Situation

Brennan was asked by leading pharmacy chain, Terry White Chemists, to develop a tracking system to support its TODAY quit smoking program.

Unlike many other quit smoking products on the market, Terry White’s exclusive TODAY initiative is a weekly, step-by-step personalised program that involves in-store medical advice and monitoring by Terry White pharmacists and health consultants. A patient’s blood pressure, weight, lung strength, carbon monoxide levels and other health indicators are measured and monitored on a weekly basis by medical professionals who provide continual and personal, in-store advice and support.

In order to deliver the TODAY program, Terry White asked Brennan to custom build a unique computer tracking system that would reflect TODAY’s high-quality and personalised service.

Solution

The challenge was to develop an intuitive database system that could support customer data tracking, report scheduling of clinical visits, as well as track sell-through of products from the TODAY program.

Importantly, it also had to be cost-effective and simple to use by Terry White’s pharmacists nationwide, many of whom are not necessarily computer savvy.

While undertaking preliminary strategic research, Brennan realised Terry White had other customer initiatives that could also benefit from support by a similar computer tracking system.

With this in mind, Brennan developed a web-based and “rules-based” engine that was versatile, robust and flexible enough to support Terry White’s TODAY quit smoking program, as well as its other customer health projects, such as its dieting and diabetes programs.

Benefits

For Terry White, Brennan’s rules-based and web-based solution delivers big ticks when it comes to low TCO (total cost of ownership) and high ROI. The rules-based nature of the system means it can be easily modified and quickly relaunched for other programs without the need for a separate computer system or reprogramming – Terry White can use the system to simply and quickly define a set of business rules for each one of their various customer health programs.

Explains David Perks, Brennan’s GM Software Development: “There was nothing in the market that could have delivered the exact requirements Terry White had – and at the same or lower total cost of ownership.

“The system we custom built provides a differentiator for Terry White and also considerably enhances the quality of service they can offer their customers.

“It was also very cost effective, since there are a relatively high number of end users and having built the solution, there are no ongoing licence charges like there would be with an off the shelf package.”

Another benefit of Brennan’s tracking system is its intuitiveness. The rules basically define a conversation flow that a staff member would have with a customer and so the system prompts for the appropriate tests or questions to be conducted.

“It’s very possible that a customer would be involved in multiple health initiatives. The system works that out and removes prompts for any duplicate tests across the various programs so it streamlines the customer experience,” said David Perks.

Kylie Hanson, Terry White’s category business manager of managed programs says the system is performing “very well” – so well in fact that Terry White will soon be using it to support the roll out of another customer program for diabetes.

“To support the volume of customers expected to take up the TODAY service and to provide a consistent customer experience regardless of the Terry White outlet visited, we needed a widely available computer-based administration system,” Hanson said. “And what I like most about the system Brennan built is its simplicity – its user-friendly screens and simple reports.

“Brennan's approach was very professional. Their technical team is so easy to work with – they leave out the jargon in their requests and communications, knowing we don’t have an IT background – and they are always prompt in replying to any queries I have.”