What is your intent behind starting and running a business? To be successful and achieve all your aims. All the business leaders have the same thoughts and everyone has a strategy to make the best out of their setup. Hence, all of them need efficient tools.
Nowadays, organizations that are dependent on traditional order processing are not able to get the desired amount of sales revenue they used to generate. It happens because of two primary reasons; the use of smart data capturing and the automation of business processes. These two technologies are not only the latest but are also crucial for companies who want to be in the limelight.
The success of the manufacturers or distributors depends upon their efficiency and customer satisfaction rate. Therefore, you have to ensure fast order cycles without any errors. Loose order processing slows down the work because of repeated inaccuracies. The manual operations are also time-consuming.
What is an automated order management system?
An automated order management system integrates with the eCommerce stores and sales channels to verify and proceed with the order as soon as the buyer confirms it. Afterward, this technology updates the real-time order status and also notifies the customer about important updates.
You might have deployed ERP (enterprise resource planning) in your organization. But, it’s time to move up the ladder and stop manual order processing. Why? Check the benefits of an automated order management system.
Reasons Why Automating Your Order Management System is Essential for Business Success
- Productivity is a synonym for success
Datasheets and emails have been some of the best ways to proceed with professional activities since computers and the internet came into the picture. However, such applications drain the staff. The time taken to work on this software could be used for something more productive.
All the manual tasks are essential to run your business smoothly. But, it’s not necessary to perform all those duties using your hands. It’s where an automated order management system comes into the picture. This technology produces the same results but with high accuracy.
- Expensive learning is not a bright idea
Investing time and energy in manual tasks is costly. In the USA, companies spend about 600 million dollars on these inefficient tasks. Moreover, the manual accomplishment of tasks generally results in misses and errors, which need a significant amount of money to be fixed.
The cost of improvement reaches new heights if the mistake is ignored for a long time. It might only take a few dollars to correct the wrong billing address or contact information. However, the amount could be ten times high if the project progresses inappropriately.
Regardless, whether the error is caused by reading, auditing, or recording the numbers, you need to consider issues related to the accuracy, especially if you wish to be a successful businessman. Improvement in sales order processing and data input minimizes common errors. Hence, they keep your customers satisfied and always reduce the cost required for all your business operations.
- eCommerce has to cover multiple channels
We are in the age of omnichannel retail. Users have multiple options to order your products or services. They place a request via email, website, Whatsapp, Facebook, and even Instagram. The buying patterns might see more highs in the future as digital channels are increasing day by day.
An order management system design allows you to collect requests across all channels. Once you integrate all your ordering platforms, all the customer purchases go through the same delivery process. Automation makes this process easy. Otherwise, the consolidation is a time-consuming task.
The online order management system stores all your sales-related data at one location. So, you can analyze all the channels, monitor their performance, and look for improvements.
- A positive reputation brings more sales revenue
The success of your business depends upon its consumers. Your brand cannot enjoy significant profits if your customers are unsatisfied. Therefore, it should be your priority to fulfill the orders efficiently and accurately.
Slow work combined with poor support function could be a disaster for any business. You might not even know your brand is in trouble because only 4 percent of customers report their problems. Moreover, the news of your inefficiency reaches many other buyers that downgrades your credibility and reputation.
If you are success-oriented, focus on effective communication, quick processing, and accurate results. You can achieve all these goals with the help of paper-based manual tasks. However, automation makes things better, faster, and easier.
- Time is money
The manual process of order processing consumes a lot of time. But, the order management system design streamlines the process. Hence, it also reduces the time taken to complete all the orders, which results in a high customer retention rate.
We are not talking about theoretical advantages. If you look at the numbers, the average order cycle between once the order is placed and the warehouse is updated is around 8.6 hours. On the other hand, the average order cycle with automation is 4.6 hours.
An automated order management system frees your staff by reducing the order cycle. Hence, they can perform other tasks to increase their overall productivity. Moreover, automation processes more orders in less time resulting in higher sales revenue.
- Businesses need a high return on investment for exponential growth
The automated sales order processing significantly minimizes your time and energy. What’s more? According to studies, the implementation of automatic processing also generates high returns.
