How to think about the optimization direction of a new product

Here, take the B-end products and business systems such as TMS (Logistics Transportation System) as an example.

I think the optimization direction and thinking of TMS system are mainly divided into four parts.

1. Meet new business scenarios+business requirements.

2. Improve the business efficiency of the logistics team?

3. From the perspective of KPI performance, study the anomalies and optimizable places of indicators in each link, such as logistics, that is, receipt rate (timeliness) and cost.

4. From a global and strategic perspective. From the perspective of logistics management, how to reconstruct the business process, redesign the system architecture, or optimize the coordination of the whole logistics transportation system, such as TMS\OMS\WMS?

That is, business, efficiency, KPI and strategy. Tell me more about each type.

I. New business scenarios+requirements

First of all, a company's logistics business is definitely changing. If it doesn't change, it will either reach its peak or have no money to expand new business, and the company will go downhill. The former domestic JD.COM SF Ali and others dare not say that their logistics system is mature, while the latter is better to leave as early as possible. Therefore, for new business scenarios, system optimization can embed new business functions without affecting the general process. The second is to ensure that the system architecture is reasonable, not bloated and not wrong from the bottom root. When adding business scenarios in the future, the whole system will grow crooked and the whole tree will have to be cut down.

Second, improve the efficiency of sales staff.

There are two kinds here, one is a senior salesman and the other is a novice salesman. Because the system is constantly accumulating business and demand, the system structure will be a bit confusing and bloated in the end, which makes no difference to experienced salesmen, but for novice salesmen, the bloated system structure will lead to higher learning costs. If the structure is clear and the salesman is not changed frequently, the structure can be simply repaired, and the priority is not very high.

For experienced salesmen, we can study the daily operation of salesmen, that is, the workflow of a day. The existing workflow that takes up the most time, affects efficiency and requires a lot of manual operation can be evaluated whether it can be assisted or replaced by systems and algorithms. The second is to solve the problems they encounter in the operation process. For example, the derivation process is too slow, for example, manual work is not allowed in reconciliation, for example, abnormal documents need manual judgment every time. ...

Another direction is to promote intelligence and automation. JD。 The strategic goal of COM has always been this. Liu Ye likes to do this, replacing warehouse operators with unmanned warehouses, unmanned drones and unmanned vehicles, replacing purchasing and sales personnel with sales forecasting and intelligent replenishment, and replacing cashiers with unmanned supermarkets. Similarly, any B-end business system can be used, such as the automatic delivery of parcels, which can automatically handle abnormal orders through algorithms, thus reducing labor costs and reducing the error rate.

Third, from the perspective of KPI.

To improve the timeliness of logistics transportation, it is necessary to go through the whole process, such as the whole process from ordering to receiving goods, not only logistics, but also OMS (order management), WMS (warehouse operation) and finally TMS (five-way transportation). I learned that sometimes, due to insufficient inventory, an order is stuck there for several days and cannot be sent to the warehouse for production, or the abnormal order processing process is complicated, or the algorithm for allocating logistics channels does not choose the optimal path. How to optimize the inventory shortage? How to optimize the process of exception list? How to optimize the algorithm of allocating logistics channels? After thinking about it, I naturally know what the system should do.

Fourth, from a strategic point of view.

This is generally a clearer new definition of business, or a basic transformation of the system. For example, the procurement of supply chain is originally a manual order, and replenishment is based on the water level of inventory. At present, the pull replenishment theory of supply chain is adopted, which is driven by sales, so it is necessary to add a forecasting module at the bottom of the system to support the input of the whole system data. After the forecast sales volume is replaced as an input item of data, the affected part will change. For another example, the transportation of logistics was initially solved by third-party logistics providers. Now that the company's business has developed to a certain scale and wants to reduce the cost by building its own logistics channel, the transportation business, one of its own logistics channels, will be transformed into the operation process of the whole system.

Above, for B-end business products, from these perspectives, there are always benefits.