When I arrived at Kmart back in 1990, they were doing 30 plus billion dollars. I had just left CVS as the Corporate VP of Pharmacy and was very involved in not just the pharmacy operations, but also the process. The “system” we used helped fill prescriptions and more importantly, helped us make money.
Let me explain.
Kmart had developed the new pharmacy system internally. What I found was that four million dollars had been invested in a system that could never work in the real world. Why? It all came down to silos —the business vision, the technical know how and the user. Those groups were not working together – not communicating and the end result was a system that could not work in the real world and one that certainly could not make money.
My goal was to connect the users with the IT team, get the right mix of people, look at where the future was in the pharmacy business then decide how to build or buy the right tools. Thanks to the support of Dave Carlson, the head of IT — an executive who welcomed feedback such as “here is our business and here is where it is going, what can we do together?”
In less then 60 days, we had a team, we had weekly meetings, we interviewed vendors and we made a team decision.
The roll out required that we change 1,600 stores in 4 months to all new hardware, all new software and all new training! WE DID IT!
How:
- Communication
- Defining the business vision and having IT as a partner creating that vision not just an implementing it after the fact
- Getting a mix of people to brainstorm and work the process to get the best solution for this project
- Communicating with the users at store level via a satellite feed weekly as we rolled it out allowing the team to manage the process and troubleshoot in real time
Results:
- Kmart went from a pharmacy business that did $750,000 million a year to $1.6 billion in less then two years (thanks to this effort)
- Previously, Kmart could only take three insurance plans, after this initiative, they could take every insurance plan
- To date, after 18 years, this process is still the underbelly of the pharmacy at Kmart. The team executed the vision.
So today, look at the future, what are the emerging tools not just in IT but also for the business that IT is supporting and partners with? How will you, the CIO, take these new tools and help your team build for that future!
F. Kevin Browett
Mr. Browett brings over 25 years of direct hands-on experience in the retail healthcare business and senior executive management experience in personnel development, operations, marketing, merchandising and bottom line financial management.
