Where's that order?

Tue, 23 Oct 2007 12:23:46 GMT

My wife is a customer representative for a major chemicals vendor. It means that she is managing orders that customers send to her. The key of her success is being organised, which she is, until she remembered that she forgot to enter an order into their system this weekend.

Her main problem is that orders come in through different channels: telephone, fax and e-mail. This is fine when she is dealing with her own customers, but can be very problematic when dealing with her colleagues'. We started talking about it, and she told me that she missed the order because it arrived in her mailbox too late to be entered into the main system.

What if all of the incoming orders were in the same place, directly entered by the customers themselves? Then, she would only have one place to look for orders that need to be entered in the main system. It would also be fantastic to have a dashboard that shows which orders should be processed first, and if the customer got a notification that his order is being processed and has not been lost somewhere.

Our solution to this problem is VisibleLogistics, which lets you share order information on-line. VisibleLogistics also provides a unique dashboard that lets you know which orders need attention.

Crucially, VisibleLogistics encourages your customers to enter their own orders by giving them more visibility. This means that all of the orders are now centralised: no need to look into a pile of faxes, log in to other people's e-mail boxes and spend too much time on the phone.

VisibleLogistics allows your customers to enter only the information for the original order. You are then free to enter extra order information in VisibleLogistics or in your internal system.

In this scenario, VisibleLogistics does not replace your internal system, but, used with efficiency, will complement it. After all, you do not really want to share internal data with your customers. Using VisibleLogistics as a complementary system allow this, and opens up a new way to collaborate with your customers and ensure that your orders never get lost.

What if…

Fri, 19 Oct 2007 12:21:06 GMT

Last week, I ordered a new battery for my laptop. I was really surprised when I found a note yesterday (Wednesday) saying that the shipping company already came to my house. On the note, I could read that they have tried to deliver it at around 12 o'clock. It was a working day, so of course, nobody was there. Usually the neighbours would pick it up for me, but, on that delivery, a signature was needed.

To my greatest surprise, the note also informed me that they would try again tomorrow at around the same time. That is, they would come again for nothing: nobody would be there.

On the note, they kindly provide a phone number and an unique ID. I tried to call, but it was already too late, their office was closed.

This morning, I called, and after spending 10 minutes on the phone, I could change the delivery address: I live in the Netherlands, so the street name's pronunciation is a bit harsh for me. But, I did manage :).

Of course, they informed me, that the truck was already gone with my package. The driver would go to my place for no reason, and I would not get my package until the next day. But that was to be expected.

Now, what if… they were using VisibleLogistics? I would have received an email informing me that the package was on its way. I could then have logged in and added a comment saying that I would not be there, and that it would be nice if they could change the delivery address, or deliver on another day/time. Or, even better, I would have changed the delivery address myself! The the delivery would have been faster and better for the environment!

BitLogistics - opinion tag

Where's that order?

What if…