Data Backup and Recovery and Cybersecurity are not interchangeable and do not offer the same protection, but together, they provide the stability and safety your business and customers deserve.

If you choose to have Data Backup and Recovery solutions (which safely secures your data in the Cloud), you can rest assured that if a disaster should occur like a flood, fire or theft, your data can be downloaded and restored within hours. But before you get too comfortable, let's take a closer look at the word theft. That's an interesting word as its definition has been evolving over the years. TThere's physical theft and then there's cyber theft (which continues to be on the rise).

Let's play out some scenarios.

You have Data Backup and Recovery back-up but didn't feel the need to invest in Cybersecurity. One day, a staff member receives an email from what appears to be a legitimate source and they open the email. Congratulations! You have now fallen victim to ransomware. The hacker encrypted all of your files and demands you pay a ransom. While a copy of your data is safely stored in the Cloud, another copy is in the hands of the hacker. What do you do? Do you pay to get your data back? What do you tell your patents? How do you know your information hasn't already been sold or shared with others? The possibilities are endless, and the outcomes are never good.

Sound dreary? It doesn't have to be.

Investing in Cybersecurity intercepts malicious attacks on your business and ultimately, your patients. Imagine that your pharmacy can't operate because of a cyber attack. Your customers could lose confidence and shop elsewhere.

You value cybersecurity and recognize its importance, but opted out of EVault backup solutions.

You recently took over the store and you have too much on the go right now. You'll get around to it when you have some spare time. (We know, you're chuckling right now. There's no such thing as a pharmacy having spare time.) You're so busy with the new store that you haven't heard about the string of robberies in the surrounding towns. In walks a customer, wearing a mask, but it's not a COVID mask - it's a robbery. In addition to the narcotics, you're demanded to hand over computers, which these days, are about 7" sq. and about 2.5lbs - easy target. The server is gone and the workstations won't function without the server. What do you do? You know you'll never see that server again. How are you going to refill prescriptions or look up a patient record? Everything is gone without a trace. A nightmare indeed.

Data Backup and Recovery solutions. It's the spare key to your business.

While it doesn't ease the pain of having been robbed or been a victim to natural disasters, you can take a great deal of comfort in knowing that PTS Business Continuity solutions will have you covered.

Data Backup and Recovery and Cybersecurity protect your business from different angles and in different scenarios - they are not interchangeable. Each plays a role and both are equally important to running a business where patient information is safe and secure.

To learn more about these solutions and how they can help your business (or to enroll), please contact your Sales Representative.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Lesley joined PTS in 2018 and brings 30 years of pharmacy experience to the McKesson family. When Lesley isn’t striving to make stores more efficient and profitable, you can find her challenging herself during her workouts. Lesley is never one to sit still!

Common crisis scenarios happen every day in pharmacies.  Ensuring there’s a recovery plan in place that reflects your business needs is the key to minimizing risks to your pharmacy’s day-to-day operations. Read about four everyday scenarios that can easily be prevented.

How to manage an internet outage with little to no interruption

Pharmacy technicians are processing compliance packaging batches for the week. Claim adjudication becomes agonizingly slow and claims begin to fail. There are now a large number of failed claims to resubmit. To make matters worse, the wait time for walk-in patients has doubled due to the slow claim adjudication. It turns out there is an internet service outage, and pharmacy claims have defaulted to dial-up adjudication. With the internet out, pharmacy team members also can’t access key patient care resources, and risk missing the daily order cut-off time.

Solution

Bell Fibe internet service strengthened by wireless LTE Internet backup, providing fast, reliable uptime. In the event of an internet service outage, connectivity automatically switches to Bell’s LTE cellular network. Most importantly, pharmacy claims and debit/credit transactions continue processing smoothly, with no impact to your business. It’s business as usual!

How to avoid lost opportunities

It’s Saturday afternoon. The store is busy and there is a steady line of customers at the checkout; a perfect day for any retail business owner, until debit and credit transactions start to fail. Since you can only accept cash, customers aren’t buying and are leaving the store in frustration. An excellent business day has turned into a disaster. The internet is up and fully functional, so why are the transactions failing? The culprits are employees streaming movies on their lunch break, taking up all the bandwidth. That same bandwidth is required for debit/credit claims. As soon as they shut down the streaming, debit/credit is back up and running. But how many sales did you lose in the meantime? How many of those customers will not return to your store?

Solution

A Cisco Meraki MX68CW router allows you to manage how internet bandwidth is allocated within your network, ensuring maximum uptime for your business systems. A percentage of bandwidth can be allocated for public Wi-Fi and employee devices, allowing employees to access Wi-Fi without impacting business continuity.

