OMS stands for Order Management System. But, really, those three words understate what an OMS is. Because an OMS is inextricably linked to an array of your business functions: to your store systems, to e-commerce, to business intelligence and analytics, to merchandising and supply chain management, and to sales/marketing.
More than inextricably linked, in fact. An OMS needs to be able to deliver functionality way beyond the point-of-sale. It needs to be able to deliver full inventory visibility (across your business). It needs to enable ordering from other stores, the return of online purchases, shipping from store, ordering online from the PoS, click-and-collect, and store-to-store transfer. The functionality that your OMS needs to deliver becomes even more extensive when you factor in the additional complexity of ordering/returns associated with online, phone or catalogue sales. It’s a vital component of your Unified Commerce strategy that can make - or break - a business.
What are the main benefits of an Order Management System (OMS)?
At the benefit level, an OMS should unify multiple business processes to create truly great customer experiences. Essential to making omnichannel magic happen, an OMS:
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Supports the creation and maintenance of new customer journeys and experiences
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Hosts critical data about orders and inventory, and
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Orchestrates crucial operations workflows including seamless supply chain management
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Records a vast range of business-oriented metrics and KPIs, which can be used as benchmarks to set targets for further improvement, at both the highest (overall) and lowest (specific function) levels
How an OMS creates new value
At every stage, an OMS creates new value through improvements to your business capabilities. Examples of what it should do to deliver such additional value include:
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Provide omni-inventory synchronisation: that is to say, real-time visibility of all your inventories, resulting in a single source of truth of all stock levels
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Deliver full orchestration: the end-to-end management and execution of customer orders.
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Offer intelligent fulfilment: smart order-routing and flow-orchestration. Shipping optimisation is one of the biggest sources of ROI for an OMS.
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Enable in-store service, ideally via a portal accessible to (and loved by) in-store sales staff.
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Enable a customer service portal: improving customer satisfaction by upgrading the service and information available to them.
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Provide critical performance data, enabling oversight of business operations and system performance.
In attributes terms (rather than technological): a best-in-class OMS should perform all of these function in a highly efficient, integrated way, through a suite of functionality that enables all of your employees to focus on improving the customer experience in the context of their particular role.
Best-in-class OMS performance
Kbrw gives you that best-in-class performance. Our OMS comfortably processes the very largest volumes of transactions in even the most complex IT environments, reducing order processing speeds by 80% compared to our competition – in environments where speed is vital. For our clients,
Kbrw's OMS manage over €30bn-worth of Gross Merchandise Value annually. And our OMS has integrated over 16,500 inventory points in 123 countries worldwide – Kbrw delivers on a genuinely global scale.
Is it time to ask what our OMS can do for you?