Customer Retention And Competitive Advantage In The Medical Device Industry: Automating Order Management

By Esker, Inc

Facing the difficulties of a tough economy and new sources of competition, medical device manufacturers recognize that they must deliver the highest levels of service in order to retain existing customers and acquire new ones. Highly effective order management is absolutely crucial to this objective.

In their efforts to improve customer service and maintain competitive advantages, medical device companies face order management challenges in the areas of visibility, productivity, accuracy, cost control and implementation. Companies need to know what and where every order is at any time. They need to be able to retrieve orders and answer customer questions immediately. They need to eliminate non-value-added tasks and human errors that drive up costs and customer dissatisfaction. And as companies implement order management strategies, they need to include as many customers as possible.

The largest obstacle to overcoming all these challenges is paper. While medical device companies manufacture some of the most innovative products in the world, many still process orders for those products the old-fashioned way. Even orders that are received electronically often end up as paper on someone's desk. Although paper is familiar and companies have become highly proficient at processing paper orders, there is zero value to customer service in continuing to do so. Effective order management enables companies to quit paper, improve responsiveness, access order information instantly and monitor order management performance to enhance customer service.