Logistics IT Knowledge
“As the UK enters its fi rst double-dip recession since 1975, our sector will have to review current business processes now more than ever”
2. HOW EFFICIENT ARE YOUR PROCESSES?
Slow and ineffi cient business processes do not add any value to a company. Success- ful business processes equate to a higher level of effi ciency and require a business management software system offering increased fl exibility to support unplanned changes within the organisation. As an organisation grows, its business processes will also change, and far too often the business management software systems in place are unable to adapt to meet the fresh requirements without requiring costly upgrades. In fact, the YouGov survey revealed that one-fi fth of the IT and fi nance managers interviewed reported that their software system was too infl exible to adapt to changing business and industry needs. Organisations should push business management software vendors to provide a system that is not only fl exible enough to grow with the business, but that can be eas- ily customised to its specifi c requirements. Recently developed business manage- ment software has been created to pro- mote and support growth and changes within a company. Logistics companies need systems in place that offer extreme fl exibility to provide users with the ability to tailor the software to meet all and any changing requirements. The software has to deliver the scalability to adapt to business changes, never needing to be replaced or upgraded, regardless of whether the company grows to 10, 100 or 1,000 users.
3. CAN YOU APPLY BUSINESS RULES?
A ‘business rule’ applies to the input of information within a process. They guide employees to correctly input the informa- tion on a specifi c process and make available precise information to ensure
that they can carry out that process. When a process is recorded by an employee, sometimes the correct informa- tion may not be available to them or some vital information may not be entered. Organisations should ensure that they can apply business rules to ensure all necessary information is inputted, promoting a quicker, more productive outcome from employees, e.g. on entering a sales order, the system re- quires the customer reference name which is compulsory and must be entered to proceed. Business management software should allow businesses to request specifi c, com- pulsory information that must be inputted in certain processes before proceeding. The software should also offer the ability to tailor specifi c tasks to different processes, different users and different levels of value.
4. ENSURE INFORMATION FLOWS
One of the biggest headaches for many logistics, warehousing and materials handling companies is the lack of accurate information immediately available to them. While one department enters information, it undoubtedly affects another. Quite often you hear “but we didn’t know” and the reply is usually “but you didn’t look”. A solution to this problem is very simple: ensure information is pushed directly to the people involved. To do this you need ‘workfl ows’. A ‘work-
fl ow’ is just another name for a rule, but there is a difference. Workfl ows control the output i.e. the information you deem necessary for another person within your company to con- tinue the process. An example of this would be when a department enters a sales order; the warehouse manager needs to be made aware that the correct items are available to be loaded on to the truck and the driver is aware what stock is being delivered. A fully integrated business management
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system allows a company to instruct the software to automatically send information to specifi c users as a direct result of certain triggers. For example, a new order being placed on the system could trigger a notifi ca- tion email to the stock manager relating to stock now hitting a minimum stocking quantity. It may also send a text to the sales manager of the order is over a certain value or it may fl ag up a warning with the credit controller if the customer is nearing their limit.
CONCLUSION
Business processes are the lifeblood of any demanding organisation in the logistics sector. The more complicated a process be comes, the more important it is to the success of a business. So many organisations put up with software systems that are archaic, infl ex- ible, costly to maintain and most importantly, don’t fi t the needs of modern logistics, supply chain and materials handling operations. Organisations should not have to conform with the demands of an inadequate soft- ware package, especially when there is a cost effective and fl exible solution avail- able that will meet all of their requirements and scale with the company. In fact, a new business management software system should work effortlessly with the businesses processes whilst maximising effi ciency, productivity, pro-activity and profi ts.
37%
of businesses surveyed by Intact say their business management soſt ware is not fi t for purpose
www.intactsoftware.co.uk Storage Handling Distribution June 2012 31
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