As a small food service supplier, dealing with an influx of orders for your products can be challenging. Streamlining your order management process is key to having a successful business. Unfortunately, businesses don’t realise the importance of having a robust order management solution. Manual order maintenance involves a lot of manual data entry that is susceptible to errors and omissions. Any such mistakes will impact your whole business.
Old order management systems provide order fulfilment services; however, modern solutions treat your supply chain as an inclusive and interconnected business system. A modern order management solution will transform your business and elevate it to new heights. If you’re looking for an online order management system, ensure that the software is equipped with the following modern features.
Sales Through Multiple Platforms
A modern order management system should allow you to sell your products through multiple channels. In an increasingly competitive business environment, you need to adopt strategies that’ll help you build relationships with your stakeholders. Having an omnichannel environment will help you get a strategic and competitive edge over your rivals.
First, customers order in multiple ways. They may place an order through your food supply business website or mobile application and then call you up to ask about their order status. An all-inclusive order management application will help you track your orders through multiple channels so that you can better serve relevant stakeholders.
Robust Inventory Management System
Inventory management is at the heart of any efficient supply chain. You should have a system that simplifies things, improves your operational workflows, and creates efficiencies in business processes. Nothing is more frustrating for businesses than finding their crucial supplies out of stock. An efficient order management system with inventory management capabilities will ensure that you always have adequate stock levels and are ready to meet unprecedented demand.
Most systems have inventory management options that help them differentiate between their products. As a food supplier, it becomes more important to have stock available to supply to businesses. Establishing an automated minimum inventory threshold will help you source raw materials without doing a constant stock count. Once your inventory hits a set point, the OMS will alert you, and you can order stock at the click of a button.
Furthermore, it also allows you to maintain a seamless relationship with external parties. You don’t need to call them constantly to order stock, as your software will take care of that. OrderTron’s wholesale food distribution software is designed to meet the business’s unique requirements in the foodservice industry. It allows you to order your fresh product without the hassle and develop lifelong partnerships with reliable suppliers.
Businesses appreciate steady orders and are likely to work with other companies that provide them with a steady income stream. An automated inventory management system in an OMS will help you procure regular materials from your partner that’ll keep you both happy!
Automated Invoices & Payments
Before choosing an order management system, make sure that it has automated invoices and seamless payments features. You’d want to pay relevant stakeholders on time, as it helps build rapport and a good relationship. Having an automated payment system will ensure no hiccups in the payment process, and you can keep track of your cash inflows and outflows.
Furthermore, manual invoice creation can lead to a lot of errors and can derail the payment process. It is a lot easier when invoices are automated and digitalised. It makes it much easier to record and store them. Furthermore, they can also be linked to their respective accounts, making it easier for budgeting and other financial aspects. Moreover, it eliminates the chances of fraud, and all records are stored safely and can only be accessed by authorised users.
Report Generation
We live in a world where businesses are heavily reliant on data to make impactful decisions. Therefore, a business must get real-time reports and data on virtually everything to make decisions to increase revenue, productivity, and profit levels. You need to look for an order management system that generates automated sales, purchase, inventory, and revenue reports.
Furthermore, the reports should be customisable to meet the unique requirements of every business. You need these reports in real-time, meaning that information is updated constantly as sales and purchase orders are processed. When equipped with such data, you can make quick and efficient decisions that can maximise every business opportunity on offer.
Integration
One of the most powerful features of a modern order management system is integrating with other software. Every aspect of your business is interconnected, and you need an all-inclusive system that streamlines and connects all operations and departments within your organisation.
Look for a system that integrates with accounting software such as MYOB, Xero, or QuickBooks. It will help you to sync your invoices, credit notes and purchase orders automatically. You don’t need to spend time manually entering all information into your accounting software. Furthermore, it also increases efficiency and minimises data entry errors. You’d want accurate reports to gauge the financial health of your business, and having your accounting software integrated with your OMS, will help you achieve precision and accuracy.
Accessibility
Gone are the days when you needed access to a computer to view your business performance. Modern day entrepreneurs value flexibility, and they work with an organisation that can provide services that help their businesses to be adaptable to the ever-changing business climate. You need to look for an order management system that you can access from anywhere, anytime.
You shouldn’t be limited to a certain web browser or a computer. Mobility is key to achieving operational efficiencies. If you have an OMS that you can access from any location and through mobile devices, you can process orders remotely and whenever you like. As a result, you’ll be able to provide better customer service, have greater control over your data and maintain healthy relationships with all your business stakeholders.
Vendor Management
Modern OMS have vendor management features that’ll help you store accurate information of all your vendors. The last thing you’d want is to lose contact and payment information of a crucial vendor, especially when you need to place an urgent order. An efficient vendor management system allows you to safely store vendor information such as account number, email address, etc.
Furthermore, you can set preferred vendors for a certain stock. It will enable you to streamline your procurement process and ensure quality product sourcing. Furthermore, you’ll be able to extract vendor transaction history and gauge your relationship with that supplier. With real-time vendor data, you can make decisions to source new suppliers or maintain relationships with existing ones.
Seamless Delivery
Another important feature to look for in an OMS is the delivery process. As a food service supplier, order delivery is a critical component of your business, even more so in times of prevalent lockdowns amid the pandemic. Your order management system should have a robust delivery management system so that you don’t have to rely on external vendors for your deliveries.
Automated delivery systems give you the option of route optimisation that’ll help you deliver your orders quickly and efficiently. Hungry customers appreciate quick deliveries, and you might get regulars placing frequent orders.
Easy To Set Up
The last thing you’d want is to invest in an all-inclusive order management system, only to find it complicated and hard to get going. You need a system that is intuitive and easy to use. Furthermore, it should have sufficient customisation abilities that’ll help you meet the unique requirements of your business.
As a business owner, you’ll already have too much on your plate, and the complexities of an order management system will only add to your misery. Therefore, it is crucial to choose software that eases your pressure while streamlining your business processes.
Finding software with the mentioned features can be hard, and the ones available might be a bit out of your budget. However, if you’re operating a business in Australia, we might have the perfect solution for your needs! OrderTron’s small business order management software is your one-stop solution for your order management needs!
Our sales order management software has been uniquely designed to meet the demands of businesses in the food industry. The mobile ordering system helps various stakeholders in the industry to connect and develop healthy relationships. As a food service supplier in Australia, you’ll be surprised to find out the variety of options OrderTron offers, and that too at an affordable price!
From report generation, managing purchase orders, syncing invoices to creating a custom product catalogue, OrderTron is the best order management software in the country. Our foodservice ordering software doesn’t require any installations and works well with Android and iPhone devices. You can get a demo for free, and we also provide comprehensive training to business owners on how to use the software and assist in data migration. Contact us today if you’re looking for the best order management software in Australia.