Online supply chain integration 101

Online supply chain integration makes your business work more efficiently, with fewer errors. Essentially, it’s taking your existing ERP (eg Sage, SAP, iSync, SYSPRO or Omni Accounts) and making it talk to an ordering platform (eg Shopify, WooCommerce, Magento or a B2B trade store) and a fulfillment service.

How do they talk to each other?

It might seem like a complicated concept, but it’s actually quite straightforward:

• Your ERP is always the “source of truth”. You already control your business from your ERP, so it makes sense to extend this control to your online sales channels.
• There are multiple channels on which you’re able to sell your products. These could be your own website, a B2B trade store that sells wholesale to retailers, third party retailers like Amazon, or a bricks and mortar store. Think of these channels as points of sales in a check out – each one of them is a till.
• When something is ordered from one of these points of sale, the primary master (your ERP, also known as the “source of truth”) must verify the order. Is the account valid? Can this sale go forward?
• Only once that’s done can we execute to the fulfillment service to deliver the product.

To the customer, the process is simple: log on to view pricing and availability, place the order, and have it delivered. That’s what seamless supply chain integration does for you. We integrate the systems you are already using to make them work faster, more efficiently and with reduced risk of human error.

Who might benefit from online supply chain integration?

Anyone with an ecommerce platform that sells products, whether it’s a B2B trade store or a retail ecommerce website. If you’re selling products online, you need to ensure that your systems are talking to each other. It’s an essential step to guarantee happy customers.

Why is it so important?

Integrating your supply chain systems saves you time. It frees you from the admin of data capturing issues and manual paperwork, as well as reducing the risk of human error. It streamlines your business by automating processes like price changes and stock updates, and it opens up additional sources of revenue by allowing you to connect to multiple sales channels seamlessly. Automation is the future of ecommerce. Being able to sync inventory, automate orders from the time they’re ordered to the time they’re delivered, and fulfil orders efficiently will ensure your business stays ahead of the curve.