The right order management system will help you to reduce costs, deliver efficiently and provide stellar post-purchase experiences. Here’s what to keep in mind when it comes make-or-break to key features:
Integration with other systems: Your order management system shouldn’t be an island. It should be connected with other systems and areas of your business, like your CRM, customer service, commerce and sales platforms. This makes it easier for your teams to get easier access to better insights about orders, routes, inventory and your supply chain. It also makes it easier to automate tedious tasks, increase efficiency and provide better post-purchase experiences to your customers.
Inventory management and visibility: Real-time inventory visibility enables bulk purchasing while cutting storage costs. This also makes it possible to more accurately predict demand and make timely purchases so you can avoid costly mistakes like out-of-stocks, overstocks, mis-picks and mis-deliveries. When inventory management and visibility are part of your order management system, it’s easier to build customer satisfaction and drive repeat business.
Real-time insights: Yesterday’s data won’t help you to solve today’s problems. With access to real-time data, you know exactly what’s going on with your order management processes so you can resolve issues quickly and keep operations smooth. For example, real-time insights will alert you when products from manufacturers aren’t making it to your warehouses on proper timelines, so you can better manage your supply chain. In-the-moment data helps you to eliminate inefficiencies, reduce costs and deliver stellar customer experiences.
Automation and AI: Artificial intelligence makes it possible to update inventory counts, issue reorders and service orders automatically. Ultimately, that means lower costs, increased efficiency and happier customers. Considering that growing revenue and improving productivity are at the top of businesses’ priority lists, automation is a key tactic for success. About one-third of companies have fully automated returns management, inventory management, order routeing and order monitoring.
Order support: Your order management system should enhance your customers’ experience with fast and easy support tools like cancel, return and reshipments. It should also give sales and service agents contextual data like order history, customer records, payment terms and service tools — all on one screen. These are the kinds of order servicing capabilities that will increase revenue and customer satisfaction.