5 Ways to Make Your Internal Operations Omnichannel
3. Cloud collaboration: Whether you're manufacturing your own goods or sourcing them from vendors, globalization of your supply chain necessitates a means of communicating without the barriers of time zones. Establishing a collaborative platform in the cloud is the best means of bringing together your internal product management teams and your diverse supply chain members. Communication can occur 24/7 and answers can be obtained in a timely fashion that will enable you to move the production schedule forward.
4. At the core: Moving more documents to the cloud will give you a central place in which to share information and eliminate document redundancy. It will enable you to further ensure product information is up to date and accurate. Streamlining product management communication will also ideally speed time to market.
5. Hearing the customer: Once you've toned up your product management communication, you can free up time to focus more on your mobile app-wielding customers who want it yesterday. If your collaborative platform is in place, you should be sending accurate, timely information out to consumers that's consistent across all channels.
Scrutinizing how data flows in your product management organization and taking steps to improve communication will take some heavy lifting at first, but the payoff can be quite substantial. In an omnichannel environment, with consumers jumping from mobile to store showrooms and back again, having consistent, up-to-date product information is absolutely essential to a sale. There's little chance of consistency if information is scattered among spreadsheets, emails and voicemails.
Looking ahead, when your internal and external teams can communicate better, there's a greater chance of creativity — e.g., finding that next hot product your customers will want. It's time to rid yourself of communication gridlock and unleash the collective knowledge and power of your organization.