ROI - it's about more than just dollar savings

And yet, many of them are. According to recent research, manual processes are still dominating eCommerce fulfilment, with 55% of retailers using them. Inevitably, this causes inefficiencies during the buyer's journey, and is a hindrance to key processes such as:

• Aligning inventory and orders across multiple channels
• Complex shipping schedules and order profiles
• Tracking fulfilment
• Reporting, analytics, and evaluation

The key to meeting the challenges of the modern eCommerce age is down to harnessing purpose-built technology, designed specifically to improve your customers' buying experience while increasing sales and lowering costs. However, as studies have shown, many eCommerce businesses are reluctant to invest in innovation.

For anyone building a business case for investing in an order management system, the first question the decision-makers will have is "what's the ROI?" And of course they're referring to the tangible benefits of dollar savings. But the reality is that bringing an order management system on board will mean your business will reap the rewards in intangible ways as well - specifically around efficiency gains. There are at least three ways an order management system will streamline your ordering process:

1: A simplified workflow

Now more than ever, retailers need to respond to increasing customer demands and fierce competition. An order management system removes manual, complex steps from your workflow, improving product visibility and helping you to make better business decisions. An order management system is effectively a digital partner that eliminates the hassle of paperwork and time spent correcting mistakes.

2: Significant time savings for you and your customers

The more manual processes you use, the more time it takes. This is time neither you nor your customers have to waste. Not only is it error-prone, but it's frustrating for customers who are digital-savvy and who expect a swift, streamlined fulfilment process. As for your team, if they're spending less time on the phone or on fixing mistakes, they can focus on more high-value tasks such as customer relationships, increasing sales and driving business growth.

3: Getting every order right, every time

An intelligent order management system will eliminate errors. Not only does this save your business in time and money, but it also minimises the risk of brand reputation damage. You can wave manual data entry goodbye because your customers can view all your product lines and place their orders directly in the system. Since this happens in real time, you're also benefitting from accurate customer data that can then be analysed to produce actionable, data-driven insights.

When you invest in an order management system, you're getting intelligent order orchestration. These efficiency gains make up a significant part of the overall ROI and should be included in your business case.

Let's talk about the money

Of course, the decision-makers in your business are going to want to see the numbers. To help you with this, we've developed a calculator that shows ROI in year one and over a three-year period. It will help you evaluate what an order management system could do for your business, and it takes less than two minutes and a few details about your current operations. We highly recommend you take a couple of minutes to crunch the numbers - we bet the results will surprise you.

Access the calculator here.