Logistics providers have a lot of work on their hands. They often have to do assembly and packaging. Warehouse workers have to keep track of stock.
This leaves a lot of room for human error. Are you sure your employees are writing the addresses correctly on their labels? Are they positive they’re sending the right items?
This can lead to a lot of unhappy customers. And unhappy customers mean business is lost.
But what can be done about it? Is there another way to do things?
If you digitize value-added warehouse services, then the answer might be yes. It allows you to automate a lot of functions that happen in your warehouse.
But how does that help you? And how do you go about getting this done?
If you invest in VAS digitalization properly, then it can end up being one of the best things you’ll ever do for your business. But this only works if you set it up correctly. You need a software company you can trust to help you get started on this.
Read on to learn everything you need to know about value-added services and how digitizing them can help your business.
What Are Value-Added Warehouse Services?
Value-added warehouse services allow businesses to deliver products to customers more effectively. They are essentially extra services provided by a business so that businesses can fulfill orders quickly and correctly. This includes keeping track of stock, assembly, packaging, and labeling.
It allows businesses to focus on the thing that’s most important to them: customer satisfaction. But the trouble is that these services are done manually in many cases.
Digitizing these functions allows for less human error. In some cases, it can even allow employees to double-check their work before they send out a package.
How to Digitize Value-Added Warehouse Services
To digitize value-added warehouse services for your business, you’re going to need software that can manage the task. Finding the right software, however, can be challenging because many businesses offer many different value-added services. And each business is going to have different procedures to handle these services.
This means you have to be able to find the right software for your business. Looking for these qualities will help you find the right software for your business.
Customizable
The first thing you want from your software is customization. Your business is different from others, and your software should reflect that.
For example, if you need to handle certain products with care, then you might need your employees to be wearing gloves. You can set up your software to detect these conditions and ensure that it happens correctly. This way, employees don’t risk getting hurt and products get handled with the care they need.
You might also need software that helps you keep track of stock. If your warehouse handles assembly, then you need to be sure you have the parts to complete it. Otherwise, you wouldn’t be able to fulfill the orders you’ve been given on time.
It can also allow you to ensure that your customers get the product they asked for. Some software will allow you to customize labels for items intended for gifts, for example. This allows you to provide just enough information on the label to keep the package a surprise while getting it to the right place on time.
And if your software isn’t designed for your business, then it’s probably not going to be completely useful for your employees. That’s why you should choose a software company that will custom-design your software for your business.
Personalized Customer Service
If you have problems or questions about your software after it’s been installed, then there should be someone you can call. This person should be knowledgeable and be able to answer any of your questions. This way, any issues or concerns can be resolved quickly, and you can get back to work fulfilling orders.
To that end, the company you choose to make your software should offer personalized customer service. This line should be available during at least most of your business hours by email or phone. They should also be quick to respond so that you don’t have to delay production for long.
This should also come included with the software. You shouldn’t have to pay extra for this service. Otherwise, there’s no guarantee that you’ll be happy with the software.
If the software isn’t working for you, then this can lead to problems with getting orders out. The last thing you want is unhappy customers with delayed or incorrect shipments.
So a good software company will be there to offer that customer support whenever you need it. You can focus on customer satisfaction rather than worrying about your computer systems.
Reliability
You want to ensure that your software will work the way you need it to every time. It should function the way your software company promises it will. And there should be very little downtime if it relies on internet services to run.
This ensures that your business can run as smoothly as possible without slowing down or stopping. The last thing you need is for orders to be delayed because of bad software.
It should also be accurate. If your software is giving you incorrect information, then it isn’t very useful to you. This can lead to incorrect orders or labels.
If orders are constantly being sent out with incorrect information, then this is a big problem for your business. You don’t want to have to deal with the cost of returns from incorrect orders. You also don’t want customers to be unhappy when their order gets sent to the wrong address.
Reliable warehouse management systems prevent such errors from happening. This gives you peace of mind that orders and labels are being filled out correctly every time. This means your customers are happy and might even keep bringing you more business.
