Rite Aid taps Google Cloud for digital transformation
Rite Aid Corp. is migrating key applications to a Google Cloud infrastructure.
Rite Aid is entering a multi-year technology partnership with Google Cloud that will include migrating key applications to Google Cloud Anthos, a managed platform for application deployment. Applications being migrated include Rite Aid's vaccine scheduling tool, customer messaging infrastructure, and digital engagement platform.
Leveraging Anthos, Rite Aid's approximately 2,350 retail pharmacies will have cloud computing capabilities on-site, helping to provide more resilient operations. The retailer will also achieve strategic business continuity that will help it to continue to have access to patient information and offer advanced prescription management and pharmacy recommendations, without needing to be connected to centralized mainframe technology.
In addition to modernizing the technologies powering its pharmacies, Rite Aid is tapping Google Cloud for digital transformations across other areas of its business. For example, Rite Aid will migrate its enterprise data to Google Cloud using BigQuery. This move will allow its pharmacy to have better insights into its finances, supply chain inventory, and customer information.
Rite Aid is also selecting the Google Cloud Retail Search solution to provide customers with more precise search results when shopping on its e-commerce site and mobile app. The company will leverage Retail Search to provide customers with an improved experience that uses Google-quality search models to understand customer intent and takes into account Rite Aid's first-party data (such as promotions, available inventory, and price) for product ranking results.
Elixir, Rite Aid's pharmacy benefits and services company, will update its current pharmacy benefits management application suite to a cloud-first experience with artificial intelligence and machine learning-based business logic capabilities. New Elixir will utilize Google Cloud data analytics and processing capabilities to help better manage prescription benefits on behalf of health insurers.
Furthermore, Rite Aid intends to adopt modernized applications for personalized digital experiences, which will enable pharmacists to spend more time directly engaging customers.
"The power of pharmacies, and the important role pharmacists play in the health of their communities, greatly expanded during COVID-19. Realizing that potential means making strategic investments in technology that can truly help our customers and maximize the capabilities of our pharmacists," said Justin Mennen, executive VP and chief digital and technology officer at Rite Aid. "Google Cloud's solutions are uniquely positioned to run at each pharmacy location to allow our store teams to help our customers to achieve whole health for life."
"As a healthcare company with a retail footprint, Rite Aid is at the intersection of two quickly evolving industries and making strategic technology investments to meet rising customer expectations," said Carrie Tharp, VP of retail and consumer solutions, Google Cloud. "Through these innovations, Rite Aid is defining the modern pharmacy."
Based in Camp Hill, Pa., Rite Aid operates approximately 2,350 retail pharmacy locations across 17 states.
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