Fifty widgets have just been sold through your e-commerce site. That's fantastic! Oh, wait, here comes a sales order via phone for 75. You should be happy, but the problem is the available to sell inventory count for widgets is only 100 because the e-commerce quantities are not updated in real-time. Authorizing and accepting payment from valued customers without the product to fill their order can appear untrustworthy and unreliable. You could fully fill one order and leave the other partial, or partially fill both — but either method would leave at least one customer short. You've also just realized the packages of widgets now come in sets of 7 instead of 5, and this new product information was only updated in the ERP system and not on the e-commerce site. With high-volume orders and disconnected systems, you simply can't keep up.
Can You Give Customers What They Want, When They Want It?
We live in a demanding, instant-gratification world. Customers want the exact product they order, and they want it as soon as possible. Being able to meet the timelines your customers need can make or break their buyer experience, making real-time order updates in the ERP system critical.
Consumer behavior shows that shipping timeframes are vital to customer satisfaction. If you say 50 widgets will ship in 10 days but it takes 12, satisfaction suffers. If missing deadlines becomes a habit, customer loyalty is very slim. In short, if you can't keep up with the demand of your customers, they will find another vendor who can.
Bridging the Gap Means Automation
Missing communication and automation between your e-commerce software and ERP system can be bridged manually, but that doesn't mean it should be. As more orders come in and inventory is entering and leaving the facility, the more manual processing, data entry, and time you will have to sacrifice — and all of this costs money.
Manual bridging also increases errors. Employees take data from one system and duplicate entries in another. Duplicating data leads to mistypes, missed information, and data in incorrect accounts — especially when the person pulling data from one system is not the same person entering it into the other. If your business makes decisions based on manually transferred information, you risk basing decisions on inaccurate data. For example, if someone transposes 1,000 glass windows as 100, your next inventory order is based on a false count — tying up funds in extra inventory costs and occupying valuable warehouse space.
Get It Right the First Time
Because e-commerce relies so heavily on accuracy, older data can be debilitating. Whether it's on-hand inventory, ATS stock, or shipping information, a lack of connected real-time capabilities risks serious mistakes. If your e-commerce site isn't updated when you receive new supply, customers see you as out of stock and move on. If a customer changes a ship-to address in the e-commerce system but the lack of automation means it isn't updated in the ERP system before labels are printed, the product ships to the wrong address — and customer satisfaction suffers.
Integrate, Integrate, Integrate
The solution to these costly and aggravating problems is to tightly integrate your ERP and e-commerce systems. When these two systems work together and communicate, these problems can be eliminated. As online order volume increases, automation gives you more time to fulfill orders and reduces the number of steps required to get products to customers.
Because integration allows both systems to communicate, you are no longer responsible for duplicating data manually. Man hours spent on data entry are eliminated, labor costs are reduced, and error-prone manual steps disappear. Fewer errors reaching customers means happier customers.
If You Don't Have Real-Time Data, You Aren't Competitive
Another key result of e-commerce and ERP integration is the ability for various modules to operate in real-time. Real-time functionality is critical for data accuracy. It's important to note that "real-time" is often interpreted loosely — it can mean syncing every 24 hours or every night at midnight. The most optimal integration provides real-time as defined by Carillon® ERP: up-to-the-second data. This method delivers the most relevant and precise data for customers, employees, and decision makers, with no waiting period.
Integrating your ERP system with your e-commerce allows orders to be automatically associated with the necessary records in each platform. Eliminating error-prone and costly human intervention lets you process more orders, faster, and more accurately.
To learn how Carillon® ERP can integrate with your e-commerce platform, please contact us.