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How Smart Device Ordering Can Benefit the Pharmaceutical Supply Chain
Ever since the Covid-19 pandemic disrupted the global supply chains, the need for greater resilience in the pharmaceutical sector has become more critical than ever. Pharmaceutical supply chains have already embarked on digital transformation, and embracing new technologies helps ensure that medicines and crucial supplies arrive at their destinations on time and support long-term business strategies. One such solution is smart device ordering on mobile devices, which can benefit the pharma supply chain in multiple ways.
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Importance of Digital Transformation in the Pharmaceutical Supply Chain
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Introducing Ordering with Smart Devices in the Pharmaceutical Supply Chain
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Benefits of Smart Device Ordering
a. Eliminate Manual Processing
b. Enhanced Accuracy and Efficiency
d. Convenient B2B Reordering for Promoting User Adoption
e. Augment Revenue Generation with Enterprise-Grade Barcode Scanning
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How Dynamsoft can Help you Build Scanning Apps for Pharmaceutical Supply Chain
Importance of Digital Transformation in the Pharmaceutical Supply Chain
Pharmaceutical supply chains are complex, as multiple stakeholders are involved in every single product, from the spot of manufacturing to the final destination. Different regulatory procedures in different countries and the risk of adultered and counterfeit medicines entering the pharma supply chain make things even more challenging, impacting the profit margins and risking end consumers’ health
The Covid-19 pandemic further unveiled various latent complexities and challenges underlying the pharma supply chains. With the medicine shortage becoming more prominent, most organizations failed to track their shipments due to a lack of real-time visibility.
Implementing modern technologies such as blockchain, barcode recognition, and artificial intelligence provides real-time visibility to pharmaceutical supply chains and helps plan long-term strategies to stay ahead of problems and issues by mitigating the risk.
Introducing Ordering with Smart Devices in the Pharmaceutical Supply Chain
Digitalization is the solution for the ever-complex pharma supply chain management. As of now, only 11% of pharmaceutical manufacturers provide the option of B2B e-commerce purchasing. The process becomes more convenient and simpler for buyers using mobile computer vision on smart devices like smartphones and tablets. Using digital technologies, such as barcode recognition and OCR, manual data entry is reduced, eliminating errors and saving time and effort.
Benefits of Smart Device Ordering
According to Salesforce, around 58% of pharmaceutical companies garner a major part of their B2B revenue via e-commerce. Pharma buyers are already choosing the online channel for purchasing as it offers reordering efficiency. Hence, manufacturers, distributors, and wholesalers who do not offer a B2B solution are bound to lose out on potential sales and growth.
By choosing smart device ordering, pharmaceutical buyers can benefit in multiple ways.
Eliminate Manual Processing
Ordering using computer vision technologies, such as barcode recognition, helps reduce dependency on performing tasks manually, such as doing product returns, saving time and decreasing the chances of errors.
Enhanced Accuracy and Efficiency
Accuracy plays a critical role in healthcare, from ensuring patient safety to supply chain visibility and regulatory compliance. It helps ensure the correct quantity of the required products, which are crucial for prescription fulfillment. Providing an easy-to-use tool to hospital administrators and pharmacies, manufacturers can help with product reordering compliance.
Better Compliance
Compliance is another crucial factor in the world of healthcare. And meeting regulations become challenging with returns. Also, pharmaceutical products come with an expiry date that further lays emphasis on ensuring all dispensing products in stock have valid in-dates. Mostly, product returns are done and managed manually, which involves a lot of time and may also increase the chances of errors. Using high-end smartphone scanning, buyers can quickly check the date of expiry and tracking lots to reduce dependency on manual work and minimize the chances of errors.
