Basics of Retail Process Integration

You’ve designed and produced an exciting new product, and your marketing team has generated a lot of buzz. Orders have begun to flood in, but how prepared are your operations for fulfilment, and will you be able to track, analyze, and react to sales data?

Quality products and marketing savvy will only get you so far in retail. Without a highly coordinated operational chain, your success will be short-lived. This coordination arises from business process integration, which produces a seamless experience for your personnel as well as your customers. With current and reliable information on inventory, customers, sales, deliveries, and the rest of your business processes, your staff will be ready to offer excellent customer service, and your decision makers will be able to plan for and adapt to sales trends and customer demand with pinpoint accuracy.

Different businesses use one of two contrasting approaches for integrating internal processes.  The first technique involves an in-depth analysis of each business process, all of which are then re-implemented (usually after some optimization) in a single application. This application is usually an ERP platform. The second technique keeps the organization’s existing business software in place, and instead of combining business processes in one application, connector software (often called “middleware” or an “enterprise service bus” by vendors) passes information back and forth between your separate business systems to ensure that they’re always in sync.

Both methods have their own merits and challenges, and choosing an experienced integration partner is the best way to ensure that you end up selecting the method that aligns best with your business objectives. This article, however, focuses on ERP integration using the first method. We’ll look at what happens when your business is not integrated, and discuss a few pros and cons related to integration.

Drawbacks of Unintegrated Operations

Keeping your internal business processes running separately puts severe restrictions on organization-wide operations. Here are a few examples:

• Managing processes using several separate systems requires considerable manual transcription between them. Allocating personnel to data entry is expensive and inefficient, not to mention highly prone to error.
• If your processes and departments aren’t talking to each other directly and instantly, your business will take a lot more time to react to changes of all kinds. If one of your suppliers fails to fulfill an order or a new retail trend emerges, a collection of unintegrated processes probably won’t inform you in time to avoid loss of business.
• Smooth business operations are essential for happy, loyal customers. If poor supply chain information disrupts your ability to fulfill customer orders, or your customer service department can’t forward complaints and suggestions to procurement, product development, or other relevant groups quickly enough, customers will begin to abandon your brand in droves.

Business Process Integration: Pros and Cons

It should be easy to understand now why process integration is so important for the health of your retail business. However, it is also critical that you understand the following pros and cons:

Pros:

• By delivering accurate data in real time, integrated internal processes improve your ability to analyze, plan, forecast, and act intelligently in both the short and longer term.
• You eliminate a large amount of manual entry and transcription, which are the easiest ways to introduce errors into your data.
• Automatic communication between processes is also much faster. You won’t have to wait for end-of-day or weekly reports to discover your next opportunity or avoid emerging business risks.
• Without the need for continual human intervention, your internal communications become much more cost-effective, so you’ll improve your bottom line, too.
• Fewer applications equal simpler IT operations. You’ll spend less on maintenance and support, experience less downtime, and have a happier IT department that’ll have more time to process other technology-related requests.

Cons:

• Most commercial ERP platforms will not meet the specific needs of your line of business – at least not straight out of the box. Be sure to choose an ERP solution that comes in industry-specific editions or supports industry-specific add-ons, so that your final ERP implementation conforms to the way your business operates instead of requiring your personnel to adapt to an inflexible software package.
• When it comes to ERP integration, the first few steps are the hardest. Because of the degree of complexity involved, a lot of planning and preparation goes into a successful ERP rollout. It is absolutely critical that you choose an ERP implementation partner that possesses a high degree of technical competence, yes, but is also intimately familiar with the needs of your industry. An implementation partner that has successfully deployed an ERP platform for an organization very much like your own will act more efficiently and encounter fewer unexpected challenges than one that isn’t as familiar with the way things work in your industry.
• Since integration means that each business process will be constantly talking to several others, many types of errors in one area can have serious effects on the entire ERP system. It pays to take extra care during the initial planning phases, double- and triple-checking to make sure everything is the way it should be. Once again, the right ERP partner can spell the difference between triumph and trouble.

There is little doubt that using an ERP platform to integrate and optimize internal business processes is highly valuable. While the process isn’t without its risks, a few simple precautions can help you bring your integration plans to fruition quickly and painlessly, allowing your business to grow and flourish.

For guidance on the best ERP-enabled process integration technique for your business, please contact Visionet Systems today to schedule your complimentary consulting session.

