Rite Aid will partner with Google Cloud to introduce Google's Anthos platform to its more than 2,350 pharmacies, the companies said Oct. 11.
The yearslong partnership is "defining the modern pharmacy," Carrie Tharp, vice president of retail and consumer solutions of Google Cloud, said in a statement.
With Google Cloud, the retail pharmacy plans to transition its "vaccine scheduling tool, customer messaging infrastructure and digital engagement platform" into an app.
In June, Rite Aid CEO Heyward Donigan told The Washington Post she sees the future of pharmacies jumping to people's phones.
"I don't view, as a customer, a pharmacy as a store," Ms. Donigan said. "Nobody knows more about prescription drugs than a pharmacist, and I would like [my doctor] to talk to my pharmacist on my phone about which prescriptions I should be on. The evolution of this business is how to make the pharmacist transportable."
Rite Aid will move its enterprise data to boost visibility of its finances, supply chain inventory and customer information. Rite Aid's pharmacy benefit manager, Elixir, will also implement Google Cloud's artificial intelligence and machine learning technology.