Customer experience is about having all the information your company requires to hand so you can deliver on your service promise. This helps you meet customer expectations and demand quickly and accurately. An enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution helps you do this in several ways. Today, we’ll explore how ERP improves customer experience overall.
General CX benefits
When backend business processes are modernised and streamlined, customers reap the reward. Companies with modern ERP can improve customer service and provide better assistance because they have a holistic view of the customer, including all customer legacy interactions. This information allows the business to prioritise the best customers and automate any discounts for long-term customers. The improved shipping operations allows for reliable order tracking and shipping notifications. And the business can make better decisions about where to invest for future growth. The result is a more loyal customer base with repeat transactions and customers who experience first-call resolutions. An ERP deployment can have a direct impact on your Net Promoter scores and customer retention too.
Streamline the warehouse
ERP software enables a far more intelligent, proactive, and reactive approach to stock and inventory management, by linking up your purchasing, warehousing and procurement processes and enabling smooth data flow between them. In turn, this means you are less likely to run out of key products, accidentally allow customers to purchase products after you have sold out or be forced into last-minute procurement processes which could incur higher costs that you then have to pass on to customers. This is enabled by the sensing devices on the shop floor. No longer are you reliant on anecdotal evidence or rota-based manual counts; ERP can harness the power of internet of things (IoT) technology to automate these processes. And that provides a great customer experience at checkout when all items are correctly logged as ‘in-stock’.
Automate supply chains
There is a raft of materials that feed into your products as well. And an ERP can help automate those feeds too. ERP also reduces manual data entry. Manual entries introduce risk into your supply chain and customer service. If someone accidentally keys in the wrong information, customers could end up with late orders or get the wrong product at their door. ERP maintains a central hub of data, automatically updating data and triggering the next stage of the workflow. Automated processes enable manufacturers to execute tasks consistently and efficiently. With ERP, you’re making efficiencies and accounting for potential logjams before supply ever enters your premises. That can help you respond to and accommodate supply challenges that all businesses face from time to time. When you regularly meet demand by adjusting your suppliers -in advance- as needed, your clients benefit.
Access to accurate data
Customer support queries shouldn’t get answered with generalities. An ERP system takes many streams of data and makes everything accessible from one place. Your team can access important information in real-time – no outdated details being passed to clients, no searching through different systems or sources of information. Tapping into the robust Artificial Intelligence and data analytics capabilities of a top-shelf ERP makes internal and external queries easier to solve. Your team can provide realistic, time-bound answers based on real-time data. That’s bound to improve your customer feedback and business growth overall.
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How ERP improves customer experience