How to manage cybersecurity

It’s first thing Monday morning – one of the busiest days of the week for any pharmacy. Instead of starting the week on a positive note, you have received an irate telephone call from a parent of one of your teenage part-time employees. It seems the employee witnessed the weekend relief pharmacist surfing inappropriately explicit websites on a dispensary computer. As the owner/operator, you now have a number of potential issues on your hands: workplace harassment, labour board complaints, employee discipline, uncomfortable conversations with the impacted employees, appeasing the parents, addressing the overall situation with your entire workforce and the possibility that viruses or malware are now infecting your business systems. Your week will be consumed with putting out this fire.

Solution

Avoid this situation altogether. The Cisco Meraki MX68CW router uses content filtering to block access to undesired content, preventing anyone from browsing questionable websites. In addition to protecting critical business systems from potential cyber attack, this proactive approach to cybersecurity also minimizes exposure to risk and liability when it comes to complying with labour and workplace safety regulations.

Crisis overload

You’ve received a panicked phone call from the Store Manager. The internet browser on every computer displays an ominous message indicating that files have been encrypted until you pay a fine, or else they will be destroyed. Your business systems have been attacked by ransomware and are unusable. Do you pay the ransom, or have the systems restored from backups? Neither solution is ideal and there is a risk of lost data even if the ransom is paid, but business is at a standstill until this is resolved; no front shop sales can be processed, and no prescriptions dispensed. It can take days to restore and there’s still a possibility of lost data. How did this happen? The manager innocently clicked on a link in a suspicious email, unleashing the attack.

Solution

With unparalleled security capabilities and features to protect your business systems before, during and after an attack, cybersecurity (powered by a Cisco Meraki MX68CW router) scans data that is being downloaded from the internet, blocking and containing ransomware. Realtime detection discovers and enforces against intrusions, preventing damage from occurring. Cybersecurity is standing guard to ensure this scenario can’t happen to you.

Having a business continuity plan that includes internet backup and cybersecurity really goes a long way to reducing your downtime. discover more about business continuity and find the solutions that best support your disaster and recovery plan.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

A part-time job at an Independent Pharmacy led to a 30+ year career in Pharmacy. Over the years, she has played key Product Management leadership roles in collaborating with retail pharmacy teams to design and develop both Nexxsys and PharmaClik Rx, the predecessors of Propel Rx. Sheri-Lyn currently oversees marketing for McKesson Canada's Technology Solutions division and believes that understanding the day-to-day challenges of Pharmacy puts PTS in a position to bring you the solutions you need to run your business.

As organizations around the world prepare for a potential increase in cyberattacks linked to the situation in Ukraine, we want to share important reminders on how PTS helps you stay vigilant. Your entire team plays a critical role to keep your business, your customers, and your patients cyber safe.

Phishing attacks

Phishing emails are typically linked to current events and create a heightened sense of urgency for the recipient to respond immediately to the request. Currently, phishing emails related to COVID-19, donating to the situation in Ukraine, and tax season are very common.

What can you do?

Your continued awareness and actions are a crucial part of preventing cybersecurity attacks. When it comes to keeping your cyber skills sharp, keep these tips top of mind:

1. Promptly report suspicious emails
2. Use strong passwords
3. Think before you click
4. Be careful with emails and mobile text messages
5. Beware of unexpected Multi-Factor Authentication requests

What else can you do?

PTS is committed to providing robust business continuity solutions that protect the safety, security, and integrity of your pharmacy. Business continuity is about having a plan to manage difficult situations (e.g. fire, flood & cyber attacks) so your pharmacy can continue to support patients with as little disruption as possible. Solutions like:

1. Cybersecurity  Keeps confidential files protected and safe
2. LTE Backup  Your business remains connected no matter what happens
3. Data Backup & Recovery  Ensures your data safe and recovery automatic
4. Store-to-Store VPN  Allows you to operate your business from any location
5. Remote Access  Enables your entire team to safely and securely from any location

The key to achieving peace of mind and security is having a business continuity plan in place should the unthinkable happen. Coupled with ongoing education with your pharmacy team on cybersecurity is your best bet to ensuring that the threat of a cyberattack never becomes your reality.

If you're been putting it off, now's the time to schedule a chat with one of our team members. Invest your time with a 15 minute phone call and explore your options.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Diana joined PTS in fall of 2020 as their Product Marketing Specialist. Diana’s passionate about how storytelling and messaging create value-add, business changing content. She enjoys collaborating with her team to achieve results. When Diana’s not busy writing, she’s exploring the local forest trails near her home north of Toronto, Ontario.

