Overview: Broken supply chain during global emergency

The COVID-19 lockdown made enterprises the world over discover the relevance and importance of an agile and resilient supply chain, and realize that zero-disruption operations are critical to overcome such unprecedented challenges.

For the global healthcare community and all the players that keep its machinery moving—medical professionals, nursing and support staff, hospital management authorities, medical device makers—the COVID-19 pandemic was a health crisis like no other witnessed globally in recent history.

The challenge: Ensuring smooth distribution of medical goods during health crisis

Cardinal Health, a US-based multinational, Fortune 20 manufacturer and distributor of pharmaceutical and medical products across the globe also faced supply chain challenges during COVID.

During the pandemic, their role was critical in the distribution of PPE kits and medical goods, such as devices and drugs, to facilities the world over. TCS, as Cardinal Health’s strategic partner, played a mission-critical role in ensuring this.

The solution: Remote working for seamless operations

The TCS Cognitive Business Operations (CBO) team was keeping tabs on the global health situation for weeks running up to mid-March 2020. It acted swiftly when the situation at their location in Pune, India, took a grim turn like the world over.

As the news of a global lockdown spread, the team quickly took stock of requirements, assets, and challenges and enabled Secure Borderless Workspaces™ (SBWS™)—TCS’ comprehensive module to enable remote working—within a matter of hours. It helped hugely that mandated, pre-empted compliance approvals were already in place.

Over the weekend, information on all employees working as part of the Cardinal Health-TCS CBO team was collected and systems were set up at team members’ homes. All of this was done despite transport constraints, and infrastructural and technological hurdles. Not only did the team enable SBWS for 120 associates, but they also committed to ensuring zero-production backlog that had been generated due to these challenges. TCS helped the business manage operations seamlessly by the following Monday. The client’s team in the US acknowledged the proactive effort and said that there was not a single beat skipped in operations whatsoever. They appreciated TCS’ efforts as an ally in this extraordinary situation.

The benefits: Meeting the surge in demand for healthcare supplies

The months of March and April 2020 saw the highest inflow of orders for distribution of healthcare products like medical equipment and pharmaceutical drugs.

As its digital transformation partner, TCS helped Cardinal Health to stand steady and be prepared to supply large quantities of medical goods during the pandemic.