Business and project management systems involve the three key components of any information system: people, process and technology. All combined for the purpose of providing the right information to make the best decisions. While these systems are often put into place to meet contractual requirements, no business will be successful without some type of management information system.
Having a copy of QuickBooks does not make you an accountant. Sure, you can do many accounting tasks with this program, but if you want to really take control of your finances, you still need a professional accountant. And having a copy of AutoCAD does nto make you an architect or and engineer. Just like having WordPress does not make you a web designer or eMarketing expert.
You are thinking about implementing, or have just implemented, a fancy new eCommerce storefront – fantastic! This is surely the first step to driving new business growth and increasing your reach to new customers. However, preferably before your online store takes off, you will need to think about the implications this has for your back-end systems.
Have you considered how you will handle the dramatic increase in orders you may experience as a result of a successful online store? The good news is that eCommerce can mean a tremendous increase in new business but the bad news is that you can quickly find yourself drowning if you have not prepared appropriately.
“Being proactive is important to avoid ‘drowning in success”
So what is the solution, you say? Easy! Ensuring you have ERP software integrated with eCommerce will allow you to grow your sales exponentially with little increased strain on your resources. While it may be acceptable to manually key in web orders in the early stages of your business, once you have moved onto a platform like Magento, a proper backend system with two-way integration will be necessary.
Consider the following pitfalls of not having a fully integrated ERP and eCommerce system:
– You run into frequent stock-outs due to a lack of accurate reorder points, forcing you to turn away customers
– Your inventory quantities are not kept consistent across systems, leading your customers believe their order is being processed, only to be told later that their order cannot be fulfilled at this time
– You have to hire a number of new people to help process orders as a result of a lack of integration
– Updating pricing and product information on the website becomes a serious time-drain if your system does not provide full two-way integration
Being proactive when implementing an eCommerce storefront is important to avoid “drowning in success”. It is never too late to change your backend system to accommodate your growing business, but sooner is always better than later.
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