Supply Chain
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Digital Commerce Programme
As part of our vision to be easier to work with, we’ve set up a Digital Commerce programme to provide a new digital platform and interface, encompassing the online catalogue, to NHS trusts across England. The new digital commerce suite will make it much easier for customers to search for and order products, improving overall operational performance and effectiveness. It will support mobile, as well as desktop access.
Why we need a new Digital Commerce platform
We know customers spend over 35,000 hours a month in total accessing our Online Catalogue and Ordering system and their experience is not as good as it could be. People tell us they spend too much time searching for and ordering products, it’s not easy for them to find what they are looking for and the quality of information is often poor.
And each year £2.3 billion of orders are processed via catalogue solutions that are no longer able to adapt to meet the needs of the NHS. Clinician sat at a desk using a mobile tablet To address these issues and to deliver an improved way of doing business with us, we’re rolling out the new digital commerce platform and catalogue in phases to NHS trusts across England over a two-year period starting from spring 2024.
What the programme will deliver
We will be delivering the platform and catalogue in incremental phases, getting the foundations and the basics right from the beginning and then, building on these improvements, introducing more features over time. In summary, we will be providing a way of doing business that is: simpler and faster, more accurate and responsive, reliable and can be trusted.
Modernisation of our customer facing eCommerce platform is a critical part of our IT strategy to ensure we are best positioned to serve the NHS. The new platform will be built on more flexible and resilient technology – reducing risk and increasing our ability to respond to our users’ needs. - Matt Wynn, Data and Technology Executive Director, NHS Supply Chain
When will we see the platform delivered?
The programme is planning to deliver the first iteration of the platform to the pilot trusts by Spring 2024. Following this, we will work with the wider base of acute trusts to migrate them to the new Digital Commerce platform. Working in parallel we will expand the platform’s capabilities through agile development to serve the non acute market. As the platform capabilities grow we will work across the NHS to migrate customers to the new solution and remove old technology through a phased de-commissioning plan.
The benefits this will bring
The new digital commerce platform and catalogue will make it easier to do business with us by providing a more intuitive and consistent experience designed around the business and operational needs of our customers. This will lead to a better customer experience, greater product visibility and improved workforce productivity, ultimately driving savings within trusts.
How we’re working with you to develop the programme
Customer focused
Customers are at the heart of our programme and we’re committed to involving them at all stages as we develop and deliver the new digital commerce platform and catalogue to meet their different needs.
Different needs
Our users, and key customers, operate across multiple jobs within trusts. They encompass people who place orders directly within the catalogue, administrative roles who set up users and may approve orders, through to customers who predominantly research on the catalogue but place orders through alternative channels.
Collaboration and co-design
The involvement of such a range of end users in the co-design, decision-making and delivery of the digital commerce platform and catalogue is critical. And our ability to deliver successfully is underpinned by multiple points of insight, including direct customer touch points and feedback.
Pilot phase
Following the procurement of the technical solution and supporting technical partner, the programme is working collaboratively to determine and to build and test the new digital commerce platform and catalogue. We are doing this with a pilot group of trusts, primarily selected on their high online catalogue ordering volume, along with the different technical and customer service partners and providers. Additional research
Additional research
A number of additional trusts have assisted research around some of the fundamental features of the catalogue, contributing subject matter experience as part of our co-design approach.
Ongoing update
We will also be engaging with other trusts and the wider NHS as the Digital Commerce programme progresses.
How will trusts be supported through the migration process?
We are developing a change management programme to support trusts as they migrate over to the new platform. We are working directly with trust users to identify the changes that will be required to operational processes and procedures, performing training needs analysis to jointly propose a business readiness plan to ensure a smooth transition. The readiness plan may be subtly different trust by trust but where possible we will aim for consistency in ways of working across trusts.
How we plan to get there
The first features were released in February 2024 and the platform continues to be delivered in phases, initially aimed at providing the core operational functionality for placing and tracking orders. Once this point has been reached, roll out to full pilot trusts and to some additional early adopters can start to take place. New trust onboarding will be fully supported to ensure transition to the new catalogue is as smooth as possible for customers – minimising any disruption, taking into consideration NHS business as usual operations. Trusts will also be provided with communication materials and will be fully supported with onboarding help, support and training appropriate to the needs of each trust.
How will you ensure any disruption to NHS operations is minimised throughout the transition?
Whilst the customer transition and migration plan is still being worked upon, the programme will initially work with the pilot trusts to ensure a robust plan is in place for minimising any disruption, taking into consideration NHS business as usual operations. The learning from the initial delivery of the platform to the pilot trusts, alongside the plan will then be used to approach the migration for all other trusts. We will have a dedicated team on hand to support trusts in the early days post cutover to ensure any questions / challenges are addressed promptly.
Will the new platform work on mobile devices?
Yes, the new platform will be accessible by both web and mobile applications.