User-Friendliness
Software that’s hard to navigate and confusing isn’t going to help you or your business. You need to ensure that your employees will know how to use it and when. This is all part of user-friendliness.
It ensures that your employees will know for certain that they’re doing their jobs correctly each time.
A user-friendly software should be easy to read. It shouldn’t use small or unusual fonts. The colors shouldn’t make it difficult to read either.
It should flow in a way that makes sense to the average person. It should be easy to find the functions you’re looking for just by studying the screen for a moment.
It shouldn’t be difficult to learn. Your employees should be able to use it without slowing down too much after only a few days.
This prevents delays in your order fulfillment. You can feel confident that you’re getting orders out correctly and efficiently with user-friendly software. This also reduces employee frustrations caused by company equipment.
When your employees and customers are happy, then you know you’re running a good business. Making sure any new software is user-friendly can make all the difference to that.
The Benefits of Digitizing Them
When you start digitizing your value-added warehouse services, you want to make sure that it’s going to help your business. So what exactly can effective VAS software do for you? What benefits does this come with?
The following are examples of the benefits you’ll receive with VAS digitalization.
Efficiency
Warehouses often require a lot of repetitive and boring tasks. This monotony can be dangerous for a business. It can lead to employees not paying attention and making mistakes.
Automation can handle these repetitive tasks such as printing custom labels. This eliminates a lot of human error and allows your employees to handle jobs that need a more delicate touch.
Your employees will appreciate not needing to do the more repetitive tasks that make a workday seem long. Your customers will be happy to frequent your business when they know you’ll get their orders right every time.
It also allows these tasks to go a little faster. When the task can be automated, then they can also be done in bulk as well. This makes the job go faster, leaving more time to complete more orders in a day.
So automation makes your employees and your customers happy, meaning you have more time to work on bringing in new customers. This also means more money and more work for your employees to do. So eventually you can open up more jobs for potential workers.
Employee Management
More efficiency means that you can cut down on employees working overtime as well. This will save you money that can be returned to the company for more assets and employees. This means you have even more ability to get more orders filled in a day.
It also gives you the ability to track which employees are being the most productive. This allows you to set goals and provide rewards for those who meet them. It also allows you to see which employees aren’t as productive so they can get the training and assistance they need to get their jobs done.
And they’ll be grateful for the chance to go home to their families without needing to work overtime. This boosts morale and makes for a more pleasant atmosphere to work in.
This boost in morale can lead to a more productive team during business hours. That means you can keep busy filling even more orders for customers.
Maintaining Stock
This software can also help you keep track of what items you have in stock. You can’t afford to delay orders because a part was missing.
This software can alert you when items are running low to give you plenty of time to order replacements. And because it also knows what orders are coming in, it knows how soon you’ll be running out of certain items completely. This takes into account that even though you might have certain items in stock right now, this stock might be reduced by the time you get to fill certain orders.
This means that you never have to delay or refund orders because you ran out of parts for assembly. Instead, you can stay ahead by ordering more before you run out.
Customer Tracking
Customers also like to be able to track their orders. Your software can give your customers the ability to see exactly where their order is.
This means they can see when the package was prepared until it leaves your warehouse. They can see exactly where it is in your value-added services process. This gives them a good idea of when items will arrive.
It also gives you the ability to let customers know when their orders are delayed and why. Customers will appreciate your honesty and transparency and will keep coming back to your business despite the delay.
Furthermore, it can help you track down the employees responsible when something goes wrong. This way, you can figure out exactly what happened and fix it quickly.
Digitize Your Value-Added Services
When you digitize value-added warehouse services, you’re making a worthwhile investment in your company. This will help your business run more smoothly and let your customers keep track of their orders.
But all of this information is useless if you don’t choose a software company that will make this happen for you.
That’s why you should trust Nizek for your digitization process. We’ll walk you through every step of the development process so that you know you’re getting the software your company needs.
Hire us today and see how we can help your business run smoother.
