Softeon, a global supply chain software provider with the industry’s best track record of customer success, has identified a number of opportunities for third-party logistics providers (3PLs) to leverage Distributed Order Management (DOM) software to drive revenue opportunities and create market differentiation.

Softeon’s VP of Client Services, Satish Kumar, and Chief Marketing Officer, Dan Gilmore, shared those insights on a recent webinar in partnership with the International Warehouse Logistics Association (IWLA). Softeon is the leading provider of supply chain software, including DOM and WMS to the 3PL sector.

Softeon’s Distributed Order Management system is a powerful platform that enables 3PLs to offer services such as the following:

• Advanced Order Management – far beyond basic order entry. This includes such capabilities as backorder management, subscriptions, new product introduction, virtual kits, inventory allocation, order scaling, and vendor drop shipping.
• Integration with Virtual Marketplace Platforms – such as Shopify, Amazon, Channel Advisors, BigCommerce, Salesforce, and many others.
• Optimal Order Routing Capabilities – providing clients a sophisticated platform to define order sourcing rules and execute them dynamically. The DOM easily supports strategies such as “pop-up” DCs – just one of many examples.
• Inventory Balancing Services – especially for 3PLs operating “hub and spoke” networks, with DOM optimally determining how inventory received at hubs should be distributed across the “spoke” network, based on a variety of factors.
• Returns Processing – allowing 3PLs to create customer RMA’s and send a return label to a customer or enable customer self-service.

“Distributed Order Management can allow 3PLs to move beyond highly competitive, low-margin pick, pack, and ship offerings to offer a higher level of differentiated services,” says Softeon’s Kumar.

Softeon finds that DOM can also be used to improve the efficiency and profitability of traditional order management functions, including faster on-boarding of new clients, significantly reducing the number of times each order must be touched, and providing a single source of the truth.

“We have seen a substantial increase in inquiries from 3PLs on DOM, sometimes stand-alone, sometimes with WMS,” Kumar added, saying “DOM is becoming a ‘must-have’ for growth-focused 3PLs in terms of fulfillment services.”

An on-demand version of the webinar can be found here.