Top 5 Benefits of Adopting Order Management System Software in Supply Chain 

Introduction

If you’re currently selling online, you’ll reach a point where managing orders across multiple platforms becomes difficult. For many, the time spent manually updating stock levels, creating stock labels, and searching for the best courier impedes their ability to sell and fulfill quickly. In a world where speed of fulfillment gives retailers an advantage, an Order Management System software (OMS) is what you need to stay competitive.

What is order management in supply chain?

Order management refers to everything immediately after a customer places an order, from locating and picking the item in the warehouse to packing and shipping the product to the final mile. Capturing customer data, printing shipping labels, order routing, returns, and, in some cases, invoicing and payment of orders are also part of the process.

Whether you distribute 50 or 50,000 orders per month for your own company or on behalf of your clients, your process must be as efficient as possible. A streamlined process allows you to ship more orders and helps improve customer experiences, which is where order management software can help.

Why Is an Order Management System software Important?

An OMS can improve the efficiency of your order management process by automating many previously manual steps. An OMS may increase customer satisfaction while improving cash flow and profitability because it enhances the company’s ability to process orders efficiently and quickly.

As e-commerce continues to expand rapidly, OMS is becoming increasingly important for two primary reasons. For starters, having flexibility in ordering, picking up, receiving, and returning products help you meet your customers’ expectations.

Second, an OMS can manage distributed orders. For example, you can use OMS to fulfill an order that requires shipping items from multiple locations, the process returns via mail or in-store, and do so as efficiently as possible. Another benefit of OMS is that it can expand as your enterprise sales volume and sales channels expand.

How does an order management system (oms) work?

An OMS starts by giving you visibility into available-to-promise (ATP) inventory in your warehouses and stores and stock from third-party suppliers such as 3PL (third-party logistics) firms and drop-ship locations. This aids inventory planning.

Following that, the OMS fulfills orders through robust order capture, release, and validation, pick, pack, and ship functionality, considering drop-shipping, shipment confirmations, and customer communication.

Following the order, a full-featured OMS assists payments and shares the information with financial systems. If a customer wishes to return an item, the OMS establishes procedures for processing returns from all channels, fulfilling exchange requests, crediting the customer’s account, and managing the dispositioning process.

What are the essential benefits of an order management system?

To perform at the level that the market now expects, an efficient and dependable order management solution is required, and it is critical for staying ahead of the competition. Implementing an OMS will provide numerous benefits to your company, allowing you to stay ahead of the competition and meet the demands of an ever-changing digital world. Take a look at our list of the top ten advantages of an order management system:

1. Maintain low inventory costs.

One of the advantages of utilizing an OMS is the ability to take control of stock management by automating processes and simplifying processes. It lets users quickly move stock from one location to another using simple scanning steps for replenishment or put away.

This is accomplished by using in-location stock movements to automate what happens to orders during packing based on triggers such as delivery option selected, value, and weight, thereby eliminating the need for manual processes and reducing time spent on such tasks.

E-commerce and multichannel inventory management software also provide users with automated insights into product information, allowing you to know where to store inventory and how to handle specific stock items (fragile, flammable, etc.). Inventory tracking software also enables you to gain data-driven insights by automatically monitoring stock levels and sales data for each item, thereby increasing the efficiency of adding new items to stock, tracking sales, and updating inventory levels.

2. Process orders more quickly and accurately.

OMS eliminates the need to manually monitor your online stores for new orders by providing real-time updates as orders are received, all the way through to shipments being dispatched within the platform.

Users of automated order fulfillment systems can easily track the progress of outstanding orders and search order history for information about a previous or completed order. And because the system is cloud-based and does not require hosting, you can access this information from anywhere, anytime.

3. Integrate all of your sales channels through a centralized platform.

API integration capabilities are one of the essential features of an OMS. Integrations help simplify complex processes and automate time-consuming tasks and workflows, saving time and eliminating the risk of human error.

Companies integrates with many systems, including marketplaces, shopping carts, inventory systems, warehouse management systems, accounting systems, and couriers. The need to log into multiple platforms is eliminated by integrating your channels and platforms used to power your business. This results in more secure and faster data transfer, putting your mind and your customers at ease. Managing your orders from a centralized platform improves order accuracy and speed, saving time and money in the long run.

4. Simplified and more organized warehouse operations

Companies also functions as a cloud-based warehouse management software (WMS), providing users with a complete overview of their warehouse, inventory, and courier relationships from a single, simple platform – all accessible anywhere, at any time, with real-time updates on orders, inventory, and shipments.

5. Do away with the need for paperwork

Switching to a cloud-based system allows access to the platform from anywhere and eliminates the need for hosting capabilities and paperwork.

Document digitization has numerous advantages, ranging from saving time and space to simplifying information transfer. Using a cloud-based order management system rather than a paper system improves security. Physical documents are easily misplaced, difficult to track, and easily destroyed without employees’ knowledge.

In addition to saving money on paper, printers, ink, postage, and office space for files, employee time savings are precious for audits and repetitive, high-volume tasks.