from Jörg Brunschwiler at
Focus on order management systems (OMS) - what approaches are there and what are their effects?
In the first part of the mini-series "The new retail omnichannel commerce", we looked at the new omnichannel requirements, among other things. Part 2 builds directly on this and looks at the approaches that can be used to tackle these requirements.
Omnichannel requirements can be fulfilled with each of the following approaches / scenarios. The interaction of the most important systems involved - ERP, OMS and eCommerce - shows the character of the scenario - each with a major impact, e.g. on a subsequent evaluation of the systems.
Scenario 1 - "as usual, ERP & eCommerce include OMS functionality"
- OMS functionalities are more or less statically built into both ERP and eCommerce systems - this is the ACTUAL situation that we often find.
- As a lot of effort and money has been invested in this constellation in recent years, this should also be the TARGET scenario - fair enough!
- An upcoming modernisation of the eCommerce system should always be seen as a 1:1 replacement of the existing solution; the OMS functionalities often have to be developed again on the new system.
Scenario 2 - "Specialised OMS between ERP and lean eCommerce"
- A specialised order management system should close the gap between ERP (not flexible enough for the new omnichannel requirements) and eCommerce (where these overarching work processes of the employees involved from the branch and central services such as support should not be located).
- This is the classic scenario from which our customers expect the most flexibility and which many specialised OMSs on the market are aimed at - almost all of which are modern SaaS systems in terms of architecture.
- The evaluation of a specialised OMS is very exciting, because here too there are different approaches in terms of functionality and licensing models.
- Please note the project costs: API-first sounds very good, but for certain cases the interface has to be built!
- Necessary integration in both ERP (fairly standard) and eCommerce (deeper integrations in the direction of open shopping baskets etc. can involve a lot of effort) must be taken into account.
Scenario 3 - "Combined omnichannel eCommerce & strong OMS"
- An omnichannel eCommerce system already combines OMS and eCommerce without further integration, which is a plus point from a process and architecture perspective.
- For many customers, it is a difficult step to part with their favourite eCommerce system and become dependent on a new manufacturer. For this reason, this is only an option in the wild at a time and in combination with the modernisation of the eCommerce system, which is necessary anyway.
- If this combination is chosen at this point in time, it promises a number of advantages over scenario 2 in terms of flexibility and project costs.
Scenario 4 - "Omnichannel retail all-in-one solution with strong OMS & ERP"
- An all-in-one retail solution comprises all system components relevant to the retail business.
- With these comprehensive solutions, there are once again two camps - those that have bought the components together under one brand and those that have outgrown the SME size as complete solutions and are definitely suitable for larger companies.
- The term "Digital Operations Platforms", coined by Forrester in 2021/2022, is a term that describes these all-in-one solutions well.
None of the scenarios mentioned is fundamentally wrong or less future-proof than the other. What is important is the realisation that a decision in favour of one scenario sets the direction for important parts of the architectural landscape - with major implications for the sequence of evaluations and the overall digital transformation of the architecture.
Until now, the two "extreme scenarios" 1 (left) and 4 (right) were less the future scenarios our customers had in mind - these tended more towards the centre, although intermediate scenarios were always discussed as well.
Recently, however, scenario 4, which is unimaginable for many customers, has become a possible option - hypothetical as well as concrete ERP re-evaluations have emerged from various situations ... and suddenly even ‘classic ERP in the form we have been used to for decades’ could be questioned.
And it is precisely this scenario that will be the subject of the final part of this mini-series:
