Deep Thoughts with Richard Schoen

If your company spends considerable man-hours tracking orders between the time a product quote is requested and the actual product is shipped, RJS can assist you in streamlining your fulfillment process. This pain point is widespread in industries where products or services are customized – manufacturing for example. In some cases the order or quote request can get lost before it actually gets entered into the order entry system.
Let’s first look at a fairly common and flawed process and then explore a solution using WebForms, which web-enables order-to-fulfillment, eliminates redundant data entry and electronically routes between sales, engineering, accounting, order processing and shipping departments.

The current process may go something like this:

- An order is received by email, phone or fax for your product or service.

- In some instances, the product is mass-produced and can just be grabbed from the shelf and shipped. This particular order however, requires a quote for product customization.

- Because of this, the quote request needs to be routed from sales to the development or engineering team for a review to make sure they can fulfill the customer’s special order.

- Once engineering has determined they can configure or build the product to specifications, the accounting team needs to estimate the product cost, margins needed and the final pricing for the product.

- The order can finally get entered into the order entry system for processing, shipping and billing.

Because these steps are likely done via paper documents being passed around in a manila folder or a steady stream of “reply all” emails, the chance of errors or the quote request getting lost in translation is very high. Problems are often found in customer support prior to shipping or even worse, by the customers themselves. Not only are these mistakes completely avoidable, but companies can lose considerable profits and damage brand equity when employing imperfect order-to-fulfillment processes. Unfortunately, this scenario may sound all-too-familiar. Don’t worry, we can help!

A new streamlined process using WebForms might look like this:

- Customer goes to your website and fills out a new order or quote request, or simply calls a salesperson who takes their order.

- In either case, the order or quote information is immediately captured to a web-based form where it can be monitored and tracked until the order is completed.

- Once captured, the order form is electronically routed to various departments where they add their information to the all-encompassing form.

- Once it clears these steps, the quote or order can be entered or captured automatically into the order processing system and fulfilled.

By capturing the quote information at the beginning of the process and tracking it until the time the order is entered and shipped, we have averted the dreaded “you screwed up my order” call and have delivered the product correct to specifications and on time.

If you’re looking to improve your order-to-fulfillment process and want keep your customers happy, contact RJS to learn more about our WebForms product and how you can streamline your customer and vendor business processes.

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