Order management is the process of keeping track of and overseeing all aspects of an order placed by a customer, from the time the order is received until the final delivery of the order.

The order management process includes activities such as capturing all data relevant to the order, processing the payment, sending the details of the order to the warehouse, gathering and packing the items in the order, shipping the order and dealing with returns.

An OMS (order management system) is a software platform that automates the order management process. This involves pulling order information and customer data from a variety of channels, both online and offline, tracking the order from beginning to end, and tracking inventory and sales. All of this is done in real time, and each order can be viewed, edited and managed from a single, user-friendly dashboard.

An OMS is ideal for any business that deals with a high volume of orders, has multiple retail and/or warehouse locations, executes sales through multiple channels and/or has a complex process for fulfilling orders.

Yes, an OMS is application- and server-agnostic. This means it can be used for the automation and integration of data from multiple sales channels, whether they are cloud-based or on-premises, online or offline. This makes it possible to easily integrate the OMS with your EMS/ Accounting system, WMS system, eCommerce platform, shipping services, and more.

OMS implementation takes the performance of repetitive data-related tasks out of the hands of human workers and makes the entire order management process transparent and easily viewed from a single dashboard. This will lower costs, increase the consistency and efficiency of order fulfillment, minimize the number of late shipments, and put the focus back on the customer.

There are a number of common challenges organizations face when implementing an OMS. These include:

• Not getting the cooperation of the various application teams whose apps are integrated with or affected by the OMS
• Trying to roll out the OMS too quickly, rather than doing it in stages
• Not planning ahead and designing the OMS to be scalable in terms of business expansion and brand-onboarding
• Not partnering with a subject matter expert (SME) who can help IT fully understand the capabilities of the OMS

Because software can be scaled more easily than human workers, over the long-term, an OMS will allow your organization to significantly increase its scalability in terms of an increase in orders, introducing new brands and business expansion. This makes it easier to adjust operations according to fluctuating order volumes, which is particularly ideal when an organization must scale quickly to meet a short-term increase in demand.

An OMS is important for a number of reasons. It helps reduce the amount of manual data entry required of human workers, making order processing faster and error-free. It also provides full visibility into each order and helps manage inventory levels, order delivery, and sales and KPIs.

The result is that a business using an OMS will always have optimal inventory levels, will avoid shipping orders late due to a lack of inventory and will have the data and analyses that will help forecast sales and produce the relevant reports.