Banks, law firms, manufacturers, and technology companies. One thing they all have in common is well-defined business continuity plans. Plans that ensure the organization can quickly bounce back or better yet, be unfazed, in the face of disaster.

Unplanned interruptions take many forms.

Business continuity is about having a plan to manage difficult situations so your pharmacy can continue to support patients with as little disruption as possible.

Any event that results in a disruption of business operations falls under business continuity. If the COVID-19 pandemic has taught us anything, it’s that unplanned business disruptions can take many forms. Whether the disruption is caused by a complex public health emergency, a major natural disaster or a commonplace power outage, it can have an impact on whether or not your pharmacy can provide critical healthcare services to the community. Sometimes it’s those minor disruptions that cause significant amounts of damage – consider the havoc wreaked by a broken water line leaking through the ceiling, damaging computer equipment.

Is your pharmacy prepared for the unexpected?

The importance of a business continuity plan is often overlooked, particularly when it comes to small and medium-size business. Perhaps the complexity of building a plan is overwhelming, or maybe it’s a case of being aware that a plan is important, but there’s no time or urgency to focus on creating one. Unfortunately, once the need for a business continuity plan becomes urgent, it’s already too late.

40% of small businesses never reopen after a disaster.

An alarming statistic that pops up over-and-over in research shows that 40% of small businesses never reopen after a disaster and another 25%, that do reopen, fail within a year. [1] These are businesses without a plan.

On the other hand, 96% of businesses with a business continuity plan in place fully recover operations. [2]

This statistic is impressive. It tells us that prioritizing a business continuity plan is an investment in the future of the business. Regardless of whether doors are open for business, fixed operational costs continue to be incurred, and revenue streams need to be restored. The faster the business can return to regular operations, the more likely it will recover from the disruptive event.

Business continuity is more than just “keeping the lights on”.

Business continuity ensures that your pharmacy’s critical operations are not disrupted. It’s about being proactive: advance planning and preparation gives the organization the capability to continue delivering its essential products and services during a disruptive event.

It’s important to plan and prepare not only for events that will stop operations completely, but for those that also have the potential to adversely impact services (like that water leak, for instance).  A thorough plan details steps to be taken before, during and after an event to ensure a successful return to regular operations.

From an IT perspective, key components of business continuity plans include:

• Prevention: Disasters aren’t always caused by fires, floods and windstorms. Data and security breaches are very real threats, particularly when it comes to confidential data such as personal health and payment information. Build a wall around your network with a Cybersecurity solution, protecting it from outside threats.
• Preparedness: Consider all the possible types of risks and disruptions that may impact day-to-day operations and how they can be mitigated. Perhaps your pharmacy is in an area prone to power failures and internet outages, impacting pharmacy claim and debit/credit payment processing. An LTE cellular backup solution creates redundancy, allowing operations to continue uninterrupted when there’s recurring power surges or line drops.
• Recovery: A critical component of restoring operations and minimizing downtime includes offsite data backup and the ability to restore data from the cloud. Remote access solutions should also be considered – they afford owners the ability to tap into their business remotely, from an off-site location or, in the case of multi-store owners, from another store in their network (called Store-to-Store VPN).

Business continuity matters.

Don’t wait until disaster strikes – by then, it’s too late. Invest in the future of your business by building a well-documented business continuity plan to maximize uptime in the face of disruption.

PTS provides technology solutions to support your business continuity plans. Book a meeting to discuss options with one of our Sales Team members.

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[1] Finlinson, J 2021, Why Disaster Recovery Is No Longer Optional For Today's Businesses, Forbes, accessed 31 January 2022, <https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbestechcouncil/2021/10/12/why-disaster-recovery-is-no-longer-optional-for-todays-businesses/>

[2] Rock, T 2020, 23 Disaster Recovery Statistics You Should Know, Invenio IT, accessed 31 January 2022, < https://invenioit.com/continuity/disaster-recovery-statistics/>

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

A part-time job at an Independent Pharmacy led to a 30+ year career in Pharmacy. Over the years, she has played key Product Management leadership roles in collaborating with retail pharmacy teams to design and develop both Nexxsys and PharmaClik Rx, the predecessors of Propel Rx. Sheri-Lyn currently oversees marketing for McKesson Canada's Technology Solutions division and believes that understanding the day-to-day challenges of Pharmacy puts PTS in a position to bring you the solutions you need to run your business.