Creating an Effective Map of the Customer Journey

Sustainable retail success requires a thorough understanding of the journey that your customers embark on, from initial interest and product prospecting to post-sale support, and every step along the way. Creating a customer journey map allows you to understand both the big picture as well as the minutiae of your entire sales process, while keeping the focus on your customers and their habits, wants, and emotional state. This helps decision makers walk a mile in their customers' shoes, which makes it easier for them to scrutinize and fine-tune every detail across each phase of the journey.

A carefully mapped customer journey helps retailers improve process efficiency and create a memorable shopping experience that increases loyalty by resonating with customers on an emotional level. A detailed map will ensure that you offer the right products and effective customer service at every stage, and simplify omni-channel marketing activities. If you want to ensure that your customer journey map is accurate and complete, this requires data collection and analysis from every department and business process. An ERP system is a powerful and efficient tool for performing this collection and analysis, and is also capable of making intelligent decisions based on what it has learned without requiring human intervention.

This article discusses why you should create a customer journey map, how using ERP technology to map the customer journey can be beneficial for retailers, and a few best practices to help you get started.

Why create a customer journey map?

Did you know that customers make contact with an average of five touchpoints before completing a purchase? Since these touchpoints typically use different channels, a basic requirement of every customer journey map is to give you a better understanding of how these channels merge into each other to create a complete, consistent, and impactful experience that resonates with your customer.

A customer journey map can enhance your customer experience by:

• Detecting potential factors that might dissuade customers from completing a purchase or lead to a negative emotional state
• Highlighting the types of information you need to enhance your decision making abilities regarding marketing and customer service
• Revealing opportunities to improve inefficient business processes

How can an ERP solution help?

Customer journey maps depend on reliable business data, so you must be able to collect high-quality data and organize it accurately. Using an ERP solution designed especially for retail businesses will automatically collect and manage a wealth of customer data for you, in addition to improving the efficiency of internal processes across your entire organization. With minimal human involvement, you can create detailed reports on customer preferences such as when and where they prefer to shop, which products tend to be purchased together, how shoppers prefer to research and pay for items, and much more. With this valuable information in hand, you will gain a clear understanding of how, when, and how frequently your customers engage with your brand before, during, and after each purchase.

Customer Journey Maps: Best Practices

Follow these best practices to create an effective customer journey map and make the best use of it:

• Adopt an ERP platform that performs real-time data collection to ensure that your map is built on information that is accurate and current.
• Use data on important touchpoints from each one of your physical and digital channels so that your map becomes a founding document for an excellent omni-channel experience. An ERP solution that has been integrated with your e-commerce platform and POS system will automatically collect real-time transaction data from your brick-and-mortar and online stores.
• Make sure that your map supports a high degree of personalization, such as emails and texts that address customers by name, and app-accessible portals that customers can configure according to their individual preferences. ERP systems simplify personalization during marketing activities by leveraging customer information gathered from past interactions via your online store, in-store POS terminals, customer support calls, and any other touchpoints tracked by the system.
• Use external methods like mystery shoppers and surveys to verify the accuracy of your map, and then use the results to make further improvements.
• Encourage employee participation during the mapping process – no matter which department they work in, your team members are the ones that work closest to each customer touchpoint. They have an intimate understanding of how customer-facing processes really work, making their feedback indispensable.
• Presenting customers with a consistent brand experience across all channels inspires confidence and trust. Your customer journey map can help you align each touchpoint with your overall brand image, and an ERP system can help you enforce this consistency by centrally managing all relevant marketing and merchandising activities.

Conclusion

Designing an engaging customer journey is like planning an exciting cross-country trip – you need an accurate map that aligns with the participants’ habits and tastes. An ERP solution can simplify the data collection and analysis required for the creation of a complete customer journey map. Avoid concentrating too much on any single part of the journey at the expense of others, and if you need a little direction, don’t hesitate to ask for help from external consultants or technology vendors.

Will your current operational setup provide the information you need to accurately map your customer journey? Please contact Visionet Systems for more information on ERP-enabled retail data management.

Maximizing Operational Visibility Using ERP Technology

In just a few decades, the primary information challenge for decision makers in retail businesses has changed completely. Instead of a lack of accurate business information, retailers find themselves inundated with too much raw, unstructured data that is difficult to decipher unaided. Thankfully, ERP technologies have become widely available and increasingly affordable, giving businesses of all sizes the ability to collect, analyze, and interpret large volumes of business data and take decisive action.

