This is a guest post by Mikhil Innani co-founder of Pharmeasy a leading pharmacy delivery service for India
When customers pick up prescription medicines from a pharmacy store the pharmacist verifies the prescription and hands over the medicines. However when the medicines are ordered for delivery the process of verifying the prescription and delivering the medicine happen at a different point in time and space. In the highly regulated business of pharmaceuticals it is important for a new delivery model to ensure that prescription drugs do not fall in the wrong hands. While minute-by-minute timeliness of delivering planned doses for chronic illnesses is not as critical as other on-demand categories the importance of tracking the delivery executive carrying the medicines is critical.
We first started looking at HyperTrack when we were deliberating the decision to build our in-house fleet versus using third party service providers. As the fleet strategy became more clear I started evaluating HyperTrack to implement tracking. It became clear that trying HyperTrack instead of building an in-depth tracking software in house would be the correct option.
Pharmeasy’s delivery management app
We have a couple of Android apps for logistics. One for managing the prescription pick ups from the customer and the other for delivering the medicines. Picking up prescriptions from a customer is crucial to enable the pharmacist of our partner chemist to validate the prescription and process its corresponding order. The HyperTrack SDK plugs into both these app and calls the tracking APIs marking the start and end of each delivery. The operations team can monitor each pickup and delivery in real-time on a dashboard and the end customer can track their order and pickup live on a map with an accurate ETA.
It is important that the delivery executives’ devices do not run out of battery and use the mobile data plans optimally. Drivers do not get much time to charge their phones between deliveries. If their phone goes offline our business goes offline to that extent. HyperTrack promises to deliver accurate tracking without sacrificing the battery life or data.
Due to the convenience of getting monthly medicines delivered at home pharmacy delivery services are growing at a phenomenal pace worldwide. The nature of the business makes it important for the new generation of service providers to ensure safety and compliance. Tracking deliveries after they have left the facility and before they reach the right customer is critical for auditing and verifying good behavior. Trip replay in HyperTrack allows us to know exactly the path taken by the delivery boys and thus deliver medicines in a safe and secure fashion.
During the month of July we plan to roll out the new logistic apps integrated with HyperTrack to our entire fleet. Not only will this deliver a better experience for our customers but also for our logistic managers who work 24×7 to manage the fleet.
