Why use an order management system? Why not just use your ERP or eCommerce application to manage orders? As businesses grow, so does the complexity of their distribution network. But often it grows in silos.
Retailers often keep store and ecommerce inventory separate, managed by separate systems. This prevents you from having a unified view of all your inventory and doing things like fulfilling orders from the location with the most inventory, so you minimize end of season markdowns. And while an ERP system can help manage the inventory you own, and order management system also lets you manage inventory that is in-transit from suppliers, or drop ship orders.
A Distributed Order Management (DOM) system is the central hub that connects all your other systems. Designed specifically to integrate easily with other applications, in can be used to serve information to your other channels, keeping them all in sync, so you can provide a seamless multi-channel experience for your customers.
Examples of the information that is managed by a DOM system include:
Retail Applications
Order Management is the engine that enables these top retailers to provide many of the omni-channel services that are standard today, including:
It also enables flexible fulfillment options, including fulfill from store, so you can view inventory and fulfill orders from all your locations, not just distribution centers. And it offers an integrated call center, ensuring that the high quality customer experience is maintained across all customer touch points. But Order Management is not just for retailers…
Rising B2B Customer Expectations
B2C order management has increased customer expectations across all industries, including traditional B2B transactions. But not all order management applications are suited to B2B. IBM Order Management, in additional to providing enterprise inventory visibility, order orchestration, and routing rules capabilities, also has native Configure Price Quote (CPQ) capabilities. This, combined with robust Call Center features, makes it the ideal choice for enterprises with complex B2B product configuration and pricing structures. To learn more about the benefits of B2B Order Management: click here.
To read an article about how one of our customer’s Parker Hannifin is leveraging B2B Order Management, click here.
Cloud or On-Premise?
Today IBM OMS can be deployed on-premise, or on Cloud. If you’d like more information about the benefits of each, please contact us.
IBM Sterling Order Management System (OMS) is a comprehensive software solution that brokers orders across many disparate systems, orchestrates and automates cross-channel selling and fulfillment processes, and provides a global view of supply and demand across the supply chain. Capabilities include:
IBM Sterling Distributed Order Management
The IBM Sterling Distributed Order Management (DOM) module within the IBM Sterling OMS increases your fill rates, lowers buffer inventory, and reduces your manual processes. Out-of-the-box configurable processes give you control over the entire fulfillment lifecycle – from order capture, to source and fulfill, to returns and settlement. The DOM module allows you to:
IBM Global Inventory Visibility
The IBM Sterling Global Inventory Visibility module within the IBM Sterling OMS provides a single aggregate view of all your inventory information from both internal and external locations.
IBM Sterling Delivery and Service Scheduling
The IBM Sterling Delivery and Service Scheduling module within the IBM Sterling OMS enables scheduling of delivery, installation, and other add-on services when the order is placed.
The robust sourcing and scheduling engine enables dynamic scheduling of product deliveries and associated services, such as installations, at time of sale based on the type of order and resource availability, providing increased revenue opportunities. Out- of-the-box configurations enable seamless monitoring of services and delivery executions based on agreed-upon service parameters. Features of the module include:
IBM Sterling Drop Ship
The IBM Sterling Drop Ship module within the IBM Sterling OMS provides tools to manage and automate the fulfillment of orders directly from your trading partners throughout the order-to-cash process.
IBM Sterling Reverse Logistics
The IBM Sterling Reverse Logistics module within the IBM Sterling OMS provides effective tracking of items throughout the return-and-repair process, and automates returning items to stock.