Any business with an e-commerce function already has a string of apps and services managing the flow of stock, sales and customer information. So, why look for an ERP? The modern truth is that growing businesses are focused on cloud, their market, sales implementation and experience, all areas that an ERP can support to drive growth.
With all the hype around AI and automation tools, traditional IT services and products like ERP might struggle to get a look in. But, they have been adding AI features over the past few years. Infor has Coleman, Salesforce has Einstein and so on, along with broad e-commerce support and tight back-office integrations.
Infor’s Coleman provides a digital assistant, advice and recommendations, and machine learning tools for business and retail customers. It provides insights into business operations, can identify fraud issues, and build insights based on the analysis of multiple sources.
As e-commerce becomes increasingly customer-centric, AI tools will deliver the information they want live, without any or much retailer intervention.
Artificial Intelligence the ERP Way
ERP vendors add new AI-enabled tools and features as part of service updates on a regular basis. But they do it as part of their quiet, enterprise-focused approach, rather than getting all shouty like the AI-led newcomers that rapidly roll out features, throwing them at the wall to see what sticks.
And while ERP might bring to mind the likes of industrial, manufacturing, and other giants across automotive or pharmaceuticals, in reality, most ERP users are in the distribution, retail, fashion, or food and beverage market, all with an increasing eye on e-commerce as a primary way of doing business. (for more about the bigger picture at the likes of Infor, see “What does a paper company know about ERP? Quite a bit as it turns out.”)
In summary, ERPs are suitable for most ecommerce businesses and will help them grow in an orderly fashion, but most retailers will still need some extra help when it comes to growing online retail bugbears like chargebacks.
The Specialist Tools for A Changing E-Commerce World
Any company focusing on, boosting existing, or planning e-commerce channels needs to deal with the many digital retail challenges created, and an ERP might not have all of the solutions out of the box. For example, among the “Top 15 Retail Digital Transformation Trends In 2023” are the rise of personalization, micro fulfillment, new retail channels and payment methods.
Alongside those thorny issues, e-commerce brands also have to manage issues like fraud and chargebacks, something that few ERPs are equipped to deal with. That’s why Cartis exists, providing the specialist knowledge and tools so that your e-commerce service can flourish, while your business grows using the power of ERP to understand market trends and your internal data to predict where the business will boom next.
As “friendly fraud” and the general rise in e-commerce makes chargebacks more frequent and costly, resolving chargebacks and maintaining good relationships with banks and customers is key for sellers.
There is also the issue of reporting chargebacks to the IRS and ongoing delays from banks, making rapid resolution a key issue for sellers. And with online sellers having lost some $130 billion (2018-2023, Juniper Research) to online payment fraud, keeping on top of the problem requires automation to speed up alerting and servicing these issues.
Cartis Payments integrates with most e-commerce systems and the likes of Infor’s CloudSuite ERP to deliver automation solutions to chargeback and fraud issues. To find out more about how Cartis can limit your exposure to lengthy chargeback scenarios, get in touch or see our YouTube channel to understand how fast and efficient our tools are in action.