Rite Aid and Google Cloud Partner to Modernize Pharmacy Operations and Enhance the Online Customer Experience

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Oct 11, 2022, 08:02 ET

Google Cloud technologies to help Rite Aid make its pharmacies more personalized, data-driven, and resilient

PHILADELPHIA and SUNNYVALE, Calif., Oct. 11, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Rite Aid (NYSE: RAD) and Google Cloud today announced a new, multi-year technology partnership that will help Rite Aid realize its vision of a modern pharmacy. Google Cloud technologies will provide Rite Aid with better insights, increased agility, and improved customer experiences. Modernized applications for personalized digital experiences will enable pharmacists to spend more time directly engaging customers.

As part of the new partnership, Rite Aid will be migrating key applications to Google Cloud's Anthos, a managed platform for application deployment. Applications include Rite Aid's popular vaccine scheduling tool, customer messaging infrastructure, and digital engagement platform. With Anthos, Rite Aid's approximately 2,350 pharmacies will have cloud computing capabilities on-site, providing resilient operations. Strategic business continuity enables the company to continue to provide elevated care during natural disasters through robust patient information, advanced prescription management, and offering recommendations without needing to be connected to centralized, legacy mainframe technology.

"The power of pharmacies, and the important role pharmacists play in the health of their communities, greatly expanded during COVID. 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 vice president 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."

In addition to modernizing the technologies powering its pharmacies, Rite Aid has also tapped Google Cloud for digital transformations across other areas of its business, including:

Complete enterprise data migration: Rite Aid will migrate its enterprise data to Google Cloud using BigQuery. This move will allow the pharmacy to have better insights into its finances, supply chain inventory, and customer information, powering data-driven decisions for its business operations.
Enhanced search capabilities: Rite Aid has selected Google Cloud's Retail Search solution to provide customers with more precise search results when shopping on Rite Aid's ecommerce site and mobile app. Retail Search will provide Rite Aid customers with an improved search 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.
Updated pharmacy benefits management application suite: 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-infused business logic capabilities. New Google Cloud data analytics and processing capabilities will help the pharmacy benefits manager better manage prescription benefits on behalf of health insurers.

"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, vice president of Retail and Consumer Solutions, Google Cloud. "Through these innovations, Rite Aid is defining the modern pharmacy."

About Google Cloud
Google Cloud accelerates every organization's ability to digitally transform its business. We deliver enterprise-grade solutions that leverage Google's cutting-edge technology – all on the cleanest cloud in the industry. Customers in more than 200 countries and territories turn to Google Cloud as their trusted partner to enable growth and solve their most critical business problems.

About Rite Aid Corporation
Rite Aid is a full-service pharmacy that improves health outcomes. Rite Aid is defining the modern pharmacy by meeting customer needs with a wide range of vehicles that offer convenience, including retail and delivery pharmacy, as well as services offered through our wholly owned subsidiaries, Elixir, Bartell Drugs and Health Dialog. Elixir, Rite Aid's pharmacy benefits and services company, consists of accredited mail and specialty pharmacies, prescription discount programs and an industry leading adjudication platform to offer superior member experience and cost savings. Health Dialog provides healthcare coaching and disease management services via live online and phone health services. Regional chain Bartell Drugs has supported the health and wellness needs in the Seattle area for more than 130 years. Rite Aid employs more than 6,400 pharmacists and operates approximately 2,350 retail pharmacy locations across 17 states. For more information, visit www.riteaid.com.

SOURCE Google Cloud