• Products

Product Insight: Improve your Customer Experience with an eCommerce Presence

21 January 2014

Everyone knows how important the internet is to modern life, but does your company handle it efficiently, or are you wasting time and effort on managing your web presence inefficiently?

The last few years have seen a real emergence of eCommerce, both through consumer channels such as Amazon or business to business sites. In the last Christmas period alone there was an increase of 19.2% in online sales vs. an in-store retail increase of just 0.4%.

These figures should make anyone who works  in retail or business to business sit up and take notice. Admittedly most companies who need a web presence have a website already, but most websites require updating manually and take considerable amounts of users’ time to update them, ensuring they are correct and also to confirm that they match the information in their back end ERP systems.

Prodware have now introduced a new eCommerce suite that allows both business to business trading as well as business to consumer trading. Aimed at Microsoft Dynamics ERP users, it allows a seamless link between the ERP software and web site. Customers using the web site will have real time information on stock and orders from the ERP system and the owners of the web site will have instant access to orders placed on the web or on the ERP system. This real time link in data offers a functional solution where all information is available at all times, allowing companies to be able to make real time sensible decisions with actual data.

What does it do?
Prodware eBusiness Suite is a sophisticated B2B or B2C eCommerce site, with the ability to have customer account information fed directly from ERP software solutions (including Dynamics NAV or Dynamics AX). It is a full CMS (Content Management Software) based solution that allows non-technical administrators to change all aspects of the solution delivery, such as special offers, solution layout, information presented, videos, or complimentary documents. Integration with Google Analytics helps your users to understand the behaviour of your visitors, dynamics pricing, look and feel and presentation based upon the visitor, or the URL entry point, providing a versatile solution for companies who have multiple web sites.

Who should look at Prodware eBusiness?
This question is a fairly simple one to answer. The solution is suitable for any company who has a need for a web presence who does not have an eCommerce website at present.
eBusiness suite is also a good fit for any company which has an existing web site without ERP integration, which may mean orders placed on the web site are emailed and someone rekeys the order onto the backend ERP system.

What are the benefits of integrating ERP to your website?
The cost of having multiple data entry systems is the most obvious benefit. Having manual intervention at any part of a process increases cost of doing business. By taking out these processes you can instantly gain cost savings, but you will also have the ability to scale the process without the need to increase overheads.
Furthermore, any process that needs manual intervention has a scope for human error. Errors may be infrequent, but today it is vitally important to offer outstanding customer experience in order to increase customer satisfaction and customer retention. Remove the dependence on human input and you can decrease the risk of error and annoyance to your customers.

The Customer Experience
Instant access to orders, invoices, statements etc. is a great feature that will add real benefits to your customer experience. If a customer places an order over the phone and that order is instantly available to check via the web, or conversely, when an order is placed over the web site and a customer calls to change or cancel it, your company can access this data directly in your back end ERP, with automatic alerts and order status updates in real time.

Want to find out more?
Contact Prodware to find out more about eBusiness.