Customers must be provided access to the type of information they need related to their order.
This includes information on inventory status, expected or actual shipping date, and backorder status.
3. System Accuracy
Customers expect a wide variety of data to be made viable by the firm quickly and also the information they receive about order status and stock levels to be accurate.
The system should be able to pay a high level of attention to continuing problems and take corrective action.
The order cycle is the total time from customer initiation of the order through receipt of the product or service by the customer.
Elements of the order cycle include placing the order entry, and order processing, order processing, order picking and packaging for shipping, transit time, and the actual delivery process.
Customers tend to be more concerned about the consistency of delivery lead time rather than with absolute lead time.
In today’s time-based competition, reducing lead time has received greater attention.
Some orders, which cannot be managed through the normal delivery system, require special handling.
These items may have special shipping requirements or may have to be expedited to meet the delivery schedule of the customer.
The costs of such shipments are considerably higher than standard shipments but the cost of a lost customer could be still higher.
Order convenience refers to how easy it is for a customer to place an order. Order related problems such as confusing formats, non-standard terms or long waiting time on gold on the telephone, etc. cause dissatisfaction to the customers.
Such problems should be monitored and identified by talking directly to customers.
