Those of you who are active on the Industry Message Board (it’s FREE:rxsolutioncenter.com) may have seen the thread over the past week about the current state of our industry and my vision for where not only we can be but where we must go. I believe that a new strategy - a new, almost counterintuitive approach to correcting the direction of independent pharmacy is absolutely critical and time is of the essence. A unified alliance in independent pharmacy is possible, can actually be accomplished fairly easily and at little to no cost.
I believe that we are WASTING OUR TIME complaining about PBMs, mail order, preferred networks and the Affordable Care Act. What is about to burst onto the scene is massive and will be profoundly disruptive and the changes that will occur will be breathtaking.
This country experienced two industrial revolution ages, pre and post World War II. History will label the past 25 years as the Technology Age. The next 10-15 years will be known as the Exponential Technology Age. It will seem to those who grew up on it that Star Trek is coming to life.
Forty-nine years ago, Gordon Moore published a paper that stated that the speed of microprocessing will double every 12 to 24 months - and it did! Today, the speed has increased to just 11 months. As the speed of technology advances, the speed at which information can be shared increases as well as does the speed of innovation. If you need proof just look at the smartphones which are a 1000 times more capable than the computers of the early ‘80s and which have dematerialized the photo, music and news industries. Is anyone even buying boom boxes anymore? The point being, those that resist change, embrace irrelevance.
Technology is disrupting almost every industry and pharmacy is no exception. No one is doing anything to us. The future is happening to pharmacy. People can complain about that, but complaining is not a strategy. People can hope for things to go back to the way they were, but they won’t. Hope is not a strategy either. Our success as individuals and as an industry is predicated on our ability to deal with that change.
As people try to figure out what our industry leaders should be doing, I keep hearing, “they should do this” and “they should do that.” I realized recently that in order for us to adapt to change, we must change our way of thinking. We have to move away from a ‘they should” mentality and commit to an “I can” mentality. A more productive question to ask may be, what can I do to help my business and strengthening the independent pharmacy industry?
It’s projected that within the next 10 years, 40% of the Fortune 500 companies will go out of business. That’s how disruptive the impending changes will be. Don’t believe for a second that you can sit still and expect to be okay. Every owner needs to better understand what those changes will be and how as an entrepreneur, you can take advantage of the opportunity to transform your business and our industry.
We can’t fix everything overnight, but we’ve got to get started. There’s an opportunity for you to take a step in the right direction next month at the 10th Annual Independent Pharmacy Business Growth Conference. In all of the years that I have been doing this event, I can’t think of any previous conference that was more critically important than this year’s event. I’ll lay out the vision and the plan for the immediate future. I’ll also host an unscripted and unrehearsed panel discussion with the key players in our industry who can make change happen right away. You better darn believe that you’ll be able to ask questions and get all the clarity you need to execute the plan.
The number one problem and challenge that we can’t overcome is apathy.Staying away, thinking that someone else will do what needs to be done will be fatal for too many owners. I think the new strategy can add five to seven percentage points to your bottom line. Imagine what that would mean for you. But it won’t happen if you're apathetic and don’t show up. Please invest in your future and join us at the most important and worthwhile event in the industry.
Posted by: Indian Biosciences and Research Institute, IBRI NOIDA
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