Customer Story
ODL
Achieving Seamless Integration with Oracle Fusion Thanks to Esker Order Management
- empoweredcustomer service team due to enhanced visibility
- enhancedcustomer relationships
- enhancedcustomer experience
After a successful ERP migration, Esker is helping expand the functionality of ODL’s current platform, transforming it from an “order processing solution” to a holistic “order management platform.” Here’s their story.
ODL, Inc. receives 300+ customer orders each day, with 80% of them arriving via email. Wanting to bring new levels of speed, accuracy and visibility to its order management process, the company selected Esker’s Order Management automation solution, going live in September 2019. Since then, ODL has seen drastic improvements in the way its team processes orders, interacts with customers, and accesses and analyses essential order-related data.
CHALLENGES: Eliminating errors & bottlenecks caused by manual tasks
One of the biggest issues plaguing ODL’s previously manual order management process was the lack of visibility it afforded to the team’s Customer Service Representatives (CSRs) and its managers. The company struggled with visibility issues caused by orders arriving via email — particularly if a CSR happened to be out of the office. “Having a backup CSR handle orders was always a little clunky because they would have to set up Outlook in another user’s inbox,” said Dan Hagger, Customer Service Manager. “What’s more, as a manager, I never knew when those orders were coming in or how quickly they were being turned around.”
Other issues that were a concern for ODL on the order management side included limiting the amount of order entry errors in its process (a common side effect of manual processes), as well as handling anticipated growing order volumes without impactful headcount additions.
“As a business, we have fairly ambitious growth plans, which essentially involves us doubling our business in a short period of time,” said Hagger. “So, we knew we needed to automate to make that happen in order to handle the growing order volumes — not only making it easier for staff, but more strategic for our business."
OBJECTIVES
- Increase visibility across the entire Customer Service department for CSRs and managers.
- Leverage automation to maximise resources and support growth while sustaining headcount.
- Seamlessly integrate current platform with new Oracle Fusion Cloud ERP.
SOLUTION: Bringing visibility to the forefront with an order management platform
ODL’s current platform capabilities have expanded significantly. Previously limited to net-new orders, Esker Order Management is now utilised for all Customer Service transactions, transforming the platform from merely facilitating order entry to comprehensive order management. ODL has integrated additional use cases, enhancing its functionality and prompting the Customer Service Manager to liken it to an “order management platform.” Access to order visibility during the migration to the new cloud platform, Oracle Fusion, has proven immensely beneficial. Esker’s user-friendly interface has enabled the team to concentrate on mastering the new Fusion platform rather than investing excessive time in Esker training. Esker played a major role in ODL’s seamless transition to the Oracle Fusion platform.
“The fact that we get a ping back from Fusion into Esker that the order has been accepted or rejected helps us better organise ourselves around what’s going on in the Fusion platform,” said Hagger.
In terms of reducing errors, Esker Order Management uses different layers of AI-driven technology to extract relevant data from incoming orders — essentially removing the need for error-prone manual data entry, which helps to dramatically improve accuracy and streamline verification.
Seamless integration with Esker’s Oracle Fusion Connector
Argano, an Esker partner, played a pivotal role in deploying the Oracle Fusion connector. ODL’s collaboration with Argano proved exceptional. Given that every aspect of ODL’s business relies on an Oracle module, this project held significant importance. The team likened the experience to receiving a Cadillac when they had asked for a Pinto, emphasising the remarkable outcome. The Customer Service team was particularly impressed by Esker’s depth of knowledge regarding the Fusion platform, despite their relatively brief engagement with it.
“Because of the experience with Esker’s platform, business practices and customer support, they were able to guide Argano through challenges that other IT teams couldn’t in the past,” said Hagger. “Other IT teams didn’t provide best practices or give recommendations like Esker continually has. Esker knew the Oracle Fusion platform well, even though it’s still very new. It was just phenomenal.”
Esker has helped eliminate so much of the uncertainty and struggle that used to be part of our manual order management process.”
RESULTS: Facilitating improved accuracy, efficiency & company growth
Esker has been instrumental in supporting the company’s growth by enabling its Customer Service team to do more with fewer resources. The Customer Service Manager emphasised that without Esker and Argano’s assistance in implementation and support, the team wouldn’t be poised for Oracle Fusion’s go-live phase. Presently, with Esker facilitating electronic processing for 90% of orders, ODL has empowered its team with enhanced visibility into the order management process.
Intelligent dashboards embedded in Esker allow every user instant access to essential order data, optimising transparency. ODL has implemented live connectivity from Oracle Cloud CPQ for price calls, greatly aiding the team in identifying discrepancies between customer submissions and system records. The team can now swiftly review daily bookings in Esker, ensuring alignment with Fusion data and expediting internal communication.
Esker has enhanced customer relationships for ODL in several ways. For starters, it has significantly reduced order processing time, thereby bolstering customer satisfaction. Previously, ODL operated with a fragmented order inbox system dispersed among various CSRs, requiring customers to know exactly where to send orders. Now, with a unified inbox, customer orders are efficiently distributed, streamlining the experience for ODL’s customers. Moreover, ODL struggled to promptly acknowledge order receipt in the past. However, with Esker, the team can promptly send order acknowledgment notifications, demonstrating proactive engagement with customers. While seemingly minor, this adjustment greatly contributes to an enhanced customer experience.
What’s next for ODL’s Customer Service department?
Esker has served as a growth catalyst for ODL. With the company achieving record sales of approximately $400M last year, a significant increase from $280M four years prior, Esker has facilitated this expansion by enabling the team to achieve greater efficiency.
Building on the success of the Oracle Fusion implementation in the U.S., ODL’s Customer Service department is considering extending Fusion rollout to other affiliated businesses, with ODL Europe slated as the next target.
On the fly, I can tell you what we did in bookings for the day. There are no steps or processes involved in finding that information — it’s all there at my fingertips. I can pull that data out of Esker in a second.”
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