ERP platforms coordinate the efforts of each department and business process to ensure that they work together efficiently and effectively across the supply chain and during each phase of the customer journey. By choosing an ERP system that offers functionality for your specific industry, you can help your staff achieve better results in fewer steps and maintain focus on fulfilling orders and delivering value.

This article describes the ways that ERP systems enhance five processes that are essential to retail business:

Financial Management

Real-time information from ERP platforms makes your business more agile. Your organization’s budgeting and cash flow management becomes more accurate and easier to control. You’ll be able to take advantage of early payment discounts on vendor invoices, automatic payment tracking, and much more.

Store Operations

More and more retailers are adopting cloud-based ERP systems, which offer simple centralization across retail locations and keep organization-wide operations synchronized at all times. ERP solutionsdesigned for retail businesses also offer easy integration with POS systems, so that you can track each transaction in real time. These enhancements enable faster, more accurate decision making.

Retail business should choose ERP platforms that offer:

• In-depth customer profiles that track order history across all channels
• Analytics and BI reports that let you view sales by hour, location, store department, cashier, etc.
• Stock levels and other important inventory and replenishment metrics
• Employee time registration

Personnel Management

The positive impact of an ERP-enhanced understanding of operations can be seen in the way retailers schedule their workforce. With an ERP solution that quickly identifies peak hours for in-store traffic and customer communication, you can easily schedule personnel to accommodate temporary demand spikes. ERP platforms also assist organizations in setting up role-based permissions and creating a personalized and intuitive employee experience.

Customer Resource Management and Engagement

Not only should you maintain accurate customer records across all points of interaction to help your company deliver a superior customer experience, but you should also use these records to gain a better overall understanding of who your customers really are. ERP platforms compile buyer profiles that track each transaction, social network interaction, and much more, and help retailers redesign their product offering, supply chain, and marketing strategies to closely match the preferences of their customers.

E-Commerce and M-Commerce

In the past, successful retail brands began offering their customers more ways to shop, like mail order, telephone shopping, and then online stores and mobile apps. Today, retail leaders understand that just offering more channels isn’t enough – each channel must also offer a consistent experience and support cross-channel fulfilment (like “pay and pick up”, or “return anywhere”). Using an ERP platform facilitates the implementation of order fulfilment across channels and simplifies the centralized management of product information, pricing, merchandizing, marketing, and performance analysis for more consistent operations. Implementing an ERP system will help you quickly identify how well each channel is performing, and why.

Businesses that use ERP systems develop a deeper understanding of their retail channels and business processes, which contributes to more accurate forecasting and more responsive decision making. To discover how ERP solutions can enhance your retail operations, please contact Visionet Systems.

Retail Apocalypse Explained: Retailers Have Not Actually Embraced Digital Transformation

“Digital transformation” has been on the lips of nearly every CEO at some point in the last ten years, and even more frequently in the last five. According to Forrester, 68% of global business leaders list digital transformation as a top priority for their business. Only 3% of retailers have actually completed a digital transformation project, according to a study by Oxford Economics.

Digital transformation is becoming a higher priority for three big reasons. One, the consumerization of technology has changed the game for how technology is developed and deployed. When Facebook or Twitter rolls out a new user experience every month or every quarter, consumers expect the same thing from how they interact with retailers.

Two, the speed of technology change has been unrelenting. Consumers carry around more technology in their pockets than most retail stores had to ring sales not that long ago – and those devices get more powerful every year. For an industry that hates change, especially when “cheaper/better/faster” is the ante to stay in the game rather than something that delivers direct top- or bottom-line benefits, then it’s hard to marshal the commitment to keep up. It’s especially difficult in an industry famous for its very tight profit margins.

Three, rising consumer expectations have far outstripped retailers’ ability to keep up. When consumers expect you to engage with them on Facebook – except, wait, Facebook is passé. Now it’s all about Instagram, except that Snapchat is cooler. Until it isn’t, and we’re back to Instagram… For retailers who want their tech-enabled experiences to be “perfect” as soon as they hit the market, this whipsaw level of change – over a period of months instead of years – is exhausting. Retailers don’t want to let go of “perfect” – they find it incredibly difficult to be vulnerable with consumers in that way. But trying to keep up with how fast consumers move and also deliver a perfect customer experience are simply incompatible.

