How a Leading Pharmacy Retailer Automated Financial Processes with Laiye

Dashenlin (大参林), a prominent pharmacy retail enterprise in China, went public in 2017 and now operates with a workforce of approximately 50,000. To stay competitive in a fast-paced market and fulfill its mission of providing quality health products and services to consumers, Dashenlin has made digital transformation a core strategic focus. Here are the main challenges Dashenlin encountered on this journey:

1. Data Integration Complexity: Pharmacy retail generates vast amounts of data, including product details, customer information, and supply chain logistics, all dispersed across various systems and platforms. Integrating this data requires an efficient management system to enable unified analysis and oversight.
2. Interdepartmental Collaboration: Digital transformation demands cross-departmental cooperation and seamless information sharing. Breaking down silos to facilitate smooth communication and effective collaboration was essential for Dashenlin’s transformation success.
3. Employee Training and Adaptability: Adopting digital tools necessitates that employees gain new technical knowledge and skills. For Dashenlin, a key challenge was how to quickly upskill staff to adapt to new digital workflows while fostering a culture of digital literacy.
4. Complex Supply Chain Management: The pharmacy retail supply chain is intricate, involving multiple stages such as procurement, inventory control, and distribution. Digital transformation required Dashenlin to optimize these processes to boost transparency and responsiveness.
5. Developing Innovative Business Models: As part of the digital transformation, Dashenlin aimed to explore new business models, such as online health consultations and telemedicine. This effort demanded a culture of innovation and a system to rapidly test and improve new ideas.

To tackle these challenges, Dashenlin partnered with Laiye, leveraging Laiye’s integrated automation platform and deep expertise to drive the company's financial digital transformation. Dashenlin’s IT department collaborated with finance, production, and HR teams to automate a wide range of business processes, achieving remarkable improvements in financial workflows:

1. Automated Reconciliation Process: By implementing Robotic Process Automation (RPA), Dashenlin automated the reconciliation of transaction data across more than 40 banks and 200 accounts. This increased reconciliation frequency from once a week to daily, with balance reconciliations moving from monthly to daily, enabling 24/7 automated financial reconciliation.
2. Efficiency Gains: The automated reconciliation process not only sped up data processing but also improved accuracy, significantly reducing operational risks. This increase in efficiency provided essential data support for Dashenlin’s rapid store expansion.
3. Online Platform Reconciliation Project: This initiative automated the reconciliation and posting of transactions from over 10 online trading platforms, ensuring that billing data from more than 8,000 stores was accurately and promptly synchronized with Dashenlin’s central financial system. The automation rate for this process reached nearly 100%.

These digital advancements established a strong foundation for Dashenlin's goal of expanding its network to 15,000 stores and provided crucial business support. Thanks to the efficiency of the automated processes, Dashenlin’s management team expressed high praise for the project. Beyond achieving a significant leap in financial workflows, Dashenlin set a new standard for digital transformation in the pharmacy retail industry, establishing itself as an industry benchmark.

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