When you need an answer to a supply chain question...

I only received half of my shipment for Order NX74205 and I need the whole shipment by the end of this week.

…how long it takes to find the answer depends on whether you choose:

THE HARD WAY

THE EASY WAY

THE HARD WAY

Thursday – 3:00 PM

Ok, I’m sorry for the inconvenience. Let me check with the IT department to see what happened.

Is there any way you can get the rest of the units expedited overnight? We are going to miss a big opportunity if we don’t have the full order.

I’ll see what I can do.

Animation showing truck, question mark and schedule icons

Thursday – 3:15 PM

This is urgent…I need to know how many units we shipped against Order NX74205.

Animation showing pulsating hazard icon on an order form

I have a few things I have to take care of first, I’ll look into it as soon as I can.

Animation showing 4 o’clock on an analog clock icon

Thursday – 4:15 PM

OK…searching for the relevant Advanced Ship Notices for that order.

Animation showing icons for sheets of paper and a magnifying glass examining information entries

Thursday – 4:30 PM

Found the Advanced Ship Notices and translated them so you can read them. Emailing them to you now.

Thursday – 5:10 PM

Animation replaying message that suggests poor customer-service experience

Friday – 9:10 PM

I just wanted to follow up on the message I left yesterday. We’ve put in a request to ship the missing units, but they won’t go out until this afternoon. So we’re looking at a Monday delivery…

Animation showing a truck driving through a calendar week and making a five-day package delivery

Monday is too late…we needed those units today. Please cancel the rest of the order and issue a refund for the unshipped units.

There was a shipping problem on order NX74205 and we can’t ship the rest of the order in time. We need to issue the customer a refund for the unshipped merchandise.

Icons representing a customer rep, the world of currency and questions about money matters

That’s three in the last month. We need to find a way to fix this…

Check this out: IBM Sterling Business Transaction Intelligence. If you had this solution, you could have instant access to the info you need.

THE EASY WAY

Thursday – 3:00 PM

I’m sorry to hear that. Let me look up your order number and see what happened.

shipping summary label indicating three of five stages of progress have been achieved

Okay, I can see your order. It looks like we only shipped half due to an issue in the warehouse.

I’m really sorry about that, but I can get the remainder shipped out today, for delivery tomorrow, so you’ll still have them before the end of the week.

Animation showing a truck driving through a calendar week and making a two-day package delivery

Okay…great! Thanks for sorting this out so quickly!

Thursday — 3:15 PM

Hey, that new visibility tool is great. Just had a client on the phone, and I was able to answer their query immediately. This will definitely help keep our customers happy!

Great-glad it’s working for you! For a way to save us both some time in the future, check out: IBM Sterling Supply Chain Business Network Guided Tour.

Thursday – 4:15 PM

The Easy Way is…
gaining total supply
chain visibility.

Thursday – 4:30 PM

The Easy Way is…
not wasting valuable
time drowning in a flood
of documents.

Thursday – 5:10 PM

The Easy Way is…
seeing all of your
supply chain transactions
in context.

Friday – 9:10 PM

The Easy Way is...
finding the answers
you need—fast.

The Easy Way is...
the AI way.

Discover how AI can improve your supply chain visibility and transform your B2B ecosystem with IBM Sterling Supply Chain Business Network.