How important is technology? In the eyes of those sitting in the corner rooms? Well, in a recent Gartner survey, 61 percent of executives cited technology as a source of competitive advantage. These supply chain leaders found emerging technologies as critical investment areas, with 20 percent investing in robotics. Also, in the next three to five years, there will be a leap in the adoption of digital supply chain technologies, as well as technologies for improved human decision-making. By 2026, 75 percent of large enterprises will have embraced some form of intralogistics intelligent robots in their warehouse operations. Not just that – through 2025, 25 percent of supply chain decisions will be made across smart edge ecosystems.
If we could say it all in one line: as we move forward, supply chains –especially order processing areas- will get automated and intelligent beyond imagination.
And why not? After all, when tools like automated order processing and automated order entry enter the supply chain cycle, suddenly, many challenges of manual systems are thrown out of the window. Just by applying the right set of automation to an order processing system, a company can achieve so much with one stroke:
- Reduce manual errors
- Fasten order fulfillment
- Track orders and delays in real-time
- Arrest problems and mistakes in a proactive way
- Get a single-pane view of the order movement from anywhere
- Reduce human fatigue
- Make the entire order processing area smarter and real-time
It’s simple to understand why. Order management is the entire cycle of receiving, tracking, and managing, right up to fulfilling customer orders. From the moment when an order is placed to the point when the customer receives the package – a lot can happen. There can be delays in order capture and order processing. There can be errors. There can be missed opportunities for revenue optimization and enhanced customer service. But with the influx of automated and streamlined order capture and processing, a company can change the entire chain from random, chaotic, and error-prone to intelligent, precise, and time-bound.
It’s happening already
All this is not part of some brochure but a salient metric in the report cards of many Avant-garde supply chain players. As seen in the PwC Digital Trends in Supply Chain Survey 2022, 20 percent (of the operations and information technology leaders, C-suite executives, and other supply chain officers surveyed) said their investments in supply chain technology have fully delivered the expected results. About one-fourth — said their companies’ tech investments led to positive business outcomes. A look at the technology used in supply chains shows intelligent data capture/OCR making 18 percent full adoption and 21 percent limited adoption. The top goals are increasing efficiency and managing or reducing costs in supply chain operations. The next set of priorities are automation of processes (21 percent), transformation of procurement processes (16 percent), improvement of after-market support and logistics (16 percent), and integrated planning (14 percent).
Jump to PwC’s 2023 Digital Trends in Supply Chain Survey, and we see that 86 percent agree their company should invest more in technology to identify, track and measure supply chain risk. Note that the main objectives with supply chain tech investments are driving growth (53 percent) and optimizing costs (51 percent).
This is a clear confirmation of technology’s impact on the order processing table. It can help companies to mitigate processing errors, fulfillment delays, and a lack of visibility. This automation, in turn, can help optimize resource use, improve customer service, and augment business reputation.
Having the right technology partner by your side can make you get ahead of others in this game of technology-driven business advantage. Like DforD.
DforD: Solutions that work for you
DforD has been helping many businesses remove sloppiness, delays, and risks from their order processing areas. It does that by:
- Removing the complexity of manual customer order entry and order processing
- Automating order entry, supply chain, and billing processes
- Streamlining operations and improving efficiency
- Automating sales orders and processing to enhance customer service
- Cutting away order chaos to better serve your customers’ needs
- Wiping away errors and decreasing returns and concessions
- Automatically extracting sales order data from all order types (fax, email, mail, or EDI)
- Helping in the removal of data entry errors
- Automating significant order processing steps
- Managing complex business rules to simplify order entry and fulfillment
- Enabling easy and real-time tracking of the entire journey of a customer order
- Executing coverage of all stages in the order processing (picking, sorting, tracking, and shipping)
- Arresting over or under-stocking
- Capturing hot trends and seasonal fluctuations
- Giving automatic checks against data in ERP
- Enabling a built-in workflow to help speed order processing
- Resolving interruptions and discrepancies
- Removing processing obstacles
- Providing visibility into the order status
- Liberating resources to serve customers better
- Empowering the organization toward absolute customer satisfaction
Conclusion
Let’s not forget that the PwC 2022 survey also reminded us that 80 percent of respondents say technology investments haven’t fully delivered the expected results. In fact, only 23 percent fully agree that they have the necessary digital skills to meet future goals. Its 2023 survey also shows that 83 percent of executives feel that their supply-chain technology investments have not fully delivered the expected results.
At the same time, companies that have been using DforD demonstrate that they can process orders with up to an 80 percent reduction in manual effort. It’s all about using technology with the proper execution flair and strategic fit. It’s about taking a specialist’s skills, support, and experience here. It’s about removing guesswork. It’s about making order processing as simple and fast as a straw. To learn more, talk to our experts.
