Systems Limited co-hosts webinar with Microsoft on omnichannel fulfillment optimization through (DOM)

Tuesday, June 22, 2021 – Continuing its drive to deliver interactive knowledge-sharing sessions centred around the most prevalent enterprise technology trends, Systems Limited partnered with Microsoft to host another insightful webinar. Titled “Optimizing Omnichannel Fulfillment with Distributed Order Management (DOM),” the live session focused on explaining how the Distributed Order Management (DOM) system in Microsoft Dynamics 365 Commerce can help retailers improve and optimize order fulfilment.

Hosted and moderated by Sadaf Aziz from Systems Limited’s Digital Marketing team, the panel of experts included Mudasar Ansari, Practice Lead ERP, and Ahsan Tufail, Senior Managing Consultant from Systems Limited. Joining in from Microsoft was their Business Application Lead Zeeshan Pirzada. The webinar was attended by representatives of Pakistan’s major apparel and footwear retail brands.

After the brief introductions, Zeeshan Pirzada started the proceedings by talking about how Microsoft envisions today’s business challenges and how the company’s business applications are helping customers overcome those challenges today. He briefed how the changing customer behaviour is driving a rapid evolution of the very fabric of commerce and emphasized the importance of a proactive approach on how to navigate this new reality. He further explained Microsoft’s philosophy of building an intelligent ecosystem that not only delivers engaging customer experiences and empowers employees, but also optimizes operations and eventually brings about holistic transformation for businesses. This philosophy has culminated in Microsoft’s Dynamics 365 range of business applications that are tailored to cover every aspect of the evolving needs of modern enterprises.

Mudassar Ansari then took the reins of the webinar by shedding light on Pakistan’s fast-growing eCommerce market. He explained how the revenue of traditional brick-and-mortar stores selling non-essential products significantly reduced due to the COVID-19 pandemic. “The ultimate choice for retailers to continue doing business and for consumers to buy products is through the eCommerce channel. Like the other regions of the world, Pakistan’s eCommerce industry has grown tremendously in the pandemic,” he added. Moreover, he presented interesting industry statistics signifying this growth. According to the numbers, Pakistan’s eCommerce market posted a revenue of Rs. 96 billion during Q1 2021, achieving a growth of 35% from the revenue in Q1 2020, which amounted to Rs. 71 billion. The sector is expected to grow 16% annually till 2024.

Mudassar further described the challenges faced by physical retailers in order fulfilment, inventory management, and payment collection that have come forth because of this growth. He stressed the

need for retailers to overcome these challenges by adopting technology that enables a holistic view of their inventories which are seamlessly syncing with their stores. Distributed Order Management (DOM), he said, has become the norm in enabling omnichannel fulfilment in retail. Discussing its many benefits, Mudassar pointed out that DOM provides a platform for effective supply chain orchestration, increased speed & flexibility, and minimize costs by leveraging the brick-and-mortar retailer networks.

Continuing the session, Ahsan Tufail gave a brief overview of DOM capabilities. Calling it an “intelligent order brokering system that uses a set of rules to determine the best fulfilment location for an order,” he explained how DOM breaks away from the traditional linear supply chain model to a more dynamic and accessible model where the system considers every step of the customer journey to make fulfilment as convenient and frictionless as possible. After explaining DOM’s conceptual flow, he gave a detailed demonstration of DOM capabilities within Dynamics 365. The webinar concluded after a Q&A session.

Today’s rapidly evolving retail landscape has seen a paradigm shift in commerce operations where retailers are endeavouring to deliver seamless, personalized, and omnichannel experiences. To achieve this, complete and real-time inventory visibility across different channels is necessary. Distributed Order Management systems have become a vital component of retail. Not only do they allow retailers to unlock real-time inventory visibility across all channels, but empower them to set up, execute, and optimize inventory allocation, order fulfilment, and distribution to better serve customer expectations.