Hurdles to supporting quality service delivery and how to overcome them

The website Cooperative Computing mentions six key challenges (hurdles) for business service delivery. Although the website specialises in computing the 6 areas can fully relate to a community pharmacy because the challenges are the same and they include:

1. Fragmented (Poor quality) Project Tracking and Monitoring. A good example of a project here could be a travel health promotion in your pharmacy. It can be a very profitable promotion with the opportunity to engage customers prior to their holidays. If management are in the dark about progress, the project may be delivered too late and over budget. Having a real-time picture of the project, along with costings, allows management to closely monitor revenue, expenses, and profitability throughout the length of every project’s lifetime. This could be as simple as setting a budget and counter staff feeding back on progress, resources used, and current expenditure.

2. Poor Communication & Subpar Collaboration. If team members are not able to communicate with one another, it can have a negative impact on the project’s completion as some tasks get duplicated and some not done at all. When vital information is communicated poorly, or not at all, it may be challenging to keep up with all the changes, updates, and progress. When team members aren’t communicating effectively, assessing the current status of a project becomes more time consuming and error prone. This also raises the possibility of conflicting reporting and tasks being omitted. Relying on a collaborative work management platform, with regular updates and communication, you can keep your project records current with little effort. This way, you will be better positioned to keep costs down and finish the job on schedule.

3. Inefficient Management & Utilisation of Resources. Inefficient projects are often a result of imprecise resource allocation because project managers lack the information, they need to swiftly determine which personnel are available and which have the strongest skill sets for the job. This could be overcome by matching the right individuals, based on their skill sets, with the relevant activities throughout a project’s duration. For example, one staff member might be good at engaging with customers, another good at compiling statistics on the computer, and another good at pharmacy stock replenishment. Utilising those strengths is key.

4. Unreliable Timekeeping and Billing. More time does not necessarily mean tasks will be done better but providing protected time for proper training to the right individuals will. Money management in the modern day is challenging in any setting and community pharmacy is no exception. It becomes even more important when a business is providing professional services. Having as much of the billing and invoicing process automated as feasible will help to avoid human error and the associated costs. Examples here could be digital templates and receipts for customers signing up to locally commissioned services and downloadable receipts / invoices for resources used.

5. Skills Gap & Global Labor Shortages. Many firms, including community pharmacies, are facing trouble attracting and maintaining skilled workers. However even recruiting the most talented individual's strategies need to be devised to retain them and enhance their abilities. Although there is an initial costing up front businesses in the professional services industry benefit from investing in staff development tactics like frequent training and new policies that encourage a healthy work environment to attract and retain a more talented workforce. Customers like it also as they see familiar faces when coming into the pharmacy so in turn improving customer and staff retention.

6. Limited Capacity to Deal with High Volume of Buyers. The community pharmacy may not have the space to deal with high customer numbers in the shop or customers buying large volumes of supplies (taking up valuable shelf space) e.g. toiletries and consumables i.e. nappies. Unfortunately, this means a loss of revenue to the business. The use of such systems such as pharmacy home delivery options and Numarknet Golden Tote can both free up space in the pharmacy and free up staff's time having to deal with these bulky orders.