Computer Sciences and Information Technology
Topic:
Walgreens Information Systems
-An overview of your company (industry size, performance, competitors, challenges)
-How your company’s use of IT relates to its overall strategy (Be sure to describe what it is about IT that provides the strategic benefit)
– What is the role of “information” in implementing the IT-based strategy? For instance what information is needed (by whom, when, and where)? Where does this information come from? What challenges does this pose
Walgreens Information Systems
Walgreens is a retail pharmacy chain store operating situated in America. It is mainly involved in the industry of providing prescriptions, health products, and health information. The industry size of the company is within the United States of America. The recent developments increase the industrial size of the company to Switzerland. The vision of the company is to be the best choice for health and daily living for all people. The market reach of the company is over six million customers in America and beyond.
The review of the performance of Walgreens over the recent years shows there have been struggles in response to the changing demands of the consumers and the decrease in the reimbursement of prescriptions on drugs. The strained performance of the pharmacy drugstore is associated with the low rate of drug prescription in the United States and an increasingly competitive environment within the pharmacy drugstore industry. The performance of the company has been also affected by consumers of the drugs depending on online retailers like Amazon.
The Walgreens faces tough competition from several companies in the pharmacy drugstore industry. These competitors include Walmart and CVS Pharmacy. The company also faces competition from independent drugstores, convenience stores, and online pharmacies and retailers. The company faces competition based on convenience, variety, service, and price. Walgreens faces challenges like other drugstore companies. These challenges include the persistent reduction in the reimbursement rates for medications from health care plans and the prevalence of lower prices for generic drugs.
The competition between Amazon and Walmart is negatively affecting the performance of the Walgreens. The fighting companies are offering the drug products for much lower prices in both physical and online stores and it is hard for Walgreens to keep up. The company had been put on notice by the Food and Drug Administration for selling cigarettes to minors than any other drug store.
The health care industry is transforming and Walgreens is focusing on integrating information technology to help transform their products and services. The company has the initiative to employ online electronic healthcare record systems. Walgreens has a tagline stating “at the corner of happy and healthy” which is a principle they seek to deliver to their customers all the time. The company wants to exploit information technology to deliver better customer experiences. The development of the information technology system will enhance the engagement and improvement of service provision to all customers and this will increase the competitive edge of the company among most of the other competitors. The employment of IT systems allows the customers to communicate with the company in different ways for better customer experience across all networks.
The IT-based strategy depends on the type and availability of information related to the company. Information about customers that can make use of technology is the most important. This information affects the structure and integration of the information technology system within the company. More information about customer online preferences on the type of technology they use the most, the type of services desired to be provided online. This information needs to be collected and utilized before the design of the information technology systems. The information can be collected from customers whenever they engage with the company stores. It is challenging to get sufficient information for the design of an IT system within a short time. If the information collected from customers and other potential customers is unreliable and incorrect, the designed IT systems and strategy may be ineffective in improving customer experience.
Work cited
Nagel, Duane M., et al. “Retailing in the Digital Age: Surviving Mobile App Failure: An Abstract.” Academy of Marketing Science World Marketing Congress. Springer, Cham, 2018.
Ansari, Mohsin O., Jill M. Kunicki, and Paul K. Wilson. “System and method for automating pharmacy processing of electronic prescriptions.” U.S. Patent No. 10,311,536. 4 Jun. 2019.
