Reservoir Pharmacy is a locally, Australian owned chemist situated in the northern suburbs of Melbourne. With two locations, it provides pharmaceutical services, compounding and vaccination services. It employees twenty staff and opens extended hours seven days a week.
Challenges
The pharmacy was facing a range of issues which were causing customer, operational and admin issues. Their IT managed service provider had recently been acquired by another company and the new provider wanted a 24-month contract to be signed. Reservoir Pharmacy were concerned about signing up with the ongoing issues they were facing.
Due to the set-up of their IT environment and systems the following were occurring:
- long internet dropouts causing administrative delays for customer and healthcare provider.
- decrease in productivity and loss of revenue due to downtime.
- multiple charges for services that were not necessary and not being provided, including triplicate Microsoft licensing.
- difficulty tracking automatic credit card charges.
- had been targeted by two cybersecurity attacks that caused issues to the business.
- confusion due to multiple accounts and wasted time logging onto different accounts to access information and systems.
These issues coupled with subpar IT support that either weren’t resolve issues in a timely manner, or weren’t fix them at all, didn’t instil confidence in their IT landscape.
Reservoir Pharmacy had two main goals. First was to consolidate systems and licensing, stop paying unnecessary charges, and fix networking and obsolete issues. Secondly, to increase security by conducting an audit and make improvements.
Solution
Muscatech looked at the environment as a whole and created a tailored solution to suit the needs of the pharmacy and industry requirements.
Microsoft 365
They audited the Microsoft 365 licensing and tenancies, to find that multiple accounts and email addresses were causing confusion and decreasing productivity. They worked out which accounts to use, closed one of the tenants, migrated information and archived accounts. This allowed for the centralisation and stabilisation of the Microsoft 365 environment.
Computers & Updates
Muscatech discovered that all Windows and application updates has been turned off. Muscatech updated all computer applications, enabled automatic Windows updates and added multi-factor authentication to increase security.
Some computers were end of life, and were replaced with new, modern computers.
IT Environment
A range of work was completed to stabilise the Reservoir Pharmacy’s IT environment.
- Due to internet dropouts, the client was moved to NBN to minimise downtime.
- Selected and installed a new router with more advanced features to prevent cybersecurity attacks.
- Muscatech consolidated the hardware, patched and removed bugs in the system, all in line with IT best practice.
- Streamlined and centralised the printer environment including updating settings and drivers.
Consulting and Support
Reservoir Pharmacy accessed virtual CIO services for on-demand expertise including devices and setup advice for scanning e-scripts. This has allowed them to keep up with changes in the industry.
Reservoir Pharmacy also requested IT support to assist with resolving IT issues and tasks, as they arise.
Results
The tailored solution has increased the reliability of the Reservoir Pharmacy’s IT environment. The stable network has meant less system crashes, less downtime and increased security measures to reduce business risk.
The work completed by Muscatech has allowed Reservoir Pharmacy to:
- reduce Microsoft licensing costs by two thirds, due to the correction of the set up and removal of licensing triplications.
- increase security with updates, patching, and a new router.
- access faster speeds, less dropouts and downtime since moving to NBN and new computers.
- increase productivity due to streamlined accounts and email address.
- service happier clients due to more efficient systems, with less technology issues.
- happier and less confused staff with technology that supports them.
- faster resolution of technology issues, as the helpdesk understands their environment and fixes matters promptly.
- decrease in reactive IT support tickets due to the stability of the environment.
- access virtual CIO advice for new technologies and to keep up with the changes in the industry, enabling business growth.
- modernise, report, and conduct stocktaking to comply with industry obligation requirements.
In the near future, Reservoir Pharmacy with the help of Muscatech, will look at whether to replace their on-premise servers or move to a cloud based solution.
“We have been impressed with Muscatech’s ability to get issues resolved promptly. Since they have been working with us, we have had peace of mind that our systems and environment are working for us.”
~ Joseph Amerena, Director, Reservoir Pharmacy
