News

Leading pharmaceutical distributor UniPhar plc has embarked on a significant technology investment to enhance customer service and support continuing growth. The investment will see the implementation of SAP’s market leading Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solution and Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software by IBM.
UniPhar, which employs 700 people in several locations throughout Ireland and Britain, believes that the combination of the SAP ERP solution and IBM’s implementation expertise will provide a system that will enable its managers to access quality information from across the business in real-time in order to make more informed decisions quicker. It will also provide the company with the flexibility to grow the business without having to make significant re-investments in IT systems.

“We currently operate a number of disparate IT applications and we wanted one integrated solution that would bring our processes together so that all our employees could access the information they need, when they need it. Implementing the SAP solution will mean that we can deliver an enhanced service to our customers and principals, which will provide us with a competitive advantage and facilitate growth,” said David FitzGerald, Group Finance Director, UniPhar plc.

Based on industry best practices, SAP ERP draws from more than 30 years of experience with more than 40,000 customer implementations to deliver enhanced insight into a company’s strategies and operations to allow for quick adaptation to changing industry requirements. As well as providing ERP, the system also includes Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and Business Intelligence (BI) solutions.

According to John Morrissy, UniPhar’s SAP Account Manager, SAP Ireland, the solution will allow assigned UniPhar employees to access consistent information such as customer trends and product demand in a timely manner from a centralised database, which will mean UniPhar will be better able to match its product portfolio to market requirements.

IBM Global Business Services has been engaged to deliver the end-to-end solution, including hardware, software and implementation services. Mike Guthrie, IBM’s Business Development Manager for SAP Solutions, said that this is a strategic initiative for UniPhar that will provide a stable and efficient platform to support current operations more effectively, and also enable key technological initiatives required to deliver on the vision underpinning the company’s long term corporate strategy.

For instance, by leveraging the power of SAP’s Business Intelligence, UniPhar will be able to collaborate more productively by providing timely access to business critical information for suppliers and customers on a self-service basis over the Web.

Internally, UniPhar will also be ulitising SAP’s ERP Human Capital Management (HCM) solution, which improves efficiencies in people management by automating core HR processes such as employee administration and self-service, payroll and expenses.

The SAP ERP system will also be integrated with UniPhar’s state-of-the-art warehouse management system at its new facility in City West, Dublin. This will enable employees to access up-to-the-minute sales and operations information.

According to David FitzGerald, the combination of SAP’s proven credentials in the pharmaceutical industry with IBM’s thought leadership in the sector was an unbeatable combination.

Implementation of the new system has begun with full deployment across the UniPhar group expected by the end of 2009.

UniPhar plc, headquartered in Dublin, was formed in 1994 and is owned by Community Pharmacists. Its core competencies are in the fields of distribution, marketing, sales and market-driven value added initiatives. The company consists of eight divisions, operating within the healthcare and health related sectors, and the products and services are designed to promote the “wellness” concept for people, animals and the environment. Group turnover has grown to over €720 million and the company employs in excess of 700 people.