Pharmacity harnesses AI to elevate customer experience and boost productivity

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As an online consulting pharmacist at Pharmacity, Nguyen Thi Hoang Oanh used to field from dozens to hundreds of customer queries daily via messaging apps and social media channels, ranging from the price of toothpaste to the side effects and drug interactions.

“Handling manual tasks was not the best use of my time,” she said. “I want to focus my time on deepening my expertise and delivering higher‑value, strategic guidance to our customers.”

As business grew, this way of working created bottlenecks and inefficient workflows for Pharmacity, Vietnam’s largest modern pharmacy chain with 5,000 pharmacists and one thousand stores nationwide.

The need to streamline workflows, reduce repetitive manual tasks and enhance operational efficiency became inevitable.

To elevate the customer’s online experience and boost its pharmacists’ productivity, Pharmacity implemented Botcake AI, an intelligent chatbot platform powered by Microosft Azure OpenAI, in March 2026.

“We aim to deliver an uninterrupted customer journey, where AI works seamlessly from the very first step of customer triage, ensuring a smooth online experience with service quality equivalent to that at our physical pharmacies,” said Deepanshu Madan, Pharmacity’s CEO.

Freeing up pharmacists for specialist advice

With Botcake AI, simple, repetitive questions on prices, product availability and promotions can now be answered by the chatbot using real-time information retrieved from Pharmacity’s database. This frees up pharmacists to focus more on queries that require professional, in‑depth consultation.

Botcake AI was developed by Pancake, a Vietnamese technology company specializing in omnichannel conversation management and sales solutions for businesses, to address operational limitations in customer consulting by automating customer conversations.

The solution helps reduce manual tasks, improve response speed, and maintain continuous engagement across multiple messaging platforms and social media applications. In addition, the system integrates user behavior analysis and image recognition capabilities, enabling the processing of visual information directly within conversations.

The platform also enables automated customer care and sales support to be delivered 24/7 across messaging and social media apps. Powered by Open AI’s  GPT-5 large language model in Microsoft Azure OpenAI, the platform’s contextual understanding, real‑time responses in natural language, and continuously updated data streamlines the customer’s entire journey from consultation to order completion.

“Botcake AI feels like a real colleague, it helps us filter customer needs and introduce products at a basic level. When customers require professional consultation, the system transfers the conversation to a pharmacist,” said Nguyễn Thị Hoàng Oanh.

“Botcake AI has truly helped me cut down a large portion of repetitive tasks so I can focus on more specialized advice, ultimately improving productivity for myself and my colleagues.”

According to Pharmacity, processing and response times for customer queries have been reduced by up to 30%, while manual tasks have decreased by around 40% since Botcake AI was rolled out.

Botcake AI helps minimize the “waiting time” between steps in the online shopping journey by recognizing basic information such as packaging, product codes, and medication names.

This allows pharmacists to devote more attention to cases requiring higher levels of expertise, such as advising based on handwritten prescriptions, managing multiple medications simultaneously, or addressing needs related to specific health conditions.

AI enables a customer‑centric operating model

According to Deepanshu Madan, integrating AI into consultation operations is not only about optimizing efficiency but also a strategic step toward building a customer-centric business model.

“We aim to ensure that 100% of customers receive immediate responses upon initiating interaction, thereby enhancing consistency and service quality across all touchpoints,” he said.

Botcake AI is built using Microsoft technologies to streamline consultation workflows and enhance customer interactions.

Azure AI services power features such as image recognition and natural language processing, enabling the system to understand messages, analyze user behavior, and process visual inputs within conversations.

Botcake AI platform directly supports Vietnam’s Resolution 57, which mandates digital transformation as a comprehensive, economy-wide revolution across all sectors — from public administration and healthcare to education and enterprise — and aligns to the country’s evolving regulatory priorities on data protection and cybersecurity.

Microsoft Azure delivers on these priorities through a secure cloud infrastructure and built‑in compliance controls that safeguard all customer information — including sensitive or health‑related data — with end-to-end encryption, strict access controls, and privacy‑by‑design at every layer..

“We view AI as the foundation for restructuring operational models—where sellers shift from manual handling to managing and optimizing interactions intelligently, moving toward a customer journey that is both efficient and sustainable,” said Mai Hong Phong, CEO of Pancake.

“Integrating AI through Microsoft Azure OpenAI is a major milestone for us. We chose Microsoft because its platform gives us the reliability, security, and scalable AI foundation we need to innovate with confidence. This integration supports our long‑term strategy to build a business model centered on intelligent conversations that help teams work smarter and deliver better customer experiences.”

According to Dhanawat Suthumpun, Managing Director for Microsoft’s Emerging Markets including Vietnam, Pharmacity and Pancake exemplify the forward‑thinking spirit that is driving Vietnam’s digital transformation.

“By embracing AI early and boldly, they are redefining what customer‑centric service looks like in the pharmacy industry. Microsoft is honored to accompany these innovators as they leverage Azure OpenAI to build smarter, more resilient, and more impactful solutions for the future of healthcare retail,” he said.