Case study:The reliability of the iiNet network has resulted in efficiency gains within the medication packing facility, and cost savings related to a 100% decrease in network related downtime.
Ben Ward
Chief Information Officer, MPS Australia
With 300 employees and three dose manufacturing facilities nationally, Brisbane-based MPS is responsible for the automation of medication orders from pharmacists, from packaging to delivery.
Founded in 1997, MPS Australia provides medication management solutions to pharmacists enabling them to better serve their community patients and residential aged care facility residents.
“It’s critical for us to have a system and network we can completely rely on without worrying about any security breach or data compromise”
In the health industry security and reliability are the top features when it comes to selecting a technology provider, particularly when dealing with sensitive patient and medication information.
“It’s critical for us to have a system and network we can completely rely on without worrying about any security breach or data compromise,” said MPS Chief Information Officer, Ben Ward.
“Equally as important is a private cloud network that allows us to effectively fulfil customer orders and communicate between departments. On a daily basis, pharmacists log their orders online through our ordering system HealthStream, which enables us to send medication details automatically to one of our three dose manufacturing facilities. The orders are then carefully processed and MPS Packettes couriered to pharmacies across Australia.”
“As HealthStream is a cloud software that’s core to our business, it’s vital that this system is supported by a robust network with minimal dropouts.”
After a competitive tender process involving four IT companies, iiNet was chosen as the preferred provider due to a combination of performance, support capabilities and price.
iiNet’s Business Connect (IBC) network spanning three sites has allowed MPS to securely and quickly connect their head office in Brisbane to their interstate processing facilities over a private connection, meaning data isn’t transported over the public internet.
By providing critical connectivity services for MPS through the IBC network, iiNet can maximise the performance and efficiency of the HealthStream software so that pharmacies, aged care facilities and MPS packing facilities are all able to access the program in a fast, reliable and secure way.
“We’ve experienced significant improvements in the speed and reliability of the network. Since inception, there has been no downtime or network degradation associated with iiNet network services,” said Ben.
“I used to get several queries a month from users and site managers about network and internet reliability and speed issues. These issues would sometimes cause our production environment to cease operations, costing thousands per hour in lost productivity. Since the move to iiNet, there has been no downtime or lost productivity caused by network issues,