Johannesburg, 17 Feb 2004
Geka-Pharma, a Namibian pharmaceutical wholesaler, has implemented acs-EMBRACE; Associated Computer Solutions` locally developed ERP software, in a deal worth R1 million.
The solution replaces an ageing system that could no longer cope with volumes, did not offer the functionality the business and its customers required and had become unstable.
"One of the major issues our business faces is that drug prices are dropping; for instance, the cost of AIDS drugs has dropped by as much as 75%, whereas all other businesses see revenue from their products rising. This has forced us to examine our processes and improve our efficiencies while being able to gather and analyse our business data," says Pieter Coetzer, FD at Geka-Pharma.
"Being a transactional system, acs-EMBRACE gives clients realtime control, full visibility on stock and imports, integrated financials and more. It is particularly suited to the pharmaceutical industry due to its sophisticated lot control and batch tracking capabilities, a legal requirement, which allows manufacturers and distributors to trace all deliveries of the same batch of a medicine, through to the final destination," says Dave McBride, sales executive at ACS.
acs-EMBRACE is a fully integrated, company-wide application solution for the manufacturing, distribution and accounting business environment. It addresses strategic functions that are critical to manufacturing and distribution, providing management with realtime information, enabling informed and appropriate business decisions.
Geka-Pharma is running 20 licences of acs-EMBRACE, supporting many doctors, 58 pharmacies, clinics, hospitals and state tenders, handling a total business turnover in the region of R100 million from 45 employees.
The implementation project began in February 2003 and was completed by June 1. "Initial discussions about the project began in October 2002 and after we decided to deploy, implementation began in February. By the end of May it was complete, including testing it with a few select pharmacies and ironing out minor bugs," says Coetzer. "Since then we have been able to offer our customers a better service, particularly in our pricing, invoicing and the statements that they receive, which eases their accounting."
This is the first major upgrade Geka-Pharma has performed in the 12 years it has been an automated business; it now operates a Windows XP front-office environment, supported by a central Windows 2000 server.
"We are delighted to have added Geka-Pharma to our portfolio of clients," says Mike Stefanski, MD of ACS.
ACS is a subsidiary of JSE Securities Exchange-listed Global Technology.
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