Automating Order Processing

Automating Order Processing

Processing orders is the most critical process in your business.  Sales don’t happen unless orders are processed.  Inventory isn’t shipped unless orders are processed.  Bottom line … there is no bottom line unless orders are processed.

Accuracy, speed and volume are essential.

Why are so many companies still processing orders manually?

Reason one – we just don’t have time to switch.

Reason two – we can’t afford an expensive order management system right now.

Reason three – it would be too confusing and it would take too much time.

Reason four – our staff knows our systems

Reason five – our business is unique, how could a system match our processes?

With respect, our answer to these objections is BALDERDASH!

Will it take some time and focus to implement an excellent order management system?  Yes, it will, but the time saved over the next year (not to mention the host of other benefits) will offset the cost of this dedication of time by many times over.

Can’t afford it?  You can’t afford not to … especially with the system Avectous will offer at the most competitive price in the industry.  Feature for feature, there is no better value and the reduction in staff, inventory, space and the acceleration of payments makes the implementation of a high-quality order management system a simple and very compelling decision.

Too confusing?  Not at all.   A really good OMS will take your existing processes and automate them, giving your staff simple, effective and comfortable tools to process orders more quickly and accurately.

Your staff knows your systems?  Great, because the automation will make the transition seamless.  Certainly, you can change some of the processes, if you choose.  We’ll offer you a set of best practices that you may find attractive.  But, if the choice is to automate existing processes and ensure that your staff finds the transition comfortable and smooth, then that’s what will happen.  After a brief training period, your staff will be completely competent and enthusiastic about the new, effective labor-saving tools we provide.  Rather than causing stress, the implementation of an effective OMS will relieve stress and promote positive staff morale and productivity.

Your business is unique?  Probably not as unique as you think.  After many implementations at companies as diverse as a national electrical component distributor to an international apparel company – just about everything in between – we’ve discovered that there are some core functions that are common to nearly every customer.  Our greatest contribution to your project is our ability to customize these core functions to adapt to your business processes.  By adapting the 80% “common functionality” to the 20% of your business that truly is unique, we can offer a cost-effective and highly customized solution to your back office challenges.

Those are the objections we often have to overcome when beginning  a project with a new customer.

What are the positive reasons that our customers want to explore a new Order Management System?

You manage two kinds of orders – purchase orders to y our suppliers and sales orders from  your customers.

By automating purchase orders to your suppliers, you can accelerate the delivery of incoming inventory by over 30%.  This is critical to managing on a just-in-time basis.  Time after time we see customers with a built in “fudge factor” because they know that if they need the inventory in three weeks, they must order it six weeks before it’s needed.  Why?  Because it takes that long for the purchasing department to research the current inventory system, draft the PO, send it through the proper authority channels for approval, issue the PO, have it received by the supplier and give the supplier time to process the PO through their system.  We’ve found that most customers operate on an 80 / 20 rule – 80% of the PO’s they issue are repetitive.  Once they get to 50 units on hand, given a sales rate of 10 units per week, a PO is issued for another 100 units.  An effective OMS will synthesize the data from sales and inventory and build an automated schedule to issue new PO s.  These can always be overridden, or modified, but the productivity of building these calculations into the PO issuance schedule is enormous.

An effective OMS synthesizes a lot of data.  Sales velocity (how many of that item are you selling?) and Channel Efficacy (through which sales channels are you selling that item?) must be tracked so that better sales and inventory decisions can be made.  With many SKUs, it is virtually impossible to have a clear picture of what is selling and through which channels it is selling unless the information is automated and synthesized into a clear, relational report.  An OMS doesn’t just process orders.  It creates and collects information that can be sliced and diced to give you optimal transparency – to allow you to make fast, correct and effective decisions.

Purchase orders are often impacted by the financial reality of doing business.  Credit limits with one supplier may encourage the issuance of new POs to an alternate supplier.  Order size may be impacted by credit limitations.  To the extent that these limitations and decision-influencers can be automated, it is possible to take a huge amount of time and potential for error out of the system.  An effective OMS with a solid integration to your accounting system can help you effectively manage those decisions.

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