In this world of no-mercy, formidable business competition, there’s hardly a second of respite or to get complacent and rest on your laurels whether you’re a startup owner or a CXO of an enterprise. While trying to cut through the competition in the global business scenario, your software can make a difference.
Business having the most advanced and hybrid software programs will certainly get an edge over their competitors. Startups and SMBs are more vulnerable and susceptible to competition, as the bigger boys in the industry most likely backed up by gilt-edged technology that can teat the competition big time.
Though it’s still, survival of the fittest, small businesses can focus on advanced software implementation to survive and surpass the competition in today’s economy, here’s how:
1. The Supply End: First Things First
For understanding how the right software can ring up your business performance in the global marketplace: let’s put first things first and start right from the start with the ‘supply chain’ of your company.
Your company’s supply chain should make up for demand and availability at levels more than one, including initial manufacturing material, operations lifecycle, sales trends, support, etc. By bolstering your operations with predictive analytics, you simplify and strengthen important supply chain processes such as sourcing of materials, optimizing shipping schedules or adding extra supply sources to meet the demand more effectively.
You’re actually asking for trouble by not addressing important business aspects such as client activities, supply chain issues, and market trends through predictive analytics. Strong estimations make for better pricing and fulfillment, as well as faster scaling your consumers can count on.
2. Products In Motion
While the supply chain of your business may be lengthy, requiring considerable arrangements for changes, shipment, and distribution which can result in delays and other timing issues for small businesses/. Fortunately, deploying the right software tool can prove effective in reducing associated time delays.
First, in order to understand how deploying a software application can give a face-lift to your distribution process, you must understand that the distribution process is not just about moving a product. It rather consists of various aspects pertaining to inventory management and the competence to make fast changes in core business strategies on the basis of client requirements, sales pattern, etc.
Regardless of all the challenges, the distribution process doesn’t always have to be a gridlock. By deploying an ERP application for tracking the entire distribution process, managing vendors and monitoring the incoming data offers additional carryover details regarding the individual purchase, billing, order, and delivery.
The good thing is that the distribution process has enough scope of personalization, and for most small businesses, it implies that by implementing drop shipping instead of conventional methods to manufacture and order products have several benefits on offer. Drop shipping is just the ideal choice for small companies with a limited budget and no warehousing capacity.
Drop shipping has a certain speed advantage since it offers extensive business mobility. Ig you have good internet connectivity, ordering and tracking customers’ shipments becomes a whole lot easier since you have the software application always at hand, no matter where you are, particularly through an exclusive online platform.
Both the drop shipping systems and the ERPs permit enterprises to cut out the inventory tracking application, although each cut out is for different reasons.
As inventory tracking application is deployed in warehousing facilities, having no warehouse cuts out the role of a middleman in drop shipping, while most ERP applications comprise of inventory tracking as an integral component of a larger program.
The thumb rule is: the fewer moving parts your business has, the more productive your processes tend to be.
3. Go Mobile, Go Paperless
Ultimately, there are numerous small factors that tend to degrade the performance of your business operations; however, some of the most widespread reasons include lackluster paperwork and time-consuming payments or billing cycles. Fortunately, some straightforward tools are available to help you eliminate these pain points from the formulae.
Though it is almost impossible to remove paperwork completely from any business environment, given that receipts, orders, contracts, and various other forms will never disappear, there are certain ways in which you can reduce the amount of manual work associated with all those paperwork. Digitizing the papers, and moving keenly towards papers that are ‘born digital’, is a great way to shun the cumbersome paperwork associated with any business operation.
With the rise of ‘e-Signature’ tools such as DocuSign, it has become relatively easier for customers as well as businesses to accept digital documents formally. You can use any of the established eSignature tools or get a custom one developed as per your unique business need from a reputed ERP mobile app development company to ensure you stay right on top of your important business operations.
Reducing the paperwork involved in billing, along with bringing in a mobile aspect, can accelerate the process to a great extent. With Payment as a Service (also known as PaaS), small businesses can bill customers and accept payments from just about anywhere, almost similar to how drop shipping permits mobile fulfillment.
As a matter of fact, when the two work in tandem, they can truly speed up your operations big time. This way, your business is always with you, no matter where you go.
What else can an entrepreneur demand in this digital age!
Though speed is simply not everything, but when we talk about the big boys of the industry such as Amazon that runs a Prime service with ‘same-day or two-day shipping’, depending upon the customer’s location; on-demand TV service by HBO, Netflix, and Hulu; same-day pick-up or dine-in delivery through a mobile app; etc., it definitely is an instrumental factor.
Though, as of today, most super-speed delivery services are left with just the bigger names of the industry, small businesses can, too, join the race to have their share of fortune by deploying smarter and advanced software packages.