According to the American Productivity and Quality Center, automation brings cost efficiency and time savings. Users see almost a 67 percent drop in overall cost after deploying automated processing of sales orders.
Automation is capable of generating higher returns on investment because of its accuracy of cost cost-saving nature. Above all, this technology ensures customer satisfaction to boost your finances.
- Accuracy results in productivity
Once you automate the online order management system, the chances of human errors become almost zero. Moreover, it enhances visibility. So, you can check all the troubles and discrepancies before they go out of your hands. Above all, the automated system helps your employees to finish their work on time.
- High customer satisfaction adds to your reputation
Here comes another perk of automation that keeps you and your employees happy and motivated, customer satisfaction rate. Your buyers enjoy the benefits of accuracy and speed. The customers stay loyal to your brand if you offer them a seamless shopping experience. The sales automated improves customer affairs due to the following points:
- Provides information about your company and its products
Communication is one of the best ways to build positive relations. If you want to gain confidence and trust among your targeted audience, let them know who you are. Once the buyers have some trust in you, they will be loyal to your brand.
- Fastens order processing
Online buyers never prefer to wait. So, businesses looking to gain a new audience never rely on manual order completions because it might not keep their customers satisfied in the long run. The automated order management system design streamlines the process for fast updates, responses, and deliveries.
- Flexibility is beneficial for your business
An automated retail order management system allows your team members to track all the packages in real time and process them. Regardless of the customer’s location, the notification is sent automatically to the nearest warehouse.
- Offers self-service opportunities
Businesses provide self-control to their buyers to provide them a little control and add some comfort to their shopping experience. An automated sales system lets your customers review their plans or ordered items. Such options are beneficial if the buyer has additional needs and hence, enhance their overall experience.
Thanks to high-grade online order management systems like Tidio you can break the conventional culture and create a more efficient environment of order management and customer satisfaction. If you want to set a course towards success, implement automation and enjoy its benefits.
How do you make the most of your automated order management system?
Keep the given points in your mind once you deploy sales order automation.
- Analyze and make priorities
Create practical goals to get the desired results from your sales process. For instance, understand your existing sales order operation with the help of metrics on order volume, account, type of KPIs, and time required to cover each step of the process. Then, search for potential exceptions. Finally, determine which areas need priority and create a roadmap for other automation deployments.
- Define and refine
You have to identify where you have successfully deployed automated task management and where the gaps are left. For instance, you might have an enterprise resource planning system (ERP) already active. Can it meet all your requirements?
The order management system available nowadays comes with end-to-end automation, workflow culture, and several components to enhance the functionalities of your existing ERP. Find all the systems responsible for storing sales data and how they have to communicate with the tools you are planning to extract information from the sales orders.
Then, you have to define how you want to capture and receive the data. Finally, create defined categories for the data you plan to capture. Focus on the fields that help achieve the goals you have defined.
- Include or remove
Once you detect these systems and data fields, it’s time to determine how they will accommodate the predetermined goals and the automation application. Remove something that does not integrate.
- Separate and sort
Define a process to separate the documents into designated groups. The deployed automated solution sorts the documents as per the rules you defined. However, there is a problem if you encounter irrelevant documents repeatedly. So, ensure the solution is configured correctly. Also, identify where the images will be stored and what are the image retention policies.
- Maintain clear communication
Communicate with your customers proactively. Talk about the products, and delivery process, and ensure they are satisfied with the experience. Automated retail order management systems add accessibility and visibility to your buying system. These two factors work in the favor of your buyers. So, take the added advantage and set your brand apart from your competitors.
- Compare the performance
Check the performance of your sales process before and after the implementation of automated order management. This practice helps you to target new optimization goals.
- Focus on the solutions and progress
Whenever you deal with an issue, gain experience and use it to develop your organization. In addition, an action plan is crucial for your business’s growth. So, work on a strategy and see what it brings for your business.
Conclusion
The automated order management system ensures all your customer requests are delivered without any deviations. If you want to be a business leader in the current era, you have to reinvent your business digitally and that’s where artificial intelligence and automation can help.
Test run any software you plan to purchase. Make sure it fits your company’s requirements and growth plans. As we discussed, such an application saves time, energy, and money. Moreover, it reduces errors, boosts productivity, and improves customer satisfaction rate.
