What are companies doing to optimize their operations and remain competitive in today’s challenging market?
We are seeing some noticeable trends among the hundreds of metal service centers that we work with. Companies are finding ways to do more with less, respond even more quickly to cost changes, and pivot in response to market uncertainty.
Many of these strategies involve the use of technology – specifically, we see metal service centers making the following 3 changes:
Streamlining customer payments
Improving the speed and accuracy of customer payments is a quick way to improve your bottom line. Implementing payment penalties and incentives is a common approach, but we see more and more companies in the metals industry moving to online payment platforms. Providing your customers with simple-to-use online payment options provides the following benefits:
- Quicker payments
Customers with secure payment links sent via email are much more likely to make payments early because it is quick and simple to take care of it when the email is received. They can also make payments at any time and from anywhere it is most convenient.
- More accurate payments
Online payment platforms provide customer dashboards on which all outstanding invoices can be viewed. Not only does this make it nearly impossible for the customer to pay the wrong amount, but it reminds them to pay any other outstanding balances.
- More secure payments
Checks being sent through the mail and credit card numbers being given over the phone are far from the most secure payment methods. Online payment platforms offer an extremely high-level of security when backed by a major financial institution. For example, our Enmark Pay system is powered by Fiserv, a global leader in payment processing. This also means that your team is not responsible for handling payment information from customers – it is managed completely by the payment platform.
And customers appreciate the ease with which they can make payments online, often viewing this as a perk you are offering.
Optimizing inventory tracking
Knowing exactly how much inventory you have (and where it is) has always been important, of course, but waiting for the next physical count to verify your inventory numbers is not sustainable in today’s market. Reacting quickly to price changes, negotiating with customers, and reducing the hours needed to find and move inventory means always having up-to-date, accurate inventory information.
For most companies, this means implementing some level of barcode scanning technology. Barcoding inventory provides the following advantages:
- Fewer errors – Ensure the right inventory is being pulled, processed, and shipped – every time. No more unnecessary scrap and incorrect shipments.
- Time savings – No more searching for inventory and returning incorrect items to stock.
- More accurate inventory – Not only will inventory be more accurate with barcode technology, but inventory data will be available at any time to everyone in the company who needs it.
In addition, barcode scanning technology is typically easy to implement and often works with your existing business system.
Using business intelligence to make quicker, more informed decisions
Business intelligence and decision support tools are immensely useful for both big-picture decision-making and day-to-day task planning. Use these types of tools for:
- Goal tracking
Up-to-date actual numbers compared to your goals and KPI’s.
For example: Create company-wide dashboards that can be used by your management team and/or shared with the company to highlight period-to-date performance.
- Issue monitoring
Real-time graphs and reports that highlight a specific area you want to keep an eye on.
For example: You have asked the sales team to watch the margins on a particular category of inventory because you have noticed profit slipping on those items. You create a chart that highlights any quote or order with margins below the percentage you set for these items.
- Team insights
Allow each team to review their own performance whenever they want to, with reports that are always up-to-date and available.
For example: Create dashboards for each salesperson so that at any time they can review their performance compared to their monthly, quarterly, and annual goals, and drill down into the detail behind any customer, item, quote, or order.
- Exception management
Set up automatic notifications for everything from inventory dropping below a set quantity to quotes that are over a set dollar amount. Automatic exception notifications can bring the most critical items to your attention without the need to review data and reports.
For example: Automatically create a task for the business owner to reach out to new customers when their first orders are over a certain dollar amount.
- Trend identification
One of the most important uses of business intelligence and decision support tools is the identification of data trends. Used correctly, this can give businesses more time to react to changes in their customers’ buying habits, inventory costs, or any other data that is stored in your core business system.
Using technology to optimize processes, react more quickly to changes, and make more informed decisions will only become more important to businesses in this industry. More and more companies are using these types of tools to work smarter and do more with less. Enmark Systems is the provider of the top-ranked Eniteo ERP system. Learn more at www.enmark.com.
