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Suppliers have to deal with many customers, who all differ in the way they wish to interact. Automating the management of multi-format transactions benefits all the parties involved in a supply chain and is only possible with intelligent systems in place. This, and the need to continually adapt and improve customer automation management, needs to be built on a strong foundation of supporting tools and services. This report looks at these challenges and how they can be overcome. It should be of interest to those stakeholders within suppliers that stand to benefit from improved automation, including: supply-chain managers; the customer services team; financial executives; and IT operations, which deploy the applications to support the supply chain.
Bob Tarzey Quocirca Ltd Tel : +44 7900 275517 Email: bob.tarzey@Quocirca.com
Bob Brown Quocirca Ltd Tel: +44 7940 526801 Email: bob.brown@quocirca.com
Like so much in modern life, the global supply chain that ensures goods and supplies are where we need them when we want them is taken for granted. The truth is that it is one of the most sophisticated and complicated things man has created, comprising a complex flow of materials and transactions between a bewildering array of organisations. The supply chain involves millions of transactions and sub-transactions on a daily basis that rely on communication between many different systems adhering to many different standards. Despite numerous attempts, in particular those to produce a set of standards around EDI (electronic data interchange), the global supply chain has proved impossible to standardise. One of the barriers to standardisation is that the customers who order and receive goods shops, restaurants, hospitals and so on - cannot be forced or even expected to change the way they transact. Therefore, the supply-chain systems must be adaptable and able to understand the quirks of individual customers and recognise that the details may change from one transaction to the next. Putting in place systems that can automate non-standard, but commonly occurring, events in the supply chain will improve efficiency and the level of service provided to customers. A customer automation management system must also be able to recognise exceptions and accelerate their management, all the while updating its business rules engine for future reference. The benefits that can be won through customer automation management do not stop with increased automation of order receipt alone. There are also gaps that can be closed during order fulfilment and cash collection. From the customers point of view, this reduces delivery times, whilst for the supplier it means getting paid faster and improving key metrics, such as days-sales-outstanding (DSO). The benefits of customer automation management are not just about reducing costs, but also reduced risk and increased value; for example, improved compliance reporting and customer service representatives being free to focus on value-added activities. Maximising the benefits requires co-ordination across a suppliers organisation; ownership of the task needs to be taken, perhaps at board level. It may be time for a chief automation officer.
Standardising the supply chain has proved impossible Customers cannot be forced to change how they transact Customer automation management improves levels of service Incremental improvements at all stages make a big difference Automation needs coordinating across an organisation for maximum benefit
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Order fulfilment
The accumulated knowledge about customers and their quirks and preferences is also essential for streamlining the efficient fulfilment of orders. A specific goal here is to capture as much of the information staff members hold in their heads about the customer automation management system as possible and establish one version of the truth. This includes information about special terms agreed by sales staff and the quirky behaviour of certain customers, which needs to be available to all operators and not just one, who may leave or go sick at any time; you dont know what you dont know. In one real world example a customer consistently ordered paper supplies by number of sheets instead of the usual boxes. If such knowledge is only known to one or two individuals, the
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Changes can be made in the system for all customers; individuals or groups of customers. If the roads in a given region are affected by bad weather for a period of time, alternative delivery plans can be set up and the affected customers informed of contingency plans as their orders are processed. If there is an agreed offer across all branches of a certain retailer, it can be ensured this is honoured for the agreed period for all their orders, but not for other customers. If an order comes in with an unknown stock keeping unit (SKU) code, the customer automation management system can detect this and can raise an alert. It may be that the order needs manual processing to rectify a mistake or it may be that customer wants a new product for which the SKU code is yet to be added to the master database. Then, there is knowledge about how and when goods should be transported. There may be days of the week when deliveries cannot be accepted and customer shipments should be delayed or speeded-up. Ensuring such information gets to the right people requires integration of logistics and transport companies and the automated creation of despatch notes with all the information drivers needed to get orders to the right place as quickly as possible. Beyond timely and accurate fulfilment, knowledge can be fed back to CSRs to help them make good use of the time that has been freed up from doing backend processing. For example, it may be that a supermarket has been regularly ordering a given product for years, but has never been made aware of a luxury version that will appeal to better-off consumers and offer higher margins. The CSR can be prompted to pursue such opportunities and may, at last, have the time to do so; a bonus for success may be in the offing.
