Surveys carried out for Access Group among warehouse and supply chain managers reveal that online ordering already accounts for the majority of business in a quarter of firms. The effects of online ordering highlighted by the survey include: an increase in smaller orders; expectations of faster despatch and shorter lead times; increased B2C business; increased use of couriers for delivery; and a requirement for simpler, more automated order processing.
“These factors directly affect customer satisfaction and are at the top of the priority list for improvement across the supply chain,” said Ian Roper, Divisional Director for Supply Chain Solutions, at Access.
The subject is discussed in a new white paper from Access titled ‘Mind the Gap – Next stop: customer satisfaction’.
With large elements of satisfaction lying in the processes that deliver the product: satisfaction is far from guaranteed if those processes - and their underlying IT systems - are fragmented, isolated and inefficient.
Further Access research on ERP for the Finance Function found a lack of Integration between different systems internally to be prevalent. Also, 1 in 5 experience problems every time there is an update and poor communications with suppliers.
Roper said: “As the white paper points out, systems that give a firm, its partners and its customers a fine-grained, real-time, synchronous and synoptic view of total inventory will enable the delivery of true customer satisfaction.”
Redshift Research carried out the surveys for Access, the Supply Chain Solutions vendor. ‘ERP for the Finance Function’, conducted 200 interviews with Finance & Accounting professionals working in manufacturing, distribution and logistics businesses in the UK. It follows recent Access research on Warehouse Management Systems, and Supply Chain Management. To receive a copy of the white paper: ‘Mind the Gap – Next stop: customer satisfaction’, please contact: email Natalie.Smith@theaccessgroup.com