Retail’s not alone. Every business in every industry is getting hit with these demands in one form or another. The response of all businesses has been to embrace the idea of “digital transformation”. Wikipedia breaks this down in a pretty simple way: innovative change that is beyond enhancing or supporting traditional methods of doing business (the transformation part), and the application of digital technologies to achieve innovative change.

However, there has been a lot of resistance to fully embracing digital transformation in retail. There are a lot of reasons for this.

The most basic one comes back to the rise of eCommerce. For retail, eCommerce was the first digital technology that kicked off the need for digital transformation. And retailers started out in eCommerce by doing it all wrong. They weren’t sure if it was a fad or going to be some lasting thing, so most retailers who started down the road of adopting eCommerce did so far outside the normal processes of the enterprise. Some retailers, like Walmart, even went so far as to establish an eCommerce group in a completely separate part of the country from their corporate headquarters. For most retailers, eCommerce was set up so far outside the enterprise that most of their struggle through the ‘00s and continuing through today has been about trying to bring their “digital stores” back inside the regular part of the business.

Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/nikkibaird/2018/03/12/retail-apocalypse-explained-retailers-have-not-actually-embraced-digital-transformation/#7312393d2806

The Forrester Wave™: Microsoft Dynamics 365 Services, Q4 2017

Why Read This Report

Buyers of Microsoft Dynamics 365 are increasingly enterprises. Our 30-criteria evaluation of Microsoft Dynamics 365 service providers identified the 13 most significant ones — Avanade, DXC Technology, HCL Technologies, Hitachi Solutions, IBM, Infosys, KPMG, Larsen & Toubro Infotech (LTI), PwC, Sonata Software, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Tech Mahindra, and Wipro — and researched, analyzed, and scored them. This report shows how each provider measures up and helps application development and delivery (AD&D) professionals make the right choice.

For more information please visit:
https://assets.kpmg.com/content/dam/kpmg/be/pdf/2018/02/RES129491.pdf

5 Tips for Worry-Free ERP Implementation

Once it becomes clear that your business requires an ERP solution to make its next leap forward, your real implementation challenges begin. You need a thorough plan to ensure that the implementation phase is as short and pain-free as possible – a plan that considers all current and future business objectives that the ERP system needs to address, as well as any challenges that apply specifically to your line of work. ERP implementation is a complex process, and missteps are easy to make, unless your plan is airtight.

Here are 5 best practices that will make your life easier during this challenging process. Keep them in mind, and you’ll be enjoying the benefits of ERP technology in no time.

1. Understand ERP benefits for specific business processes to secure executive buy-in. While the myriad benefits of ERP solutions might be obvious to you, other decision makers and stakeholders in your organization might require some convincing. Getting decision makers on board is essential, since 46% of CIOs surveyed claimed that the business case for ERP implementation was “not compelling” enough. Here’s one powerful way to help your ERP implementation project gain traction: make a list of specific challenges your organization is currently facing, or business processes that aren’t as efficient as they should be, and then match these opportunities for improvement with the particular changes that an ERP system will make to address each one. This will help you secure buy-in from your company’s executives by demonstrating real, measurable value.


2. Select an ERP solution that addresses your industry needs.
   Choosing the right ERP system helps improve ROI, which greatly improves the odds of securing executive buy-in for such a major change. That’s why you should determine whether your business can benefit from industry-specific ERP solutions. ERP platforms that are more closely aligned with your business processes take less time to implement because they require less customization. The more comprehensive your implementation plan is, the easier it will be to choose the right ERP solution. Your final ERP implementation will also be better-equipped to perform tasks the way they are expected to be done in your industry.


3. Plan for every contingency.
   As mentioned above, ERP implementation tends to be complex, and extenuating circumstances can arise. Having a contingency plan for each possible challenge can save you a great deal of time, effort, and money. From data cleansing and migration to user acceptance and regulatory compliance, it helps to factor in all possible sources of risk and devise strategies for mitigation. Your data will remain accessible, and your workforce will continue to perform close to peak productivity during the transition.


4. Consider the need for workforce reallocation.
   Since ERP systems improve operational efficiency, it is natural for job responsibilities to change somewhat. During the implementation phase, workers that have prior experience with technology rollouts of this kind can be valuable assets, and might be better-suited than their coworkers as liaisons with your ERP implementation partner. After the implementation is complete, workers that used to perform a single manual task might find themselves verifying the results of several ERP-automated processes. Workers that were once stuck with boring, repetitive duties often find their time freed up for more creative or customer-oriented responsibilities that require a human touch that ERP systems can’t provide.


