How do you enhance customer service through supply chain management?

Answer 1

Supply chain management is based on a simple philosophy - Analyzing all the links between all the businesses and industries that contribute in major ways before the final product or service is delivered to the final consumer. The one thing that makes supply chains work well is information sharing. When information is shared openly and in a timely and detailed manner, all members of the supply chain are able to make decisions and adjust to changes promptly. There are concerns that some companies may be unwilling to participate in supply chains because the information sharing requirement makes them uncomfortable. In fact some companies are afraid that making such information available in such levels of detail may actually place them at a competitive disadvantage if security is compromised and the information is exposed. However, companies such as Dell have proved that an effectively designed and managed supply chain is clearly a boost to business.

Customer service can be enhanced in the following ways by an effective supply chain;

Better product delivery

With quality information available across all the major points in the company's supply chain, the performance of the company in delivering the correct product, to the correct place, at the correct time, in the correct condition and packaging, in the correct quantities, with the correct documentation, to the correct customer will increase significantly and customers will be served better.

Better responsiveness

When the supply chain is running effectively, it becomes easier for a company to provide accurate information to it's customers regarding any product or activity because the information is readily available. You can understand this by looking at how a tracking service for a postage company allows customers to find out precisely where a package has reached.

Better reliability

As a result of the first two points, if the supply chain becomes more reliable, the individual member companies (called partners) also become more reliable, at least from a customer service point of view because they tend to give more reliable deliveries and responses to queries.

Faster Responsiveness -

The speed at which a supply chain provides products to the customer and resolves their problems improves dramatically, primarily because obtaining the information that customers need requires less effort and fewer procedures. Without supply chain management, many departments requested information from the partners by placing telephone calls. After the call was made, an employee was assigned to handle the particular query. Responding to the queries frequently involved counting items and retaking stock and other time -wasting procedures. Real time information systems in a well designed supply chain eliminate all these procedures and giving speedier returns.

Supply Chain Flexibility -

A company participating in an effective supply chain will be able to respond to the market place or customer changes to gain or maintain a competitive advantage because all the partners act as sensors for each other in the marketplace.A company could detect changes very quickly in customer tastes in fashion, for example, by noticing changes in figures obtained from partners along the chain.

Finally, the company could provide more flexible offerings such as more flexible returns policies and more effective relationship marketing etc. All these go to enhance customer service, leading to improved customer's perceived value of the company and ultimately to competitive advantage.