What is Order Management?

From the moment that a customer places an order to when it’s delivered, there are many steps that the business has to stay on top of. Order management is a catch-all term that covers every part of that process, and sometimes even more.

For instance, in a retail setting, order management starts when a customer selects a product online and goes on until it’s delivered to their doorstep. Every step in this journey, from inventory checks to delivery updates, falls under the umbrella of order management.

As supply chains grow in complexity due to trends like omnichannel fulfillment and the need for real-time visibility, outdated methods for tracking and managing orders are no longer viable.

Companies that want to stay competitive and excel in their markets must be willing to embrace new technology and incorporate it into their workflows, as that’s the only way to deliver a consistent customer experience when the number of steps and variables in order management keeps increasing.

The good news is that with new challenges come new solutions that can tackle them. Today’s leading order management systems (OMS) come with a suite of powerful features, utilizing new technology such as Artificial Intelligence to make the job of order processing easier, more reliable, and more consistent.

With the right OMS, you can eliminate bottlenecks in your order management process, scale your business more easily, and improve cost-effectiveness in the process. On top of that, you can provide real-time updates to your customers, making your business more trustworthy as well.

Importance of Order Management

Order management impacts every part of a business. On one end, your process for managing orders determines the workload and efficiency of your fulfillment staff. At the same time, it has a deciding impact on how your customers will perceive you and whether you will have a good reputation in your market. But these are far from the only reasons why order management matters.

Here’s a list of ways that the right order management system can impact your business:

1. Real-Time Order Tracking. Today’s customers want to have access to information about their orders every step of the way. That’s why using an OMS with real-time visibility is no longer optional. You need to have an automated process for sharing real-time updates about orders, with accurate delivery date estimates.
2. Reduce Costs. A good order management solution allows optimizing the order fulfillment process and reducing shipping costs, which translates into savings for your business that you can transfer to your customers.
3. Better Forecasting. Another big advantage of OMS is that it helps leverage historical data to make better predictions. And that means you can better manage your resources and avoid stockouts or overstocking.
4. Accuracy. Human error is one of the biggest risks when managing orders. A good OMS will streamline and automate a range of processes, reducing or even eliminating the risk of errors made by your fulfillment team, which will improve customer satisfaction and save money.
5. Omnichannel Fulfillment. Your customers expect to be able to purchase products from different locations or online stores and have them all delivered to a single location in the most efficient way possible. A comprehensive order management solution allows syncing data from a variety of sources, improving your inventory, shipping, and customer experience in the process.
6. Sustainability. Businesses that want to thrive must address the need to become more sustainable. With the right OMS, you can significantly reduce your environmental impact by finding the least impactful shipping routes for your products, consolidating shipments, and reducing packaging waste.
7. Complex Supply Chains. Being able to create and manage more complex supply chains can provide you with opportunities to save on costs and access a more diverse range of suppliers and markets. However, that requires better management practices that can take into account inventory levels in multiple locations, order processing at scale, and more. That’s what modern systems can offer, allowing you to stay on top of complex steps in your order management process and ensure that everything goes smoothly.