Making Self-Service a Reality for Business Customers: A Guide for Manufacturers and Distributors

Business customers today expect the convenience of self-service portals from manufacturers and distributors. They want to look up product information, check product availability, view pricing, pay invoices, check order status and shipment information without waiting for a response from customer support or a sales rep. However, a significant hurdle remains to getting customers online: many customers still send email orders from their internal systems, avoiding the hassle of entering data twice—once in their system and again in the supplier’s portal. Here’s how manufacturers and distributors can enable effective self-service while addressing this challenge.

The Need for Self-Service

Business customers are used to quick and easy online tools in their personal lives and expect the same at work. A good self-service portal offers:

• 24/7 Access: Customers can get product details, check stock, see prices and look-up order details anytime.
• Simplified Ordering: Streamlined processes save time (even if they still send email orders)
• Easy Payments: Online portals make paying invoices faster and easier.

The Double Entry Challenge

Customers often place orders through their own systems, which then send these orders via email. Asking them to re-enter orders into a separate portal is inefficient and error-prone. To overcome this, suppliers must provide solutions that integrate smoothly with customers’ systems.

Strategies to Avoid Double Entry

1. System Integration:

   • Develop APIs that connect customer order systems with the supplier’s portal.
   • Use middleware to ensure orders placed in the customer's system are automatically transmitted to the supplier's portal.

2. Electronic Data Interchange (EDI):

   • Implement EDI to transfer orders automatically from customer systems to supplier systems.
   • Highlight EDI benefits like fewer errors and faster processing.
3. Transform Email Orders to Digital Orders
   • Deploy AI Tools to turn Email Orders into regular Digital Orders 
   • Backoffice AI can help you with this.
4. User-Friendly eCommerce Sites:

• • Design intuitive, easy-to-use eCommerce sites / user portals.
  • Offer training and support to help customers get started.

Conclusion

Shifting to self-service portals in the B2B world is challenging, especially with the issue of double entry. By support customers’ processes and "the way that they do business" and providing user-friendly tools and AI Order Email transformations, manufacturers and distributors can make this transition smoother. These strategies will enhance customer satisfaction and streamline operations, benefiting everyone involved.