E-fulfilment is booming, that is already well known. Companies can make it quickly online. They can also disappear just as quickly. The margins that can be made in the logistics chain are small because charging to the end customer is limited. An online shopping customer can very easily switch to a competitor. And, if you’re not careful, so can your stock-keeping customer. This means that an integration project with your customer is also slightly different for you as a logistics service provider. It is of the utmost importance to be able to switch quickly: not to make it too difficult and certainly not to incur too many costs. Out-of-the-box integrations are a must! We deliver Packaged Integrations on our industry solution for WMS, TMS and Forwarding. And, of course, we stay true to our promise to always be up to date!

About Packaged Integrations

Switch on a Packaged Integration independently from now on without any problems! Follow the step-by-step plan and the next connection is in the air! Implement the integration in the process and go live! There are a few things about packaged integrations you need to pay attention to:

1. Constraint

Packaged integrations can only exist on the basis of constraint. They serve a certain purpose and support a certain way of working. A package is offered as it is. Not all conceivable scenarios on a platform are supported by the Packaged Integrations. Additions of standard functionalities are often possible. Just make sure you take lead time into account.

2. Standard use

Packaged Integrations assume standard use of 3PL software and the standard of the counterpart. If your process (or that of your customer) has started to deviate from the standard, you must first move back to it.

3. Master data

Master data must be consistent in both systems. Some master data can be read via the link (think of Customer items), others can be customized (e.g. customer card) or read in with Packages for Configuration. For tables such as General ledger numbers, Units, and Carrier types, adding to or modifying existing values is often not an option. In such cases, you must provision the 3PL Dynamics Mapping Table.

The development of Packaged Integrations is demand-driven. If your platform integration is not yet Packaged available, we would be happy to add it. If your platform party implements radical changes, we will implement them on behalf of the joint users. Does your integration not fit in such a packaged form? Not a problem! We also simply offer customized Integrations. The principle of Packaged Integrations is not limited to webshop platforms. It also applies to Courier platforms and accounting packages.

The devil is in the details

A ready-made link with a webshop platform sounds very nice. Very often we get the question “It’s a matter of ‘setting up an API’, isn’t it?”. The technical integration is usually not the problem. The hard part is in the implementation. A ready-made link is not a tailor-made application for your situation or that of your customer. It requires standardization:

• The webshop must be set up and used in a certain way of working
• The fields in your WMS/TMS must be used for a specific method

This means that you must have a clear view of your own process and the use of the software. And also that your customer is aware of the choices in the design of the webshop. This way, you know exactly which integrations you need, when you need to trigger a message and how often data needs to be retrieved.

What are the intricacies of handling e-fulfilment?

The world we live in shifts more and more to an online environment. That goes for the number of online purchases as well. And, as the number of online orders increases the demand for companies which handle e-fulfillment increases proportionately. The result? New chances for traditional logistics service providers to expand their activities. However, what are the challenges in this new market? And what do you need to pay attention to during the transfer? You read it in our whitepaper.