Contact Center Rfp: Fill & Download for Free

The answer to this question will vary dramatically depending on the nature of a business.Single sales channel – brick and mortar only or ecommerce onlyMultiple sales channels:Ecommerce site + marketplacesEcommerce + brick & mortar StoresSingle warehouse vs multiple warehouses or drop shippersYou can see that there are many dimensions of complexity for an Enterprise Order and Inventory Platform.To simplify things a bit, the most important role of order management software is to, you guessed it, manage orders.Customers receive the correct items within the expected time frameThey can return or exchange itemsCustomer contact centers can assist customers after the saleOf course, there’s a lot of activity behind the scenes to make it all happen. An order management system does a lot of the work for you. Following are just a handful of important features:Distributed Order ManagementPayments: Payment processing, fraud detection, address verificationOrder Management: Order routing and optimization, order status workflow and updates, delivery timing estimates, split shipments and partial shipmentsInventory ManagementSingle, real-time visibility of all inventory across all stores, warehouses and fulfillment centersMulti-location inventory allocation, optimization, drop-ship integrationFulfillmentBulk print orders, pick lists, packing slips and shipping labelsCustomer ServiceSingle view of orders and order history across the enterpriseOrder status lookup (customers and contact centers)How does this all happen? The foundation is the ability to create a single, real-time view of all inventory, orders, customers, products and promotions across all sales channels and fulfillment centers. Integration.I’ve just scratched the surface. This Order Management System RFP Template lists dozens of features, some of which apply to even the most straight-forward operations, and others that are relevant for retailers with multiple channels, multiple fulfillment centers, or both.

There are different “best” choices for different businesses, depending on their requirements, volume, fulfillment and supply chain complexity. Pulse Commerce is a great choice for mid-market merchants facing stiff competition from larger retailers.Pulse Commerce’s cloud-based Enterprise Order Management and Inventory Platform helps mid-market merchants delight their customers while streamlining operations and optimizing inventory. Since I’m the CEO of Pulse Commerce, my answer may be just a little biased.If you’re a growing merchant, and you’re considering adding an order management system to your commerce platform, then you need a real-time view of enterprise-wide orders, inventory, customers, products & promotions. The modern Order Management System (OMS) shares this vital information back and forth in real time with:Fulfillment centersEcommerce website and marketplacesPoint of Sale systemsProduct information Management (PIM)Business Intelligence (BI)A modern platform helps mid-market merchants compete with the world’s largest retailers:Turn orders around faster and more accurately, with intelligent routing that fulfills orders from the warehouse with the highest inventory or the one closest to the customer.Reduce stockouts by optimizing fulfillment and by even shipping from a store when the warehouse is out of stock.Reduce shipping costs with intelligent order routing; fulfilling orders from the warehouse closest to the delivery addressDelight customers with real-time order status updates and modern features like click & collect and buy online, return to storeEmpower Contact Centers with the ability to gain instant access to customers, orders and inventory, so they can modify orders or even tell a customer the nearest store with a particular item in stock.What kind of platform is best for you?The more complex your business, the more Order & Inventory Platform will help you. If you have one ecommerce website, and a single drop-ship fulfillment center, this may be overkill.If you have multiple fulfillment centers, or multiple sales channels, or both, then a system like Pulse Commerce’s makes sense.Some resources that may help you determine what approach is best for you include:Order Management System RFP Template to identify all the potential features you may need5 Hidden Costs When Buying an Order Management System to see some of the hidden gotcha’s you may miss if buying an OMS for the first timeWhich OMS is best for me? Saas, Homegrown, or Premise-Based? will help you decide which makes the most sense for you, building or buying.

The short answer is, yes. Pulse Commerce is a cloud-based Order & Inventory Management platform with a built-in CRM. Since I’m the CEO of Pulse Commerce, my answer may be just a little biased.Some readers may wonder why you’re asking for that combination of services. Why are Order Management, Inventory Management, and CRM so deeply Connected? The reason is that each needs real-time information from the others to function well. For example:Order management – to accept an online order, your ecommerce system and order management system need to know if the item is in stock – they need -time inventory information to avoid selling items you don’t have.Inventory Management – Your company is processing an order:From which fulfillment center should we ship?The one with the highest inventory?The one closest to the customer?Customer Support – A customer calls the contact center and wants to modify an order.Can the CSR look up the order in the CRM?Can the CSR modify the order?Can the CSR direct the customer to a nearby store that has the item in stock?A basic order management system will route the order to the warehouse, along with shipping labels and packing slips, but it doesn’t have the real-time inventory information needed to ensure the item is in stock before selling.A basic inventory management system will count widgets at a given location as they come and go, but it won’t keep track of the big picture across warehouses. And it won’t keep your sales channels, including ecommerce sites, up to date with real-time stock information.A basic CRM system won’t have any connection to either system. So CSRS are constantly looking up information in multiple systems to handle requests.Why are these three systems so closely linked? They must work together to delight your customers and streamline your operations.Enter the Modern Order & Inventory Management Platform with a Built-in CRM. In order to manage these everyday situations I just described, your commerce platform needs a real-time view of enterprise-wide orders, inventory, customers, products & promotions. The modern Order Management System (OMS) shares this vital information back and forth in real time with:Fulfillment CentersEcommerce Website and MarketplacesPoint of Sale SystemsProduct information ManagementBusiness IntelligenceA modern platform helps mid-market merchants compete with the world’s largest retailers:Turn orders around faster and more accurately, with intelligent routing that fulfills orders from the warehouse with the highest inventory or the one closest to the customer.Reduce stockouts by optimizing fulfillment and by even shipping from a store when the warehouse is out of stock.Reduce shipping costs with intelligent order routing; fulfilling orders from the warehouse closest to the delivery addressDelight customers with real-time order status updates and modern features like click & collect and buy online, return to storeEmpower Contact Centers with the ability to gain instant access to customers, orders and inventory, so they can modify orders or even tell a customer the nearest store with a particular item in stock.Without a built-in CRM, contact center reps would have to log into the order management platform and the inventory platform to get to the bottom of their requests. And then, to track the customer, they’d have to log into a 3rd platform!What kind of platform is best for you?The more complex your business, the more a combined Order & Inventory Platform + CRM will help you. If you have one ecommerce website, and a single drop-ship fulfillment center, this may be overkill.If you have multiple fulfillment centers, or multiple sales channels, or both, then a system like Pulse Commerce’s makes sense.Some resources that may help you determine what approach is best for you include:Order Management System RFP Template to identify all the potential features you may need.5 Hidden Costs When Buying an Order Management System to see some of the hidden gotcha’s you may miss if buying an OMS for the first time.Which OMS is best for me? Saas, Homegrown, or Premise-Based? will help you decide which makes the most sense for you, building or buying.