It’s cliché to say that processing orders quickly, accurately, and efficiently is the cornerstone upon which a successful business can be built. If your customers don’t get what they order, or don’t get it on time, or it costs too much because your fulfillment costs result in your prices being too high, you won’t build your business. You have to give your customers what they want, when they want it, at a competitive price.
Once your company has received an order from a customer, it must be transmitted to the warehouse to be picked, packed and shipped. But, before that, your system must be able to verify that the inventory is in stock and ready to be picked. Your system must also offer the capability of confirming that payment has been received, or that the customer’s credit is acceptable, prior to shipment. Items must be reordered when inventory is shipped. This can be done automatically, or manually, but if inventory reorders are made manually, the information must be transmitted automatically and accurately to purchasing personnel. Transparency and automation is the key to an efficient, accurate system. An optimal system will allow you to increase accuracy, reduce processing time, ship more efficiently and improve your customer’s experience.
There are many aspects of your order processing system that must be considered. Your investment isn’t in software, or a system. Your investment is really in the team that you select to design, customize, implement and integrate your new system. When you select a software provider they should be able to give you excellent and compelling answers about the following functional areas:
Communication
Orders must be received with as little duplicate data entry as possible and transmitted immediately and accurately to the warehouse. A sophisticated solution provider will standardize the way that information / orders are received from your customers so that their orders are automatically received by your system. This does not require that your B-to-B customers conform to an inflexible protocol. A sophisticated software provider can receive the customer’s information in a variety of formats and transfer the information to a standard format in your order management system. This information is easy for the customer to input, making their purchase experience simple and fast. The information is then automatically and completely available to your customer service staff, so that customer inquiries are answered with complete and up-to-date information, including order and shipment status.
Database Simplicity
Regardless of whether customers place orders through online marketplaces, your website, via mobile devices, or to your telephone operators, your order management system must be able to receive order information without problems from any source. Then, all information in your order management system must be immediately available to your entire team, customer service, warehouse, accounting, etc. It is imperative that your system be fully and functionally integrated, data must be accessible and transferrable seamlessly between all company systems. Order information must be integrated with your accounting, warehouse activity, purchasing, customer service, shipping, sales, and other systems. Customers frequently encounter problems with the interface between systems. These problems can be extremely challenging for employees, suppliers and customers. When a customer service representative has to scan through a variety of screens, rather than having access to a single, detailed overview of the order, product, picking, shipping and billing information, customers cannot enjoy the excellent customer experience that we want them to enjoy. The excellence of your order management system and the level of integration with your other systems will make the difference and that difference will translate into improved customer experiences and ultimately increased sales.
Inventory Control
One thing you never want to hear is that you are out of stock on a popular item. An excellent order management system will alert you to item velocity relative to on-hand inventory quantities and reorder / receipt of inventory timelines. Inventory reorder processes can be automatic, or information can be transmitted to purchasing staff to manually reorder inventory. A high level of customization will provide your company with the optimal level of inventory control and cost management , while simultaneously ensuring the highest level of customer satisfaction resulting from consistent inventory availability, without holding so much inventory that you risk accumulating non-saleable inventory.
Automation
The maximum level of automation will help you reduce errors, speed order processing and reduce cost. An excellent order management system will provide the optimal level of automation, combined with the flexibility to allow your customer to place complex orders without frustration.
To accomplish all of these objectives, you need a sophisticated, experienced order management system provider. There really is only one choice:
Avectous Integrated Software.
Take Control.