CARiNG Pharmacy: Transforming Distributed Workforce, while Modernizing Business Process and Collaboration with Google Workspace

Get a deeper understanding on how CARiNG Pharmacy Group takes steps forward to modernizing its business by adopting the services of Google Workspace.

Customer Summary:

CARiNG Pharmacy was established with the idea of providing an easily accessible community pharmacy service in mind. By delivering pharmacist counseling service within reach and available 24/7 to the public, this thoughtful concept has crowned CARiNG Pharmacy as one of the fastest-growing pharmacy chains in Malaysia.

The Challenge:

CARiNG Pharmacy Group wants to contribute to the community by providing pharmacy service that is affordable and accessible to the public. With a total of 170 stores nationwide and growing, CARiNG stood in need of a scalable and labour-saving solution for its operation to increase productivity and enhance the performance of its current workforce.

For instance, straightforward tasks such as data entry, if not handled properly, could delay the process of a business transaction. An example would be the toil that the staff finds when they do not have a seamless way to transform users from different applications; say, tools like Microsoft Excel to Google Sheet, or Google Chat to Whatsapp application. These issues might look trivial at first glance, but for big pharmacy chains like CARiNG, time is of the essence and every second saved leads to further conversion of sales. 

On top of finding the suitable tool, it is also important for staff to have the right knowledge to utilize the tool. As CARiNG has a large number of employees, the significance of knowledge sharing needs to be instilled to facilitate the employees in using digital platforms for the betterment of their organization. Only when the staff are knowledgeable, that the workflow can be eased, replicated and thus scale up the business. 

Lastly, the absence of information synchronization and lack of communication between CARiNG outlets and its HQ also poses difficulties (this is actually a perpetual hurdle that is faced by most of the businesses as well). This breakdown of internal communication shall be dealt with high-priority as the consequence can be grave, resulting in the risk of running an operation without clear mission, disengagement and low morale among workers. Therefore, it is crucial for CARiNG to adopt a modernized and well-informed workspace for its regional business expansion. 

The Solution:

To work things out, MatrixC came into the picture to help CARiNG to achieve the desired outcome for its business needs. The implementation journey is properly planned with CARiNG’s team to lay out the project timeline, communication timeline, admin training, end-user training and training for top management. 

First, MatrixC has set up an internal self learning hub for the key users of CARiNG’s system in order for the staff to be well-versed in handling the applications and hence a seamless adaptation of the new applications. A complete deployment of work email and data migration from Microsoft Outlook to Google Workspace has also been put in place. 

In terms of collaboration, MatrixC has enabled document collaboration between CARiNG HQ and its outlets by way of Google Workspace. This gives the better sharing of data and information between CARiNG’s nationwide branches to speed up normal operations such as regional bulletin, determining stock count or standardizing its campaigns and promotions. Google Chat is now being used for internal communication to replace Whatsapp, and Google Meet for virtual meetings needed for CARiNG outlets as well as with third parties. 

MatrixC also created a central portal within the outlets for trouble-less information sync that helps CARiNG’s business to run and grow. As CARiNG plans to move their on-prem application to Google Cloud for a more scalable and configurability, MatrixC readily provides guidance to the IT team on the email migration for the users, ways to manage conflict users, and other relevant issues as well. Additional queries from CARiNG are also resolved by way of support tickets and phone calls. 

With the help of MatrixC,, CARiNG is able to alleviate its productivity and smoothen work operations for its business with minimal cost.

The detailed process and timeline of support by MatrixC:

1. Discussion on Google Workspace deployment plan with CARiNG project team
2. Google deployment involving configuration, user & group provisioning, and email forwarding for EA & GC
3. Sharing on the flow for password distribution, group setting, unmanaged user, and email forwarding
4. Layout the communication plan for the announcement of the official switch from existing email platform to Google & training timetable
5. Conduct Google Workspace Admin Workshop to enable key IT personnel on managing Google Workspace
6. Conduct 2-days of Google Workspace User Enablement Workshop for Google Champion programme:

• Day 1: Deep dive on Google Workspace core applications (Gmail, Drive, Chat, Calendar & Meet)
• Day 2: Mini Business Transformation Workshop

7. Conduct awareness workshop that includes Introduction to Google Workspace and session on Immersive Demo
8. Conduct four jumpstart sessions for HQ and outlet users prior to going live
9. Provide guidance on mobile setup with CARiNG technical team

Reasons CARiNG choose Google over other providers:

1. CARiNG’s ever-expanding business concept creates a need for more suitable and modern work tools and applications like Google Workspace. Taking into account Google’s high ability in work collaboration, Google is regarded to be the best fit for its business after making strict comparisons with other products in the market.
2. Google Workspace caters to all CARiNG’s productivity needs, such as the user-friendly productivity tools and large shared drive usage.
3. Google Workspace is also compatible  with Microsoft Office & third party email hosting services.

The Result:

With the participation of MatrixC, we have significantly improved the team working collaboration for CARiNG especially faced with a business environment that involved such distributed location. With the solutions we provided above, the process of collaboration has definitely been eased out in terms of administration, compiling work, and issues with the document’s version. 

After several training sessions from MatrixC, business users of CARiNG are now more able and independent to build their own dashboard and report with Google Sheets, instead of relying solely on the technical team, which translates to better efficiency and shortening the turnaround time for business users. Staff from different HQ, outlets, or external parties are able to work together regardless of location and distance, and the overall user experience, as well as system manageability, has also improved tremendously. In terms of security, spam email handling has been upgraded, and the sharing of documents has become more consistent than before. 

It’s lucky that Caring has chosen Google Workspace and implemented it in 2019, one year before the covid-19 pandemic outbreak hit globally,  especially when the first Movement Control Order (MCO) or lockdown by the Malaysia government being implemented in March 2020, CaRiNG could implement their Business Continuity Plan (BCP) with ease. In view of the adoption of Google Workspace, it has enabled Caring to operate smoothly with its frontline continued to operate their essential pharmacy stores across the country, while enabling the back office worker to transition to work-from-home (WFH) easily with minimal impact on CARiNG’s operation and communication remain intact as usual without deterrence.

Finally, by transitioning completely to Google Workspace, the need for a Microsoft product license has greatly reduced the overall IT CAPEX and OPEX cost. The added value of scalability of user accounts gives them the room to grow as they expand, hence it was justified to be more cost-effective, as compared to other solutions.  The overall modernization of the work process that was implemented has increased the work productivity and efficiency of the company as a whole.

Products:

• Google Workspace (Business Starter & Standard)
• Acer Chrome Meeting Hardware
• Change Management Training & Business Transformation Workshop

1. Google Workspace Enablement Workshop for Google Champion
2. Business Transformation Workshop for Google Champion
3. Google Workspace Admin Workshop
4. Google Workspace Enablement Workshop for Director-HOD-Manager
5. End User Jumpstart Training for HQ & Outlet

For more information on Versa, do check out their website here: https://caring2u.com

Enjoy reading our articles? Check out more of our work here: 5 reasons why successful corporations need Google Workspace