Gourlay paints a clear picture of where the biggest leaps were made as WBA shaped itself to meet its digital goals.
“There were really two key projects which were fundamental to the ongoing, and so far, successful transformation of Walgreens Boots Alliance. The first one was the new operating model for IT. It’s an area where TCS had a lot of previous experience and brought a lot of credibility to the table.”
Beyond the IT operating model, TCS revolutionized processes at the core of WBA business operations. ’Pharmacy renewal’ is a business-critical, sector-specific system that enables the company’s pharmacists to do their jobs more effectively.
“The second one was fundamental to our business,” says Gourlay. “TCS demonstrated experience in pharmacy systems. But, most importantly, the TCS teams demonstrated a willingness to share the risk with us, to make sure that, as we went forward, we were able to work together to make sure that we deliver this program.
“But what was even more interesting from our point of view was that TCS wanted to use this new relationship to further evolve its own model, and to become more innovative using new technologies like machine learning to make sure that value is created over the long term.”