Every industry manager is frequently looking for ways to reduce costs and make the operation more productive without affecting customer satisfaction. Improvements in the fulfilment and inventory processes reduce cost, result in better service and higher customer satisfaction.
It is essential for your business to have a robust framework in place to help cut down costs and keep on providing quality products and excellent service to our customers. The implementation of a Management System is the way forward to guarantee a more systematic and consistent approach which can enable organisations to meet their objectives, and achieve continual improvement through better monitoring and measuring of processes.
Some workers do not understand the need for a structured Management system; they are full of questions! However, the more involved the staff is in a Management system, the more they feel they are playing a vital part in achieving the company's goals. This implementation could take time and much effort but soon they will see the benefits of this.
Re-engineer areas for cutting cost while increasing your customer service.
Call centre: as web orders keep on the growth, it is vital to operate a call centre to reduce costs whilst maintaining high-quality customer service. By implementing a call centre, you can perform post-season auditing to have a better idea of what works, what doesn’t work or to detect problems, if any, and to set up internal standards to track and reduce your costs.
Labour is for sure your most significant call centre expense. Consider the need for full, part and flex time. Full time is proved to be the most expensive. Make sure your workers take training sessions to gain expertise to benefit customer service later.
Make sure your personnel are doing their work at the right time. Optimise scheduling to manage your team. Invest in workforce software to save you money, and when your call centre teamwork in a shared system, it will repay for itself fast.
Conduct an audit to look for services you don’t longer use or check for telephone bills that may have errors. Use an Interactive Voice Response (IVR) to identify and segment callers to differentiate customer service from orders. Check for call flow mistakes, which would add to telecom charges.
Other tips could be to count on flexibility in your staff model, in such a way as to reduce the call-centre-occupancy cost to save money while pleasing your employees. Home-work environment sounds very convenient for some jobs and saves you money. Try to find out a well-known temporary agency if you want personnel for peak work, an excellent way to cut costs.
Cutting cost in warehouse and distribution operations
Carrying out an analysis of your existing warehouse/distribution operation can drive significant savings, letting you to buildup space with no need for expansion.
Labour is your second largest expense in the warehouse. Check for the reason your workers are “burnt out”. Review hiring, retention and training practices. Make more efficient the picking and packing labour by using processes that best matches your order profile and that lower your warehouse labour, picking and replenishment too. Re-engineer your area for productivity.
An evaluation will help you get more productivity by optimising your layout, increasing your space/product storage utilisation and staff efficiency. Take care for the basics of fulfilment to avoid adding costs to the warehouse operation. A useful measurement and reporting process can improve performance and lower costs.
Barcoding throughout the warehouse, conveyance, material handling and warehouse management systems can improve productivity, increase service levels and reduce costs.
Planning, forecasting and analysis can drive in substantial savings. It is by modifying your organisational structure to be more efficient and to serve your customers better as well. Take advantage of dynamic Metrics. Audit your seasonal planning, weekly forecasting, and end-of-season analysis processes; it’s your responsibility to look out for your company's best interests; therefore, supporting your customer-workers helps strengthen relationships.
Reduce slow-selling stock as close to in-season as possible to gain a higher cost recovery; contract an auditor to see what additional savings can be achieved.
Multichannel business systems can be complicated, but selecting the right ones can have a considerable impact on your ability to operate efficiently. Define your user requirements and carefully select the appropriate systems.
Consider Outsourcing. Multichannel businesses can choose to outsource their existing hardware or shift their applications to new hardware at various outsourcing facilities, reducing staffing and maintenance related expenses.
Proper project planning and appropriate staffing to support a complex implementation are one of the most critical aspects to reducing unnecessary risks. Audit the implementation of Multichannel business systems and your staff’s responsibilities; record how additional training can improve system use.
Further comments: Effective Inventory Management in the warehouse, inventory and fulfilment is the single most vital tool to improve customer service and reduce the cost of operation.
Utilising these tips above should make it possible to run your business more efficiently and with higher customer service levels, all while reducing your operating costs. Don't be reluctant to get going now on implementing these tips. You will experience improved performance and higher customer satisfaction for your business.
Dave Food
Prophetic Technology
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