Source: Unsplash | Wade Austin Ellis
Investing in an order management software is just the first step in business success. After the initial investment, the work isn’t over. In fact, it has just begun. Properly implementing an OMS into your existing business operation is just as important as choosing the right OMS. Follow these 4 steps for a smooth transition during OMS implementation.
Step 1: Project Management
For any major change to the company, spending time on project management is a must. Before executing any major changes within your company, laying down a plan is the first step. And implementing an OMS is certainly a major change. After the planning phase, it’s time for execution. Shockingly enough, executing the implementation is not the most difficult step.
Managing everything is much more challenging. One source says that “Companies spend hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars and don’t do a good job of planning. Then they are surprised at the negative results.” Well, there won’t be any negative results if you invest just as much time and money into the project management phase.
Step 2: Process Improvement
By process improvement, we mean that you should be considering areas of improvement for the OMS during the implementation phase. You can’t expect a brand new system to work out flawlessly from the start. You can hope, sure, but the likelihood of that happening is slim to none. Instead, you need to monitor things closely in order to fully understand what can be improved to keep the OMS running smoothly.
Step 3: Software Training and Procedures
Training your employees on the new order management system is an important step. Some experts say that the training needs to be done before the OMS is installed. But there is a major flaw to this thought process. How can you expect to train company members on a system that does not yet exist?
Sure, there needs to be some training involved beforehand to give your employees a basic rundown of the new system and how it will work. But the majority of the training will occur after the software has been installed throughout the company.
It is important to regularly check in with your team members to see how they’re feeling about the new system and answer any questions that come up along the way. Using screen monitoring software, you can also track how they’re getting along with any new software. This is also a great way to gauge if there are any improvements or adjustments that need to be made to the system.
Step 4: Customer Involvement
Implementing an OMS isn’t just meant to make your employees’ lives easier, but it should also improve the customer experience. Just as the name order management system suggests, this system manages orders from start to finish.
It starts working its magic as soon as a potential customer starts browsing your site. Hopefully, that person adds a few items to the shopping cart and makes a purchase. With the right OMS, the entire order process is seen through to the end without a hitch.