5. Invest in training and change management.
   According to 82% of CIO respondents, one of the biggest barriers to implementation is the resistance to change. Some team members are bound to hesitate when asked to start using a new ERP system, and might also be unaccustomed to the degree of tracking and visibility that ERP solutions provide. Keeping employees engaged and soliciting their feedback is critical for quick and painless user adoption. To dispel feelings of anxiety, it helps to generate excitement around the shift by highlighting the positives associated with ERP systems, such as automation of repetitive processes or better data availability.

Your employees will also require initial and ongoing training and support to ensure that all personnel are comfortable with the system and prepared to get the most out of using it. Your ERP implementation partner is an indispensable resource in this regard that can help your employees quickly acclimate to the new ERP platform. Use regularly scheduled meetings with your implementation partner to quickly address training-related challenges, some of which might indicate a gap between the ERP system’s capabilities and user expectations.

Conclusion

Successful ERP implementation relies on understanding your needs and setting expectations, choosing the right solution, thoroughly planning for contingencies, appropriately allocating resources, and preparing your workforce for the road ahead. By paying attention to these five essential aspects, your ERP solution will take less time and investment to roll out, will offer functionality that works better for your business, and will quickly gain support from all levels in your organization.

To discover whether implementing an ERP solution is the right choice for your business, please contact Visionet Systems for your free consultation.

5 ERP Trends in the Retail Industry in 2018

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software has helped numerous businesses across multiple industries integrate their day-to-day operations and streamline business management processes. The retail industry is one of the largest users of ERP software globally. As ERP software vendors constantly work to create less complex, more powerful and more affordable ERP solutions for the retail industry, we’re set to see changes in the ERP software market.

What should we expect? Here are our top five trends to watch for in the retail industry in 2018.

Increased Adoption of Cloud-Based ERP Systems

According to a G2 Crowd – ERP software products review, more and more ERP software vendors are shifting their focus towards cloud-based ERP offerings. From Oracle Cloud to SAP S4HANA and Microsoft Dynamics 365, there is no doubt that cloud ERP systems are gaining wider acceptance across the retail industry. Experts estimate that the cloud ERP software market will be worth around $26.5 billion by 2020, indicating an increasing trend in adoption.

While most retailers have over the years been comfortable with on premise ERP software deployments, the recent growth in the adoption of cloud ERP solutions across almost every business sector today, has resulted in increased adoption across the thriving retail industry. Cloud ERP systems offer the benefits that retailers are looking for including better scalability, enhanced security and increased support.

Growth in the Small Business and Niche Industries

In 2018 and beyond, ERP is going to be about small and mid-sized businesses, as well as niche industries. For too long, ERP software vendors have been focusing on large companies. The software landscape is changing fast with more small and mid-sized businesses shifting to ERP SaaS solutions to ease deployment.

ERP software vendors are incorporating more functions and capabilities that they previously overlooked to meet the needs of small businesses and niche industries like the food and pharmaceutical industries. With increased usability, ERP solutions are now focusing on the growing niche market which is, in turn, driving growth in the segment.

Less Focus on Legacy ERP Systems

Unfortunately, there are still many retail businesses that are using legacy ERP systems that have been in use for many years. As more ERP providers shift to cloud ERP solutions, it’s expected that more vendors will put less focus on legacy ERP systems. In fact, most of them are no longer offering long-term support or introducing new functions to these dated systems.

Due to this growing trend, more retail businesses are opting for Omni channel ERP systems that allow them to see the connections across the different aspects of retail business management. Through such systems, retailers are able to provide their customers with a more streamlined purchase process and ensure a unified communication process.

The Push for Mobile ERP is Getting Stronger

As more employees work outside the office, there is an increasing need to be able to access information in real-time, easily collaborate with colleagues and communicate with customers on the go. In 2018 and beyond, retailers are expected to push vendors for more improved mobile ERP systems that give their employees the opportunity to access critical data like billing details, shipping details and reports on their cell phones or tablets.

Conclusion

ERP software is a key component of any successful retail business. Understanding these trends will help your business adapt to the new changes in the ERP software market. When it comes to implementing an ERP strategy, it’s important to analyze the key functionalities that your business will need in an ERP solution and plan how you can meet your business objectives using the features provided.
Source: https://www.techworm.net/2018/02/5-erp-trends-retail-industry-2018.html