In a recent post, we outlined why you should care about the performance of an OMS. In particular, we discussed the importance of technical, integration and business performance. The inference is obvious: when evaluating an Order Management System (OMS), you should measure these key performance attributes against the current and future demands of your business.
But naturally this gives rise to questions: OK, but how can I measure those key attributes of performance? What sort of metrics represent high performance, average or poor? And where would I find such metrics?
Here are some answers.
In our preceding blog, we referred to the capacity of an OMS. Capacity is an important metric, which you need to consider in the context of your business as it is now and as you expect your business to become over the lifetime of your OMS. It is, therefore, closely related to scalability.
Here are two metrics you can use to assess the capacity of an OMS:
A high-performance OMS will offer:
In our preceding post, we also mentioned the importance of the speed of an OMS. When considering the level of speed performance you need, you should take into consideration the tolerance of your customers waiting for information to be displayed, or the reaction of a customer who orders an item that turns out to be out-of-stock (because the OMS was not updated fast enough), etc.
For instance, when addressing B2C customers, e-commerce platforms need to provide optimal response times to ensure the whole experience meets end consumer expectations. In fact, 40% of consumers will abandon a website that takes more than 3 seconds to load (Kissmetrics).
Here are four metrics you can use to assess the basic ‘speed’ of an OMS:
A high-performance OMS will offer:
Thirdly, and still under technical performance, you must consider reliability. When determining the reliability requirements for your OMS, you are to some extent measuring your organization’s risk appetite/aversion. For example, with many retailers doing the bulk of their business in the golden (fourth) quarter of the year, reliability issues then – should they occur – could have a major impact on revenue and profitability, as well as reputation and customer loyalty.
Here are three metrics you can use to assess the reliability of an OMS:
A high-performance OMS will offer:
As we said in our article on why you should care about OMS performance, your OMS is the beating heart of your retail operations – but, of course, no OMS operates in isolation. The need for your OMS to integrate with a wealth of other systems is simply a fact of life. With the benefits of an OMS highly dependent on effective integration with so many other systems, it is a critical metric to consider.
In this respect, it’s essential to consider carefully the third-party systems involved in the larger IT landscape around your OMS. OMS performance will be impacted by these other systems resulting in an ability to deliver (or not) frictionless end-to-end execution processes.
Here are two main ways to assess the integration capabilities of an OMS:
A high-performance OMS will offer:
Another metric to take into account is data synchronization time – i.e., the time taken to synchronize data between the OMS and other systems (ERP, CRM, WMS). However, there is no absolute answer for this, as the required speed differs depending on the system. For instance, stock and order synchronization with the WMS, ERP or in-store picking solutions need to be as close to “real time” as possible, while the CRM might only require a daily synchronization.
An OMS is a major, multi-year investment. During this time, your organization almost certainly has objectives for growth. You will need to consider if/how your OMS will scale with the rest of your business.
Here are three metrics you can use to assess the scalability of an OMS:
A high-performance OMS will:
To reiterate again: your OMS lies at the core of your retail ecosystem. It must, therefore, be easy to use by all who must use it. There’s no point in having a top-notch OMS if it’s not adopted by users, and user-friendliness is a major driver for adoption.
Here are three metrics by which to assess its user-friendliness:
A high-performance OMS should offer:
In our preceding article, we highlighted the importance of an OMS’s flexibility to adapt to meet the ever-changing needs and circumstances of a customer’s business. For example, its ability to:
It might appear difficult to assign metrics to such attributes. However, it is not impossible - if you consider these attributes of an OMS to be the outcome of possessing other attributes that we have discussed. For example:
Nonetheless, flexibility is a key attribute of the overall performance of an OMS, which you will want to explore with your OMS provider.
Of course, knowing the metrics associated with OMS performance is one thing. Obtaining these metrics, in order to make comparisons, is another. But there are sources. Try any or all of these:
By understanding the key attributes of performance and what signifies high performance, you can make an informed decision that supports your business needs. Keep in mind that the whole point is to see where you need your OMS to perform best, to best support you in your business goals and ambitions; and recognise the importance of balance: for instance, there’s no point in having the capacity to process 10 order per second, if the inventory update time is 2 seconds.
See how Kbrw’s high-performance compares to the competition, as measured by this IHL Order Management Market study.