Stone Edge Technologies How To Videos
I happened to be on Stone Edge Technologies website to view the announcement of the latest release of Stone Edge’s Order Manager (SEOM) version 5.900 – a leading order management software provider for small emerging businesses. And while on the site, I came across a series of how to videos in the Help & Support section of the website. This intrigued me. I’ve watched a few of Stone Edge’s webinars in the past but hadn’t seen the How To Videos.
Read the rest of this entry »
Achieving Higher Order Fill Rates Through Integrated Channel Order Fulfillment
Inventory, one of the single – if not the single largest asset on your balance sheet, utilizing that inventory efficiently is the utmost priority in most multichannel businesses. So you might be asking, so what does inventory have to do with order management software. Lets take a look at some great examples of utilizing your order management software and integrating it fully to your other business applications.
Jos A. Bank, were an early adopter of cross-channel order processing. Store associates at Jos A. Bank have access to the inventory positions in their other retail locations via MICROS-Retail’s Tradewind Point of Sale and to their direct commerce operation utilizing MICROS-Retail’s CWDirect Order Management System, all from their point of sale terminal. As an example, a store associates can place an order against direct commerce inventory and that order will seamlessly flow through the fulfillment process as if it came directly from the customer.
Read the rest of this entry »
Utilizing Bar Code Technology in Your Warehouse
If there is one technology that can help improve warehouse operations, it has to be the utilization of bar code scanning. Those warehouses that employ a wide use of this technology reap significant benefits. Improvements in productivity and accuracy are possible. Since these two areas are usually the focus of most warehouse operations, it makes sense to consider the use of bar code scanning to meet your goals in these areas.
Operations that still try to manually record data and enter information manually risk the inevitable error in the input issue. It is too easy to write down the wrong information or to make errors in data entry and to rely on a manual process to gain inventory and activity accuracy. In addition to accuracy concerns, those warehouses who do not employ bar code technology miss out on potential productivity gains.
Read the rest of this entry »
7 Tips for Understanding the Total Cost of Ownership When Acquiring Applications
Recently cited information from the technology firm CNET reveals that roughly 49 percent of IT projects suffer from budget overruns, and 47 percent suffer higher than expected maintenance costs. It’s imperative that companies identify and properly plan for all expenses associated with replacing a business application to avoid these costly mistakes. Here are seven ways to help you go about this process.
Read the rest of this entry »
MICROS-Retail: Product Developments, New Version Features and Recent Customer Implementations
I recently had an in-depth conversation with Chris Sarne the VP of Sales at MICROS-Retail – an industry leading order management software provider – about future releases, developments, offerings, implementations, etc. In a nutshell, here’s how the conversation went:
MICROS-Retail is continuing to further enhance their retail integration from Xstore Point of Sale System to the CWSerenade Order Management System. This now gives the prospective multichannel retailer a software suite that can handle web commerce (Fry or eOneCommerce), catalog and other direct marketing sales (CWSerenade), and retail store sales (Xstore) from one combined package offering that is supported with one database for all sales channels transactions and a single view of a customer’s purchases across these channels.
Read the rest of this entry »
Part 1: Avoiding the Common Software Selection Pitfalls
I am sure almost everyone reading this has installed a software application that just didn’t go smoothly, or worse, never did go live and cost the company a serious amount of resources and money. We are brought in many times to try and provide insight during the selection process and/or to assist both the client and vendor during an implementation. We have seen almost everything that can happen with software selection, and we hope that this list will help you avoid some of the common mistakes companies often make.
By avoiding these common mistakes companies will be able to reduce the risks involved with selecting and implementing any business application whether it’s an order management system or ERP application, ecommerce platform, retail point of sale application or warehouse management systems.
Read the rest of this entry »
Does an “All in One” Software Solution Really Exist?
15-20 years ago companies were often times buying most of their software from a single vendor. Order management software vendors were supplying everything – AR, AP and GL modules, manifesting, order entry and customer service, warehousing functions and a full reporting suite. Over time best of breed approaches were becoming more prevalent as niche vendors were filling in the gaps and it became easier for order management vendors to develop generic API’s. But several factors are driving people back towards finding a single order management systems vendor that can deliver everything. It’s a way to reduce IT costs, decrease the number of desperate systems/vendors and data silos to name a few.
But is an all in one order management system reality or utopia? Does it exist? The short answer to whether or not it exists is a definitive maybe…
Read the rest of this entry »
ProfitCenter Systems (PCS) Announces Shut Down
Last Friday we received several calls from PCS (order management software provider) clients about the announced shut down notice they had just received. This morning I talked with PCS’ President John Marrah to understand better the reasons and what the time frames are for companies to make transitions to new vendor platforms.
Two things which I wish to pass along to my reader’s from John Marrah:
- Systemax and Mr. Marrah are going to do everything they can to help the current PCS client companies make an orderly decision and transition. The reality is that this needs to happen in the next 6 to 8 months for companies.
- On behalf of Systemax, Mr. Marrah also said that he is actively looking for a buyer for the application and technology used in the PCS product.
I’m not going to editorialize over the bones of PCS. Every time an order management software vendor or resource fails in our industry to me it’s a tragedy. Certainly, PCS with its SaaS order management systems approach blazed a new trail. Our industry thrives on new approaches, no matter if it’s technology, data base approaches, printing technologies, e-mail marketing approaches.
We are working with several PCS users to chart their new directions for order management software. Contact us if we can help you.
The Changing Software Vendor LandscapeThe Changing Software Vendor Landscape
How the Order Management Systems Landscape is Changing
For a long time, many prospective buyers of direct order management software and retail management systems have complained that there were not very many choices in terms of vendors and their offerings. The good news is that over the last couple of years, some truly new and good competitors have emerged for the multichannel industry. Some of this change stems from acquisitions amongst order management software providers; more is based on the competitive need to expand offerings to provide more functionality to customers.
Some e-commerce platform providers are expanding offerings into the order management systems arena. Enterprise-wide systems are starting to be installed more widely in this market niche as well. There are also multiple choices to manage the warehouse and supply chain. Would a service offering fit your requirements better than an in-house licensed implementation? These are just some of the trends we see emerging that give you, the order management software buyer, many realistic choices. Drawing from our multichannel consulting practice, we present what we see as those choices.
Read the rest of this entry »