Boots Opticians Ltd - Major UK Optical Retailer
SDS User since 1999



SDS, the leading supplier of practice management and POS solutions to the optical industry has its application fully operational at all 300+ Boots Optician locations. The close to $17 million (US) investment by Boots Opticians replaced an old Unix based system and was instrumental in bringing a higher standard of service for Boots customers and a considerable savings in time and administration for every store.

Approximately 4,500 Boots Opticians staff have been using the SDS system. Every store has multiple modules of the SDS system such as Recall, OctoPLUS, OctoPOS, Frame Scanner, Inventory Manager as well as real-time integration to a choice of on-line laboratories.

After careful research by Boots Opticians they chose SDS and its world leading optical software for its all-encompassing features. Anna Lyon, Head of Boots Opticians IS Development said, "It has provided us with an up to date platform and a good base to build value-added products. We now have EDI (Electronic Data Interchange) and it has greatly enhanced the speed and accuracy of the electronic RX ordering process". She added "No more missing or illegible faxes, a faster availability of spectacles following the dispense and much less time on the telephone are all features of the new system. As a result we took record sales in the first three weeks of January". About OctoPLUS, Anna added that "The detailed lens information running on the OctoPLUS element of the system, whereby lenses and their varying thickness are shown on the computer screen, has been a great help in increasing premium lens dispensing rates".

SDS offers a fully integrated 2000/XP system for optical outlets with an extensive menu of features for practices to select according to their specific requirements. The high level of aftercare provided by the SDS support and services teams was also a very important aspect in Boots Opticians decision in selecting SDS as its partner.

Boots is a leading retailer in the UK with over 300 locations providing Vision Eye care services. Boots is one of Britain's most trusted brands and has one simple goal. Boots aims to be the place for health and beauty customers. Boots wants to secure market leadership in the UK and build on the brands' growing success internationally.

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Boots plc is one of the UK's leading pharmaceutical, health and beauty retailers. With in excess of 45,000 customer calls every week into its call center, Boots prides itself on giving its customers a high standard of service and strives to ensure that all customer calls are answered quickly and efficiently. Boots uses the SDS Patient Recall and Patient Booking modules in the call center, to allow the central call center team to book appointments for the optical stores.

Boots plc is also well known for one of the most successful customer reward schemes with its 'Advantage Card'. SDS has worked with the Boots team to allow the Boots optical customers the opportunity to collect ‘Advantage Card’ points in store through the SDS applications.

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