its industry insights, were also important decision factors.

Accenture assembled a skilled and experienced multidisciplinary team from its Products, Strategy, Technology and Finance & Enterprise Performance groups to help create a framework for enterprise performance management, as well as a toolset. This gives all levels of management a centralized view of the performance of various organizational levels based on a scorecard that is aligned with the client’s strategic game plan.

We created the toolset using Microsoft.NET and included links to key applications to permit some users to work with lower-level data. It gives managers a direct, real-time view of business performance, thus assisting them to perform course corrections effectively and rapidly—sharpening the client’s competitive edge. Accenture also integrated continuous learning modules to address areas that the solution identified. By leveraging its proprietary Accenture Delivery Methods and Enterprise Performance Management methodologies, Accenture helped speed time to value and reduce risk.

By integrating the enterprise performance management framework into the way the business is managed through the customized toolset, Accenture harnessed the power of analytics to help drive high performance.

The report generated by the tool helps users gauge their performance against the company’s broader strategic direction, and helps drive new behaviors as needed. The organizational benefits are apparent, and already the Customer Service Index has improved by 1 percent.

In addition, overall inventory levels have been reduced below $1 billion; headcount has been slightly reduced to produce a savings of $6 million; and there is increased awareness of the need for regulatory compliance throughout the company.

In time, the company expects these benefits to translate into increased revenue and growth. The client’s stock has increased fivefold in recognition of the company’s efforts to improve performance, one of which was the toolset Accenture developed.