Pharmacist-Focused Ordering Platform a Success

Since the 2016 launch of AmerisourceBergen’s ABC Order, many within the organization have come to see the ordering platform as the first step in a larger effort to improve the experience of independent pharmacists.

According to Claire Biermaas, the Vice President of Customer Experience and Insights for AmerisourceBergen, ABC Order was born from a companywide initiative to better understand the patient care hurdles that independent pharmacists face and to help them navigate the challenges.

“We deployed a human-centered approach to understanding our customers’ worlds and how our services fit into their workflow,” Biermaas told Pharmacy Times. “We found that one of the biggest investments we could make was the development of a new ordering system that took the same approach as our wider effort to improve customer experience.”

Biermaas emphasized that ABC Order was designed “by pharmacists, for pharmacists,” an approach that proved crucial to the platform’s creation.

“There was no part of the development of this platform that was done without pharmacists,” she explained. “Some platforms are designed with what the company needs, but this was really an effort to be fully focused on getting input from pharmacists at every stage.”

Working alongside independent pharmacists throughout the development process, Biermaas and her team heavily incorporated the pharmacists’ insights into the platform’s design. The collaboration led to features such as an advanced inventory management system, interactive calendars, and a more intuitive interface, all intended to meet pharmacists’ needs and streamline the ordering process.

ABC Order debuted in 2016 at AmerisourceBergen and Good Neighbor Pharmacy’s annual conference and tradeshow, ThoughtSpot, and was made available to pharmacists later that year. Since the platform launched, the feedback from independent pharmacists has been overwhelmingly positive, according to Kathie Manning, Group Vice President of Customer Solutions and Support at AmerisourceBergen.

“The customer reaction to ABC Order has been phenomenal,” Manning told Pharmacy Times. “There is always concern about what happens when you go live with a new product, but many pharmacists have seamlessly integrated it into their operations, and found it to be an invisible yet important part of their workflow.”

Acknowledging that ABC Order will evolve, Manning noted that the platform will remain rooted in the “by pharmacists, for pharmacists” principle and that feedback will continue to drive its evolution.

“We are very excited to engage with our pharmacists, as their willingness to share their experiences and tell us what they need is the reason for our success,” she explained. “It’s very rewarding to hear how much our customers appreciate that we listened to them.”

Given the success of ABC Order, both Manning and Biermaas noted that the platform will serve as a model for future AmerisourceBergen products. They said the organization continues to work toward improving the experiences of independent pharmacists and helping them provide better care to their patients.

AmerisourceBergen plans to demonstrate ABC Order and collect feedback again at this year’s ThoughtSpot, which is held this week in Las Vegas.