Getting paid
From the suppliers point of view, the aim must be to start the cash clock ticking as early as possible. The customer automation management process should, so far, have helped ensure this by improving the accuracy of order entry, speed of fulfilment and improved customer satisfaction. However, proof of delivery (POD) is usually necessary before an invoice can be raised. This is an area where days can be shaved from the overall OTC process. It is not unknown for POD notes to sit in a driver s cab for weeks on end
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TABLE 1: The advantages of using an on-demand service for customer automation management
Economies of scale: the platform is shared by many customers instead of each having to invest in its own. The service supplier has the resources to invest in best-in-class deployment platforms, which many of its customers could not afford alone. Rather than upfront investment in an expensive application roll out, the cost can come out of operating expenditure (OPEX) with pay-per-unit of use; for example, per transaction. This is scalable as the cost of use only rises in line with the increase in the number of sales. Shared centralised information: certain data is common across customers; for example, weather and travel news (which can impact transportation). Such data can be kept up to date by the service provider. Many suppliers will share the same transport and logistics partners. The customer automation management system can manage these many-to-many relationships, with both supplier and partners having to interface with fewer systems.
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About OmPrompt
OmPrompt is the leader in customer automation management. OmPrompt helps large companies with complex supply chains bridge gaps by eliminating the need for human workarounds when transactional systems cant cope with diverse operational requirements from customers. OmPrompts award-winning platform enables companies across a wide range of industries - including FMCG, healthcare and logistics to gain a competitive edge through superior customer service provided by resources freed from back-office functions. OmPrompts managed service offers multi-format support, intelligent business rules, master data validation and accelerated exception management to deliver the transactional excellence enjoyed by global brands worldwide. OmPrompt processes transactions in 33 countries and 6 continents, and is headquartered in Oxfordshire, UK. To learn more about customer automation management, visit www.omprompt.com.
REPORT NOTE: This report has been written independently by Quocirca Ltd to provide an overview of the issues facing organisations seeking to maximise the effectiveness of todays dynamic workforce. The report draws on Quocircas extensive knowledge of the technology and business arenas, and provides advice on the approach that organisations should take to create a more effective and efficient environment for future growth.
About Quocirca
Quocirca is a primary research and analysis company specialising in the business impact of information technology and communications (ITC). With worldwide, native language reach, Quocirca provides in-depth insights into the views of buyers and influencers in small, mid-sized and large organisations. Its analyst team is made up of real-world practitioners with first-hand experience of ITC delivery, who continuously research and track the industry and its real usage in the markets. Through researching perceptions, Quocirca uncovers the real hurdles to technology adoption the personal and political aspects of an organisations environment and the pressures of the need for demonstrable business value in any implementation. This capability to uncover and report back on the end-user perceptions in the market enables Quocirca to provide advice on the realities of technology adoption, not the promises.
Quocirca research is always pragmatic, business-orientated and conducted in the context of the bigger picture. ITC has the ability to transform businesses and the processes that drive them, but often fails to do s o. Quocircas mission is to help organisations improve their success rate in process enablement through better levels of understanding and the adoption of the correct technologies at the correct time. Quocirca has a pro-active primary research programme, regularly surveying users, purchasers and resellers of ITC products and services on emerging, evolving and maturing technologies. Over time, Quocirca has built a picture of long-term investment trends, providing invaluable information for the whole of the ITC community. Quocirca works with global and local providers of ITC products and services to help them deliver on the promise that ITC holds for business. Quocircas clients include Oracle, IBM, CA, O2, T -Mobile, HP, Xerox, Ricoh and Symantec, along with other large and mid-sized vendors, service providers and more specialist firms. Details of Quocircas work and the services it offers can be found at http://www.quocirca.com Disclaimer: This report has been written independently by Quocirca Ltd. During the preparation of this report, Quocirca may have used a number of sources for the information and views provided. Although Quocirca has attempted, wherever possible, to validate the information received from each vendor, Quocirca cannot be held responsible for any errors in information received in this manner. Although Quocirca has taken what steps it can to ensure that the information provided in this report is true and reflects real market conditions, Quocirca cannot take any responsibility for the ultimate reliability of the details presented. Therefore, Quocirca expressly disclaims all warranties and claims as to the validity of the data presented here, including any and all consequential losses incurred by any organisation or individual taking any action based on such data and advice. All brand and product names are recognised and acknowledged as trademarks or service marks of their respective holders.