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Search Results for: Blog

Top 9 Order Management Integrations

May 1, 2017 by The Bridge Solutions Group Team

Distributed Order Management Integrations

The true power of a distributed order management application comes from the integration of information across multiple channels. While the Sales Order might be the central focus, just as important are inventory visibility, and integration with external services such as tax solutions and credit card processing services.

Below is a list of the 9 most common order management integrations:

  1. eCommerce Application – Captures online orders from customers. Order management can be used to display inventory availability and shipment status for online orders.
    Vendors include: IBM Digital Commerce/Websphere,  Magento Commerce, SAP Hybris
  2. ERP/Financial Master – Captures updates to inventory and sales affecting company finances.
    Vendors include: SAP, Infor, Epicor
  3. Payment Gateway – Processes credit card transactions.
    Vendors include: CybersourceChase Paymentech
  4. Warehouse Management System (WMS) – Manages the inventory and process in the warehouse.
    Vendors include: JDA, Manhattan Associates, Softeon
  5. Taxation Service – Calculates tax based on the ship to address and final value of the product after discounts.
    Vendors include: Avalara
  6. Point of Sales (POS) / Store Application – Manages inventory and payments for cash and carry orders at a store, and allows the order management system to provide in-store inventory availability to online customers, and enable multi-channel returns.
    Vendors Include: NCR, Toshiba
  7. Product Information Management (PIM) / Item Master – While most order management systems have their own catalog, as do ERP systems, the PIM provides a more robust item master that can include additional images, video, and other digital content which can be associated with increased conversion rates.
    Vendors include: Enterworks
  8. Email Management – While most OMS applications include the capability to email order creation and shipment status information to the customer, most business leverage their existing email tool for this activity to ensure a consistent branded experience.
    Vendors include: IBM Watson Campaign AutomationSalesforce Pardot, Oracle Eloqua, Marketo
  9. Parcel Adaptor – Estimate the shipping costs for an order and routes the order to the appropriate carrier so businesses can provide accurate shipping charges to the customer or fulfill using the cheapest delivery method to contain costs.
    Vendors include: ProShip, Pitney Bowes Sendsuite, Centiro

There are certainly more Distributed Order Management System integrations, but these are the ones that we see as core.  Once you’ve defined your integrations, how do you integrate optimally?

Optimal Integration Considerations

How you integrate depends on many factors, but you may want to consider the following:

  • Will my integration vendors ever change? If so, you may want to consider using an Enterprise Service Bus (ESB) for ease of long term integration management.
  • Which system should be my item master?
  • How often should different systems update each other (batch, trickle feeds, etc.)?

If you’re not sure of the best order management integration strategy for your business, we’d be happy to conduct an Order Management Integration Assessment. Simply complete the form below.

Filed under: Blog, Omnichannel, Supply Chain

Forbes: The Best Management Consulting Firms for 2017 – IT Implementation

April 27, 2017 by The Bridge Solutions Group Team

Forbes

Thank you to all our customers who completed the survey. We are honored yet again! In 2016, Forbes named Bridge Solutions Group one of America’s Best Management Consulting Firms. This year we’ve been named one of The Best Management Consulting Firms for 2017 – IT Implementation. The list (in alphabetical order) included: Read More…

Filed under: Blog, Conferences, Supply Chain

5 Common Challenges of B2B Order Management

January 28, 2017 by The Bridge Solutions Group Team

5 Common Challenges of B2B Order Management

Are you confident you can deliver orders on time, every time? No? You’re not alone. Manufacturers, distributors, and 3PLs from around the world share this challenge with you. In fact it’s just one of the 5 common challenges our B2B customers face every day. What are the others? Let’s look at the full list:

1. On-time Delivery
In the B2C world, late deliveries leave customers disgruntled. But often a simple coupon, worth only a few dollars, can save the relationship. When it comes to B2B the stakes are much higher.

Failure to meet your order promise dates can result in chargebacks or, worse, canceled contracts. And because a single customer can be worth a significant percentage of your business, this can be catastrophic.

But on-time delivery is a symptom. Let’s look at some of the causes…

2. Inventory Visibility

When it comes to fulfilling orders, the ability to see all your inventory, across all locations, is key. You also need to see which inventory can be delivered on time based on delivery times and the customer’s location.

Without this visibility, you’ll lose orders, or fail to meet your order promise dates, which leads to chargebacks and penalties. But that’s just part of the story.

The most efficient businesses can see ‘on-hand’ inventory across all locations and ‘inbound in-transit’ inventory as well. This gives you a larger pool of inventory to allocate to each order. Which brings us to the next challenge…

3. Inventory Allocation
Say Customer A places an order to be delivered next week. You allocate ‘on-hand’ inventory to that order. Great!

