It could be said that the term “warehouse optimisation” is currently overused within the industry; mere buzz words employed to reinforce marketing campaigns selling automation tools. Like many clichés, once heard too often, they lose their meaning and can be overlooked. But to what cost? For such a general term, it is easy to miss the significance of this message. We asked Gareth Morrlle, an industry leading expert at Xpedition, with 20 years’ experience in the sector for his views: “The key to all future warehouse optimisation decisions is placing your customers at the centre of all business thinking”.

In a fast evolving industry, large players like Amazon are constantly pushing the boundaries on customer experience. With such wealth of options at the digital fingertips of all customers today, businesses need to ensure they not only have the processes, but the technology in place to remain competitive. It is said that 40% of customers will stop buying from you after two bad experiences, can your business afford not to address these issues?

With manufacturers providing direct fulfilment and ecommerce platforms offering free delivery, you need to deliver an excellent fulfilment experience to ensure you maintain the loyalty of your existing customer base and build a reputation that attracts new business. An effective ERP system will improve warehouse optimisation by collecting and analysing data, giving you the platform to make sound business decisions on process optimisation.

Gareth states, the key is never standing still. For example, a lean inventory approach will reduce your outgoings and ensure you are prepared and responsive enough to react to whatever demands your customers may throw at you.

Adapting fast is imperative too; SMB’s need to realise that artificial intelligence is now available to them and is no longer just a toy for the larger corporations. For example, demand forecasting functionality can now learn and predict future fluctuations in sales and adjust reordering automatically to fit customer demands. Of course, to be able to do any of this requires historical data to identify these trends, and to achieve this you will require an up-to-date ERP system to achieve your warehouse optimisation objectives.

Like all business decisions, the bottom line comes down to cost. But what is the cost versus the reward? Can you afford to lose business if you do not commit to an up-to-date system? An effective ERP system like Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central allows you to leverage Microsoft’s Azure cloud technology and the full suite of Microsoft applications, helping you avoid revenue loss, improve customer goodwill and connect your end-toend processing. Additionally, minimising out of stocks will decrease customer queries and complaints, improving loyalty and customer satisfaction and reducing customer service resources.

Gareth believes that conversations around picking and packing are becoming obsolete – this should be a modern expectation. This is neither new, nor radical enough to keep up with the competition. The only way to compete in today’s market is to employ an up-to-date ERP system that accommodates your business processes, allows for the latest technological changes and provides complete transparency across all operational departments.

Warehouse optimisation need not be a concept that alienates businesses. With an effective system in place you can embrace it and guide and company’s path to growth. Listen to your customer’s needs; long live the king.

XPEDITION

www.Xpedition.co.uk

Comments are closed.