Convenient B2B Reordering for Promoting User Adoption
User adoption is one major hurdle while implementing any B2B e-commerce reordering tool. The same is true for pharmaceutical reordering. If pharma staff and procurement managers could enjoy the same experience when ordering B2B products, the way they have with ordering B2C orders for their personal use, there would be minimal to no issues in the process. Having a dedicated app on their smartphones gives pharma professionals ease of mobility. Using fast barcode scanning allows them to scan and search products, saving time and effort. Not to mention, they don’t need to be in front of a workstation to make a purchase, which further reduces product sales risk going to their competitors.
Augment Revenue Generation with Enterprise-Grade Barcode Scanning
A poor digital ordering process can risk regulatory compliance in the supply chain in pharmaceutical industry. Buyers may abandon carts leading to a loss of revenue and an increased workload on the sales team to provide assistance in the ordering process. Hence, it becomes crucial for manufacturers to build a hassle-free reordering process with automated solutions. Also, the resort must be cost-efficient. Whether a web or native app, the solution must be equipped with enterprise-grade barcode scanning to be able to scan the toughest barcodes, such as wrinkled, incomplete, angled, or ones with glare, to deliver the best results.
Using mobile barcode scanning solutions, you can also save the cost spent on purchasing dedicated devices.
Getting Going with a Top-Performance Scanning App
Like other supply chains, barcodes are crucial for effective pharmaceutical supply chain management. They provide instant access to a wide variety of information, including real-time data that is critical in supply chain management in the pharmaceutical industry. From improving transparency by providing granular visibility to being cost-effective, pharma manufacturers can streamline and expedite the fulfillment process by leveraging barcode recognition technology.
Making a Selection: Web or Native App?
Based on multiple factors, you can decide whether a web or native app would be the most suitable for your business.
- Devices in Use: Will the app be used on multiple devices? If yes, you must go ahead with a web app, which can be easily accessed on multiple devices and operating systems.
For building a native app, you need to look for a solution that works well on multiple models.
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Integration with Other Systems: Do you already have an ordering platform or want to integrate the application into the backend systems?
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Environment Where the Devices will be Used: For poor connection and internet speeds, it is better to integrate barcode scanning functionality in a web app as they load faster and use less storage.
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Available IT Resources: Several IT resources are critical when deploying a native app. The apps must be regularly updated to provide the best experience to the buyers.
How Dynamsoft can Help you Build Scanning Apps for Pharmaceutical Supply Chain
Dynamsoft is a leading computer vision company that has helped various organizations across multiple verticals. With our computer vision technology and commercial-grade SDKs, pharmaceutical manufacturers can set up an effective reordering process for enhanced customer satisfaction, streamlined workflow, and a boost in revenues.
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Expert Technical Guidance to Help you Find the Best Solution for your Usage Scenario: Talk to our award-winning team of technical experts, who’ll help you decide which solution will be ideal for your requirements during your proof of concept stage. Do you require a web or native app? Once decided, you will be provided with a smooth transition to your production environment.
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A Solution Designed for All Platforms, from Web to Native Apps: Whether you need a native or web app, we have the solution for all your barcode scanning needs. Our SDKs support all major platforms and work across multiple models. So you don’t have to worry about finding the right solution for your usage scenario.
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Robust Barcode Scanning with OCR Capabilities: Our barcode scanner SDK supports all major barcode symbologies, including the pharmacode, and Datamatrix codes. It can scan tough barcodes in the most challenging conditions. In addition to barcode scanning functionality, we provide OCR capabilities for quick text detection and recognition.
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Quick Integration Process: It takes just a few lines of code to add barcode scanning functionality to an existing or new app. Hence, you don’t have to wait months to ready your barcode scanning module.
Try the Dynamsoft Barcode Reader SDK
Looking for a commercial-grade barcode scanning solution for your business? Try the Dynamsoft Barcode Reader SDK and choose from hundreds of APIs for your most specific requirements.
Try the online barcode scanner demo to see Dynamsoft Barcode Reader in action.
Download the 30-day free trial to dive deeper into its features and capabilities.
Contact our team of technical experts to find the right solution for your needs.