Enhancing Order-to-Cash Efficiency: Tips for Distributors

It’s a long journey from the time a customer places an order to the moment of delivery. The order-to-cash cycle is made up of many moving parts—making it easy for an order to go off track before it reaches its destination. 

Errors in order entry, mis-picks, and delayed shipments can all derail order fulfillment. That’s why it’s important to make each stage of this process as efficient and error-proof as possible, so customer satisfaction stays high and your operation runs smoothly.

To enhance order-to-cash efficiency in your business, start with our top three tips for streamlining order fulfillment.

1. Stay Current with Software Updates

Though it seems small, you’d be surprised how much of an impact outdated software can have on your operational efficiency. Frequent prompts to update your software can feel excessive and unnecessary, but these improvements—big or small—ensure that your technology is at peak performance.

Ignoring these updates can prove costly in the long run, as you’ll be missing out on enhanced security, new features and functionality, and better compatibility with other devices. Get the most out of your technology investment by making timely software updates and improving the user experience.

2. Leverage Integrations

With all the complex stages that make up the order-to-cash cycle, it would be tough to be an expert on each one of them. Luckily, you don’t have to be. Focus on the parts of order fulfillment your company does well, and look to integration partners to fill in the gaps. 

From ensuring your company is tax-compliant to tackling EDI to finding your optimal shipping strategy, there’s an integration for that. With dozens of third-party experts to choose from, the search can be overwhelming, so stick to the integrations that best suit the needs of your operation. 

For a relatively modest investment, integrations can pack a powerful punch in streamlining aspects of your order fulfillment processes—so don’t be shy about asking for help from a partner.

3. Embrace Automation

Replacing tedious, manual processes with automated workflows is one of the most effective ways to boost productivity in your operation day-to-day. With automation software, repetitive tasks can be set into motion when certain conditions are met—which you can specify using business rules.

Not only do automated solutions save you time by not relying on someone to manually click a button. They also significantly reduce opportunities for error, since you have total control over when and how a task gets triggered.

You can employ automation in nearly every stage of the order-to-cash cycle, like barcoding in your warehouse, emailing tracking information and invoices, and much more. Furthermore, you can ensure frequent and purposeful communication across your business without any extra effort on your part. Maximize your team’s efficiency without having to hire more employees, and boost your order fulfillment immensely. 

Faster, More Efficient Order-to-Cash

Seemingly small changes in your operation can have the biggest impact on your bottom line, and these three suggestions are a great place to start if you want to maximize efficiency and profitability. But to reach your business’s full potential and unlock value throughout the entire order-to-cash cycle, you need Cavallo’s solutions for Microsoft Dynamics GP and Dynamics 365 Business Central. 

For the last 20 years, we’ve made it our mission to make our customers’ businesses as successful as possible. We’re passionate about optimizing business processes, accelerating order fulfillment, and supercharging GP and BC. Get in touch with our team today and schedule a demo to start making more money now.