Every day, companies order products and services from other companies. How smoothly these business-to-business (B2B) transactions are handled is largely dependent on the order management (OM) system — that is, all the people, processes and applications involved from the moment an order is placed all the way to its fulfillment, invoicing and beyond. Unfortunately, creating a seamless B2B customer order journey is easier said than done. Learn how comprehensive automation solutions take a tactical approach to how AI technology is used in typical OM scenarios and operations. Read on for five of the most impactful features sure to bring a smile to the face of even the most job-weary Customer Service Representatives (CSRs) or disgruntled customers. 

Challenges of a Digital Commerce Landscape

Today’s B2B Customer Service teams must contend with a digital commerce landscape in continuous transformation. The B2B customers they serve — well-conditioned by the ease, convenience and personalisation found in their day-to-day consumer experiences — now expect the same multichannel engagement on the B2B side of their interactions. Meeting these new requirements is made even more difficult due to the inherently complex nature of B2B orders, which often involve bulk quantities, customisations, and differing order formats and types. Moreover, the diverse systems with which so many B2B Customer Service teams operate are highly vulnerable to inefficiencies, further complicating the B2B order journey.

 The B2B Order Journey

On its surface, the OM process is uncomplicated: An order is placed, then processed by a team of CSRs, before being packaged, shipped and delivered to the customer. The real journey, however, is far from smooth sailing. Issues that can hinder business performance include: 

- Time-Consuming Data Entry: Customer Service Representatives (CSRs) often spend excessive time on data entry, diverting their focus from value-added activities.
- High Error Rates: Manual data handling increases the likelihood of errors, leading to order discrepancies and customer dissatisfaction.
- Limited Visibility: A lack of real-time insights into order statuses can impede decision-making and delay issue resolution.
- Inefficient Handling of Order Changes: Processing order modifications manually is cumbersome and prone to mistakes, affecting delivery timelines and customer trust.

Who is Impacted?

Your customers: Customers are looking for the right order to the right location at the right time with the right service. Delays in order fulfillment and unmet SLAs, combined with an inconsistent, frustrating Customer Experience (CX) can result in an erosion of trust and an increased likelihood that businesses will shop elsewhere.

Your CSRs: Tedious work. Little recognition. Angry customers. It’s easy to see how manual OM processes turn CSRs into the office punching bag. It’s also easy to see why top talent are quick to flee for greener pastures.

Customer Service Team Leaders: Managing customer relationships, analysing data, driving process improvements. Manual OM processes are an unnecessary hindrance that leads to increased operational costs, an inability to identify and drive process improvements due to lack of visibility and time, difficulties with onboarding, training and monitoring performance of employees, and a lower team morale and higher employee turnover.

Office of the CFO: Today’s CFOs play a direct role in the success and sustainability of their organisation. While OM doesn’t technically fall within their strategic financial scope, the outcomes tied to the B2B order journey most certainly do, such as negative downstream impacts on cashflow and working capital via fulfillment delays, loss of business due to poor CX, damaged business reputation, growth limitations due to the complex, inflexible nature of legacy systems and infrastructure, and a lack of a real-time, 360-degree view of business due to siloed processes and systems.

Supply chain & logistics: Successfully delivering products to customers requires a high-functioning supply chain and logistics team. Unfortunately, manual OM processes result in issues like delayed shipments, higher costs, missed opportunities for new sales, and a lack of visibility into inventory management and other key data.

AR team: Accounts receivable (AR) is very much tied to the B2B order journey. The faster, more accurately orders are processed, the easier it is for AR to bill, collect and recognise revenue. For AR teams, bad OM makes an already hard job harder resulting in delayed invoicing, billing inaccuracies, negatively impacted DSO, cashflow and working capital, increased workload and stress on AR team members, and frustrated customers.

The Business Case for AI assistance 

Regardless of an organisation’s size or industry, AI tools are a natural fit for improving processes such as OM thanks to the speed, accuracy and efficiency they’re built to deliver. Here are just some of the ways AI can have a transformational impact on the B2B order journey:

- Faster order fulfillment
- Improved data integrity
- Better decision making
- Empowered employees
- Happier customers
- Increased savings & revenue

5 AI-mazing improvements your team and customers will love

Comprehensive automation solutions take a tactical approach to how AI technology is used in typical OM scenarios and operations. Below are five of the most impactful features sure to bring a smile to the face of even the most job-weary CSRs or disgruntled customers.

1) Intelligent data capture

Different customers mean different order layouts with varied data locations on the page. Rather than simply throwing more CSRs at the problem, AI offers a simple yet sophisticated alternative — intelligent order data capture and triage. Incoming order data is instantly captured and accurately interpreted regardless of channel or format. Any corrections made by CSRs are remembered by the solution’s algorithms and taken into account during future instances — further improving recognition rates and overall OM speed and accuracy. 

 2) Automatic order classification

Of course, orders aren’t the only request B2B Customer Service teams must contend with on a day-to-day basis. Instead of CSRs searching for needles in the shared inbox haystack, AI-powered solutions do all the heavy lifting for your team — bringing instant clarity to previously time-consuming order queries. Not only does AI-driven classification separate orders from other B2B customer requests (e.g., enquiries), it drills down even further by distinguishing standard orders from change orders and returns. For CSRs, this means even more time to play the role of “customer concierge” versus OM data scavenger. 

3) ERP integration

While ERP integration is not an AI capability, it is an essential element in any AI-driven OM solution. By supporting any ERP when automating the OM process, prices and availability can be easily checked before creating orders in the ERP, while allowing suppliers to deliver order confirmations and ship notices back from the ERP to customers. Long story, short: orders can be created and processed with the minimal amount of touches when AI is housed within a comprehensive OM solution that plays nice in any ERP environment.

4) Order verification & exceptions management

Sick of the painstaking and time-consuming process of verifying order details? AI-driven automation is the antidote. Assisted and automatic data verification at the header and line-item level allows CSRs to easily review the original order image and extracted order data in a side-by-side view from the solution interface. The AI technology working behind the scenes also identifies atypical order quantities or amounts for a particular customer based on historical records. These anomalies are then sent to the CSR to verify. 

5) 360-degree OM visibility

Your B2B Customer Service team is never more than a click away from accessing powerful analytics to accurately perform critical tasks thanks to features such as:

- Customisable dashboards featuring real-time metrics, performance trends and items analytics
- Audit trail of every OM touch point, ensuring full transparency and accountability

This single “pane of glass” to monitor the complete order lifecycle not only ensures efficiency and transparency within your current process but opens the door for continuous improvement opportunities as your team and company evolve. 

The B2B Order Journey, Re-AI-magined 

The OM process is more than just another backend operation: It’s arguably the backbone of B2B transactions, supporting operational efficiency, customer satisfaction and even financial performance.

Businesses that effectively harness the power of AI technologies and the core OM solutions that support them are rewarded with a B2B order journey that contains:

- Fewer delays across essential business operations

- Improved CX and loyalty thanks to “on time, in full” order delivery

- Reduced operational costs along with effective resource allocation

- Enhanced order processing efficiency

- Faster, less contentious issue resolution

- Better decision-making and data analysis 

Contact us today to see a live demo of the Esker Order Management solution.