How Can Multitasking Work For You in E-Commerce?
Choosing the right tool for the right job.
Multitasking; we all do it – or at least try to. There just aren’t enough hours in a day. We’re conditioned to believe that the busier we are, the more productive we must be, and therefore more successful. However, the key to making multitasking work for us is to make sure we don’t sacrifice quality for quantity.
How does this help e-Commerce? We can talk about it from 2 different angles.
1) Business Perspective – Managing the many components of your webshop can be tricky.
2) Customer Perspective – Because shoppers multitask, we need to reduce distractions.
As a business, smart multitasking can solve a multitude of problems. It’s about using the right tools for the right job and knowing what our priorities are. For customers, we need to understand how we as shoppers behave in an online space. We multitask all the time – so how can we get our customers to focus? It’s about reducing distractions and optimizing our webshop’s functionality, usability, and aesthetics.
Let’s focus on multitasking as a business…
Getting the Job Done and Done Well
In today’s fast-paced society, it’s about doing more and doing it faster; we take pride in our multitasking skills. As technology advances, it provides us with opportunities to multitask, with a multitude of apps and tools. But it’s also a double-edged sword. The internet has sucked many hours out of us when we click endlessly on videos, funny pictures, and articles. We can be productive and do many things at once, but we can also easily be highly unproductive.
Multitasking can make it look like you’re working harder than you actually are. You can take on more projects at once and seem to be producing at a high level.
But are you doing things halfway?
When the success of your business it at stake, some focus is in order. Party of managing multiple tasks is gathering and prioritizing, knowing what needs to be done and how, and when it has to be done by. In e-Commerce, we can group certain processes together so we can manage our time better. By thinking logically, we can determine what needs to be done first.
Focus – The Front-End of Your Webshop
Business goals and objectives don’t have to be written in stone as the industry is always subject to change. But once we have our goals in mind, we need to create an organized and actionable plan. In e-Commerce, a common goal is to grow your customer base and profits. Engage in strategic targeting measures from the front-end of your webshop.
Striking the right balance between all targets will make your e-Commerce easier to manage. If we had a huge customer base that spans all over the world, one approach is to have a website that supports multiple languages and currencies. If we had several different types of customers, for example dealers, suppliers, agents, as well as end-customers, we should consider multiple websites and catalogues to cater to their specific needs. We customize our webshops with features that suit specific business models. If we had an extensive product catalogue, we could make use of limitless categories so the information is easily consumed. Customers will appreciate the convenience in browsing.
By having options available in an e-Commerce solution, we can address specific targets without sacrificing a lot of effort. When clear and defined, everything seems much simpler. The fact that Nav-to-Net™ allows you to manage these components in Microsoft Dynamics™ NAV (formerly Navision) is a key factor in achieving this objective.
Simplicity is Key
Simplicity allows for business agility and optimal performance of our webshops. Simplicity is not only in the design and organization of the webshop, but how it is managed on the back-end. Business users can take advantage of a familiar environment and minimal imposition on their IT department when they use an integrated solution.
With an integrated solution like Nav-to-Net™, there is a user-friendly interface. It uses the powerful technology of Microsoft Dynamics™ NAV, but because it’s living inside the NAV environment, there is minimal learning curve, reducing our training costs.
Automated Processes – A good e-Commerce solution should employ several automated processes, freeing your time to pay attention to other important business matters. With these in place, like payment processing or upselling and cross-selling features, there is no tedious manual processing or any of the downsides associated with it. A fully integrated solution will streamline the management of your e-Commerce business. You will also have a bird’s eye view on parts of your business so you can strategize and act accordingly.
Built-In Document Management Tools – Handle all web content and information needed for the website entirely in Microsoft Dynamics™ NAV. This includes images, downloadable file attachments, brochures, videos, or software. Keeping your webshop organized is about having the right tools for the right job.
Multitasking with an Integrated Solution
With many components that have to run smoothly and harmoniously, having an e-Commerce solution that completely integrates with your ERP system on many levels is key. Having a solid ERP system, such as Microsoft Dynamics™ NAV, which suits your business needs is the first step. It helps manage your accounting and finances, supply chain and inventory, and other work operations, allowing you to stay productive. A complete ERP solution requires a comprehensive e-Commerce solution built exclusively for it.
The goal is synergy between all the parts of the business and having it align with business objectives. An integrated solution like Nav-to-Net™ can handle multiple processes with little trouble so you can focus on your team and on growing your business. It’s also a very reliable solution because of Always Take Orders™ and SmartPush technology, ensuring no orders are ever lost.
When you have confidence in these fundamental processes working properly, you can relax. You will actually be accomplishing more because you are multitasking smarter. Your e-Commerce solution is the ultimate “right tool” to “right job” done.
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