The Top 5 Order Management Challenges Facing SMEs

When your company is facing challenges with order management, identifying where the pitfalls are can be an even bigger challenge in itself.

Efficient order management processes are essential for meeting increasingly demanding customer needs. The Motorola Future of Warehousing* predicted that in 2018, 66% of retailers would make significant investment in warehouse and inventory management. 

This is the time to keep up. It’s the time to review your systems and assess what challenges you are facing. You should be equipped to identify and tackle roadblocks compromising the efficiency of your order management. 

Let’s start by taking a look at the top five order management challenges SMEs are facing today.  

1. Speeding up lead times

In today’s next day (sometimes even same day) delivery world customer expectations are soaring. The agility required to reduce lead times is a challenge. Processing, preparing and distributing stock in increasingly shorter time periods can introduce barriers when it comes to meeting customer expectations. 

2. Organising incoming orders

It can be difficult to keep a clear view of orders coming in from different sources. With most organisations transacting orders through different channels- ordering, prioritising and processing these orders can become complicated, risking lost or late orders. 

3. Implementing order management software

Implementing new technology can seem intimidating and onerous. Delaying the seemingly daunting process of aligning all your order processes to one software can stand in the way of your business streamlining their order management. Finding simpler ways to introduce software can unlock the efficiency of aligning your processes.

4. Managing a complicated supply chain

Distributing stock from multiple brands or locations can be challenging. Having no clear view of location or distribution points for all your stock, and juggling coordinating with brand partners can decelerate the efficiency of your order management.

5. Managing workforce productivity

Between order processing, packing and distribution, a huge proportion of order management is labour. Coordinating and motivating your workforce is key to efficiency in order management. The impact low labour productivity can have on your order management might be the difference between exceeding your customers’ expectations, and not. We know which you’d rather!

How do these challenges align with those faced by your company? These top 5 challenges should help you to identify roadblocks in your inventory and order management systems, allowing you to begin the journey to overcoming them. Workhorse provide an order management software which is customised to your businessJoin a free Workhorse trial to improve your sales productivity by integrating your order fulfilment processes into one, neat place.  

*https://www.skunexus.com/blog/inventory-management-statistics