In previous Business Continuity articles, we’ve mentioned the importance of being able to securely access your pharmacy from an off-site location. Not only is this a crucial component of any business continuity plan, it’s invaluable for boosting day-to-day productivity. In the course of a regular work week, being at an off-site location could mean many things: working from home, participating in rounds as part of a long-term care facility’s healthcare team, or working from another store in your small chain.

PTS offers two solutions that allow owners and their employees to access a pharmacy remotely: Store-to-Store VPN and Remote Access. In this article, I’ll explain both solutions and share why one Independent pharmacy owner thinks everyone should use Remote Access.

Let’s begin by understanding what’s meant by a VPN.

A virtual private network (VPN) is a secure private network extended across public networks such as the Internet. By using encryption and other security measures, a VPN allows computer networks to create a secure tunnel to exchange data across shared public networks as if they were privately connected. McKesson's VPN is a secure connection between PTS and our pharmacies. This security powers both Store-to-Store VPN and Remote Access.

Convenient and secure operations management.

Ideal for owners of multiple pharmacies, Store-to-Store VPN provides the flexibility to operate your business from any location in your network. Authorized employees can access any computer at any location, from any location (or even at the same location). In short, to use Store-to-Store VPN, it’s necessary to be onsite at one of the locations.

Optimized staffing is one of the many operational benefits afforded by this solution. Let’s say you own two pharmacies, and one store tends to be busier than the other. When there’s a lull at Pharmacy A, an employee at that location can log into Pharmacy B to pick up the overflow. Productivity improves at Pharmacy B without increasing the number of onsite employees.

Run your business from anywhere.

Arguably the more versatile of the two solutions, Remote Access provides a secure connection into a pharmacy’s network from just about anywhere in the world. Once a laptop or tablet is configured with Remote Access, you can be in another room, another city or another country and still be able to access the pharmacy’s POS and\or dispensary systems.

During the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, this practical solution allowed owners to balance employee health and safety with the importance of patient care. Provisioned with Remote Access, team members could focus on work that didn’t require them to be present in the pharmacy, helping sustain the pharmacy’s overall productivity.

Why one pharmacist believes every owner should use Remote Access.

Pandemic aside, there are day-to-day practicalities of Remote Access. Just ask Vijay Shukla, a pharmacist who owns two pharmacies in Ottawa: Barrhaven IDA Pharmacy and Cedarview Guardian Pharmacy. I recently had a chance to catch up with Vijay and knowing that Remote Access is one of his must-haves, I wanted to learn why he considers it such a vital tool.

How does Remote Access help you run your business?

“It allows me to know what’s happening in my stores at any point in time. Most importantly, I can provide phone support for my team. It lets me be available to them at any time and help them right away, especially for quick things. When it comes to software, being able to troubleshoot their problems means we don’t need to call PTS Customer Care every time. That helps everyone: us, PTS and other pharmacies; we only call in for support if there’s a problem we can’t solve on our own, so it frees up the phone lines for people who really need Customer Care’s help.

As an owner, I can be at home, working late at night and need to check something – maybe I need to run a report or check something on a patient’s record – I can do it immediately. Being a pharmacist, 80% of the time I’m connecting to the dispensary system, but it’s also useful to connect to the POS system. For example, I’ve been able to check and compare front shop product pricing at both locations and make corrections as needed. All without being in a store.”

Author Note: "I can attest to Vijay being a one-person support centre! More than once, I’ve witnessed him field a call from a team member, then immediately log into the store to help solve a problem."

What would you tell other owners about purchasing Remote Access?

"It's a no brainer. I wouldn't think an extra second about it. You need to have it. I can't live without it!”

It’s clear that Remote Access and Store-to-Store VPN both have their own unique benefits. Depending on the pharmacy’s operational needs, it may be worthwhile to explore one or both services. Either way, this fact is true: geography doesn’t have to be a roadblock in providing patients with superb and timely care.

PTS provides several technology solutions to support your business continuity plans. Book a meeting to discuss options with one of our Sales Team members.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

A part-time job at an Independent Pharmacy led to a 30+ year career in Pharmacy. Over the years, she has played key Product Management leadership roles in collaborating with retail pharmacy teams to design and develop both Nexxsys and PharmaClik Rx, the predecessors of Propel Rx. Sheri-Lyn currently oversees marketing for McKesson Canada's Technology Solutions division and believes that understanding the day-to-day challenges of Pharmacy puts PTS in a position to bring you the solutions you need to run your business.