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Small Business Tips - master the order entry to shipment process

In the second part of Vision33’s special three-part webinar series, Partner Managers Sarah Humphries and Duncan Wyeth discussed simple, affordable solutions that make the order entry to shipment process easier and more efficient.

Many organizations feel the need to compete with the Amazons of the world. Their days involve juggling increased order volume, corralling orders from multiple channels, trying to get orders out the door quickly, keeping customers happy, and – of course – attempting to make a profit.

This is difficult if you use manual processes. Manual data entry, especially with sales orders, eats up valuable time and leads to expensive mistakes.

Here are some solutions that save time and money and improve the order entry to shipment process.

Simplify, Streamline, and Automate With iDocuments

Imagine how much time you could save if you didn’t have to key in sales orders. It’s possible with iDocuments, a browser-based solution that extends the reach of your enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution and eliminates tedious tasks. iDocuments’ sales order feature allows customers to email purchase orders, which are then processed automatically. iDocuments also handles returns, so you can capture necessary information from your customer, issue a return note, and have the merchandise shipped back to your warehouse.

iDocuments also eliminates paper, so there’s no need to scramble for the correct document when fielding customer inquiries. iDocuments automatically processes incoming transactions, stores the original documentation, and instantly retrieves the information you need. With iDocuments, you can save time and provide excellent customer service.

Help Your Customers Help Themselves With Portals

Do your customers inundate you with calls and emails? What if you could offer self-service? With Vision33’s customer portal, you can. The web-based portal, which integrates with SAP Business One, makes it easy for your customers to do business with you. You can share information, like order history and scheduled deliveries, in real-time. Customers can place sales orders and quotes online, with the information flowing automatically into SAP Business One, and make payments on outstanding AR invoices with no processing on your end. They’ll also appreciate the simple navigation.

Vision33’s B2B marketplace portal offers a shopping cart look and feel. This portal gives customers a streamlined buying experience and self-service access to the products and account information they need. With the B2B portal, customers can manage multiple storefronts and direct visitors to the products they want to see.

Get Integrated With Saltbox

The order entry to shipment process is especially difficult if you use multiple applications, like eCommerce, shipping solutions, and warehouse management tools – but it’s easy with Saltbox. The Saltbox Platform is Vision33’s cloud-based, integration-platform-as-a-service (iPaaS) solution that can connect almost anything.

For streamlining the order to entry to shipment process, Saltbox’s pre-built connections to various eCommerce platforms reduce the need for development resources and integrate quickly. By connecting, for example, your web store and ERP solution, you’re automating manual import/export tasks. You can transfer data between mission-critical applications at lightning speed. An easy-to-use workflow designer empowers you to create customized workflows and see information in real-time on a dashboard. Most importantly, Saltbox eliminates human error and provides one source of the truth.

Trust an Industry-Leading, Full-Service EDI Solution

If your organization wants to do business with big-box retailers or online marketplaces, you may need to use electronic data interchange (EDI). Purchase orders, invoices, and advanced ship notices can be transmitted via EDI – versus on paper – in a standardized format.

EDI can be tricky, as each retailer specifies its own business and EDI procedures. Vision33 works with the EDI experts at SPS Commerce to help our customers automate time-intensive EDI processes. In fact, we built an integration between SPS Commerce and SAP Business One. SPS Commerce offers the technologies, tools, people, and expertise for EDI, allowing us to deliver an industry-leading, full-service EDI solution.

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These solutions can kickstart your business’s digital transformation, which is the process of embracing new, or modifying existing, technology to make your business run better. Digital transformation occurs one small step at a time but has a big impact on your business, making it more agile and adaptable. Technology also streamlines and automates your core processes to save time and money.

To see these solutions in action and understand how they can help you master the order entry to shipment process, access our on-demand webinar and watch it at your convenience!

Access the Webinar