Now Customer B places an order that needs to be delivered the next day – just one problem – you don’t have enough ‘on-hand’ inventory to fulfill both orders. Now imagine if you could see ‘inbound in-transit’ inventory’…

You could allocate the ‘inbound in-transit’ inventory to Customer A, who doesn’t need delivery until next week, and the ‘on-hand’ inventory to Customer B, thereby fulfilling both orders… and saving the sale.

But if you’re really looking for fulfillment efficiency, you’d have a system that could allocate and reallocate inventory automatically. Not just based on customer orders, but supply chain delays that impact delivery. Why? Because it will help you more accurately address the next challenge…

4. Meet Order Response SLAs

While not every customer has order response SLAs, the big ones do. And just like failure to make on-time deliveries, penalties for violations can be severe.

Canceled orders, or canceled contracts all loom large when dealing with large customers. So how fast do they need responses to their orders?

We have B2B customers who need to respond to orders in 8 seconds or less. That’s fast. And the response needs to indicate whether they can fulfill an order, by when, and at what price. Which leads us to our 5th common challenge…

5. Complex order configuration and pricing
Order complexity takes many forms:

  • A product may be configurable, with only certain configurations being valid.
  • Customers may have special pricing
  • Customers may qualify for volume based pricing.

And here’s something you may not have considered…

  • Automatic price adjustments based on market demands.

We have one customer, a distributor, that varies prices based on the time of day an order is placed. This incentivizes customers to order at low volume times of the day, which helps them better manage their work flow. Could you benefit from more flexible pricing models?

Summary
B2B businesses face many order management challenges, but there are solutions that can help you increase your operational efficiency. So, if you can relate to any of the challenges above let’s talk!

Filed under: Blog, Supply Chain

The Store: A Critical Omni-Channel Component

November 3, 2016 by The Bridge Solutions Group Team

Retail Store Sales 2016

While eCommerce is expanding the store is still a critical part of your omni-channel strategy.
Ask us about a briefing on the IBM Consumer Expectations Study 2016 to learn more.

What does it really take to be an omni-channel organization? Regardless, if it is retail, manufacturing, wholesale, or B2B, omni-channel retail has four critical requirements: Read More…

Filed under: Blog, Omnichannel, Supply Chain

India GST: Frequently Asked Questions

October 25, 2016 by The Bridge Solutions Group Team

India GST FAQ

 

Pending state ratification, the India Goods and Services Tax (India GST) will come into effect on April 1, 2017. What does that mean for businesses? Let’s look at some frequently asked questions. Read More…

Filed under: Blog, Supply Chain

Shipping Costs and Delivery Dates Impact Customer Satisfaction

September 10, 2016 by The Bridge Solutions Group Team

Delivery impacts customer satisfaction

Recently, I ordered a hood ornament emblem for my vehicle from a specialty store. This well know website is specific to my auto and I have made purchase here before. But, in this case I have been disappointed.

Read More…

Filed under: Blog, Supply Chain

Delivering Merchandise: The Hard Facts

August 22, 2016 by The Bridge Solutions Group Team

Customers are expecting more

The 13-39 year old group have the highest delivery expectations of all consumers.

Retailers are suffering from customer delivery expectations. The customer wants their order completed the fastest and cheapest way. Studying the trends since 2010, we have found that those in the 13-39 year old group have the highest expectations of all. Read More…

Filed under: Blog, Omnichannel, Supply Chain

Forrester ranks IBM Order Management one of two leaders Q3 2016

August 4, 2016 by The Bridge Solutions Group Team

OMS Q3 2016

In Forrester’s most recent report, The Forrester Wave™: Order Management, Q3 2016, IBM Order Management is once again ranked as one of two leaders. Specifically it stated: “IBM’s solution is a Leader in our evaluation, offering well-developed tools that drive inventory visibility, order promising, distributed order management, and call center support. It also supports store associate applications that enable omnichannel commerce both online and in the store.”

Filed under: Blog, Supply Chain

Top 10 Challenges of B2B Order Management, Fulfillment & Distribution

June 15, 2016 by The Bridge Solutions Group Team

B2B Order Management Challenges

What are the top 10 challenges faced by today’s B2B Supply Chain and Distribution professionals? A Q1 2016 survey of 213 professionals across North America, conducted in conjunction with IBM, Supply Chain Management Review and Modern Distribution Management, revealed the following results:

  1. Workforce productivity/Labor management
  2. Ability to process more orders, faster
  3. Managing order fulfillment costs
  4. Implementing and better utilizing technology related to distribution and fulfillment
  5. Inventory visibility across all locations (including in-transit inventory)
  6. Managing production, distribution and fulfillment for multiple products/brands
  7. Complex order configuration and/or pricing and quoting
  8. Coordinating activities across various divisions/disparate facilities/Handling the complexities of order management processes
  9. Inventory allocation across supply chain partners
  10. Single view of all orders from all sources (online, EDI, fax, etc.)

 

Filed under: Blog, Supply Chain