{"id":83349,"date":"2022-04-27T04:42:55","date_gmt":"2022-04-27T11:42:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/oroinc.com\/b2b-ecommerce\/?p=83349"},"modified":"2022-08-08T01:27:55","modified_gmt":"2022-08-08T08:27:55","slug":"digital-operations-platforms-why-does-b2b-ecommerce-need-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/oroinc.com\/b2b-ecommerce\/blog\/digital-operations-platforms-why-does-b2b-ecommerce-need-it\/","title":{"rendered":"What Is a Digital Operations Platform (DOP) and Do B2B eCommerce Brands Need Them? | OroCommerce"},"content":{"rendered":"

This post has been contributed by\u00a0Marello<\/a><\/u><\/em><\/p>\n

In today’s world, people use the most advanced and intelligent apps to manage their personal and professional lives. In <\/span>B2B eCommerce<\/span><\/a> however, legacy software that would not look out of place ten years ago is often used. As the eCommerce landscape is changing fast, customers are becoming more demanding. As a result, B2B companies are dealing with more complex back-office operations than ever before.
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Traditional B2B back-office solutions are inflexible and unable to cope with a fast-changing eCommerce landscape. Both B2B customers and B2B employees are unsatisfied with the services offered by legacy systems. It’s time to change that, with a Digital Operations Platform (DOP).<\/span><\/p>\n

Replacing Legacy Systems<\/h2>\n

Over the past decade, many B2B businesses have put into place solutions to manage their digital operations in the best way possible. Solutions that were put in place include Enterprise Resource Planning software (ERP), Order Management software (OMS), Customer Relationship Management solutions (CRM), Warehouse Management Software (WMS), and much more.<\/span><\/p>\n

However, the eCommerce landscape is changing fast. More complex back-office operations have to be put in place to keep up with customer demands. To cater to these demands, many businesses have created integrations between their existing systems. They are now facing integration mazes, in which solutions lack the ability to fully communicate with each other.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This has clear downsides. Working in these mazes is highly inefficient. Employees have to switch between multiple solutions with a high chance of errors as data often have to be manually transferred. Also, making sure all these different pieces of software are kept up to date, takes up a lot of valuable time and money.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Digital<\/p>\n

To solve these problems B2B business leaders are looking for alternatives. For instance, we can all agree that <\/span>selecting the right ERP<\/span><\/a> is a must for distributors<\/span>. However, not all ERPs live up to the expectations. Many ERP systems are as inflexible and hard to maintain as the legacy systems already in place. In conclusion, many businesses have been let down by the software that they are using.<\/span><\/h5>\n

Time for a change! Global analytics firm Forrester\u2019s<\/span>\u00a0latest report<\/span><\/a> describes a transition away from legacy systems, to a more modern, flexible, and sustainable Digital Operations Platform (DOP).<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2018While ERP systems of the past have been largely inflexible, expensive to upgrade, and poorly suited to modern digital businesses, we now see the beginning of a new era of operations technology, the Digital Operations Platform\u2019<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

What is a Digital Operations Platform?<\/h2>\n

A Digital Operations Platform brings together B2B back-office operations and unifies them into a single view. It gives your business what it needs most: a space in which operations are streamlined, in which your employees can work together, and which allows for great customer experiences.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

A Central Platform for all Teams<\/h3>\n

Having a DOP in place gives your teams one central place to handle the operations they are responsible for. For example, your sales team will be able to manage sales from multiple channels, both online and offline –\u00a0 your warehouse managers will be able to follow and manage each inventory mutation\u00a0 \u2013 and your customer service team will have insights into information such as order statuses and previous communications.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In this way, your teams have a very efficient way to not only do their own jobs the best way possible but can also work together in a single system. On top of that, information does not have to be manually transferred between systems, decreasing the chance of manual errors.<\/span><\/p>\n

Data-driven Decisions<\/h3>\n

Having a centralized platform in place means data silos between different business units are reduced. This creates many new opportunities for automating business-wide operations. Use sales info to decide about product pricing, see how sales channels are performing, adapt marketing strategies, and forecast inventory mutations based on trends. Remove the guesswork and grow stronger data-driven business strategies.<\/span><\/p>\n

An Optimal Customer Experience<\/h3>\n

When we look at B2B buyers in 2020, we know that they expect an easy seamless experience, no matter the channel they use to buy their products. A good DOP will be key to optimizing your customer experience. As DOP\u2019s bring together data streams they allow for optimizing processes such as:<\/span><\/p>\n