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In a supply chain landscape shaped by unpredictability and growing customer expectations, the role of the order management system (OMS) has evolved beyond mere orchestration. It’s no longer enough to capture and route orders. Today’s OMS must be modular, intelligent and tightly woven into the fabric of a company’s operations — adapting to volatility, empowering agility and driving business outcomes.
Below are five challenges organizations face in navigating the modern order management journey and how leading OMS technologies are answering the call.
1 Supply Chain Disruptions
The past several years have underscored the fragility of global supply chains, as geopolitical conflicts, natural disasters and labor shortages have continually tested resilience. These disruptions, often unpredictable and rapidly evolving, demand an OMS that is both flexible and integrative.
Order management is uniquely positioned as the command center of the supply chain, sitting at the intersection of inventory data, logistics intelligence and customer experience. But resiliency isn’t simply about alerting delays — it’s about actionable adaptability. That means dynamically rerouting orders, reprioritizing fulfillment sources, and adjusting service level agreements on the fly.
Modern OMS capabilities must stitch together intelligence across systems — TMS, WMS, ERP — to make real-time decisions that accommodate strikes, tariffs, port slowdowns and weather events.
2 Merging B2B & B2C Experiences Across Channels
In today’s omnichannel economy, the buyer at a B2B company is also a consumer in their personal life. They expect the same seamless, personalized, and transparent experiences in both arenas.
The functional divide between B2B and B2C systems has narrowed significantly. Customers now expect features like real-time availability, estimated delivery dates at and before checkout, and flexible shipping options regardless of channel. For B2B companies, this means evolving past legacy, EDI-driven infrastructure, and embracing digital commerce capabilities traditionally seen in B2C environments.
But convergence is more than user experience; it’s about intelligently distinguishing between account-level needs. Businesses must be able to show inventory to multiple customers while preserving prioritization rules — ensuring key accounts receive first access when needed.
Unified feature sets, with tailored intelligence, allow OMS platforms to deliver consumer-like simplicity alongside enterprise-grade complexity. This synthesis is crucial to compete in a blended market.
3 Inventory Segmentation and Revenue Protection
Inventory visibility is foundational — but segmentation is transformational.
Without centralized and accurate inventory data, organizations create “buffers” that absorb uncertainty, leading to overstocking and higher inventory carrying costs. Effective inventory segmentation enables businesses to strategically allocate stock across customers, channels and geographies based on demand signals, loyalty tiers and upcoming promotions.
In B2B settings, this might mean ensuring a high-end retailer receives prioritized inventory during a key seasonal sale, while other partners are deprioritized temporarily. This precision minimizes stockouts and markdowns, preserving both revenue and brand reputation.
Order management plays a pivotal role in this process by acting as the operational source of truth. When OMS is modular and tightly integrated with both ERP and fulfillment systems, it empowers real-time decision-making, inventory protection and fulfillment optimization.
This level of segmentation also protects margins, allowing businesses to serve strategic customers more reliably — without duplicating inventory pools or risking overpromising.
4 Dynamic Customer Demands
Customer expectations are no longer static. They fluctuate — sometimes hourly — with trends, technology and economic pressures. Rising demand today isn’t just about volume; it’s about experience and personalization.
Businesses must react to changing buying behaviors driven by real-time digital engagement. Customers expect inventory insights, delivery options and fulfillment transparency to be instantly accessible. This becomes especially critical when servicing hybrid customer models, where B2B buyers might expect the conveniences of a B2C purchase.
OMS must evolve alongside these expectations. Digital-first buyers demand “commerce-ready” experiences — an intuitive UX, personalized recommendations and configurable fulfillment. And they expect it across devices, marketplaces and platforms.
This requires an OMS that is not only adaptable in function, but scalable in performance — responding in milliseconds where necessary. AI-driven modularity allows companies to iterate quickly, and meet customers where they are, whether that’s on a mobile app, an API integration or a traditional B2B portal.
5 Operational Inefficiencies
Inefficiencies stem from fragmentation and data siloes — across systems, data sources and fulfillment logic. But, without strategic configuration and intelligent automation, even modernized systems can become bottlenecks.
Labor constraints, inventory inaccuracies and overly simplistic routing rules (e.g., “ship from closest node”) drive up costs and reduce agility. Instead, an OMS should enable granular decision-making based on eligibility, labor availability, replenishment windows and SKU velocity. For example, shipping winter gear from Florida to Michigan might not fulfill an order fastest but could be better a better option than depleting stocks in a closer (and colder) location, such as New York.
Modern OMS platforms tackle this by incorporating AI-driven order orchestration. These machine learning algorithms dynamically assess cost-to-serve, demand forecasts and fulfillment feasibility to suggest the best path — not just the fastest.
Additionally, AI can accelerate time-to-value by simplifying configuration. Instead of relying solely on technical teams to manage eligibility rules, segmentation logic or delivery service-level agreements, AI agents can recommend optimal settings based on real-world data. This empowers businesses to fully leverage their OMS investments with reduced overhead and faster ROI.
Solving These Challenges with Intelligent Modularity
Infios is addressing these five critical challenges with a forward-thinking approach that positions its order management system not just as software, but as a problem-solving platform. Drawing on deep supply chain expertise and lessons from digital transformations at enterprise brands, Infios has reimagined the role of OMS in the modern commerce landscape.
The key to OMS differentiation for Infios is modularity – not composable micro-services that aren’t accessible to customers. Instead of forcing customers into a monolithic deployment, Infios empowers businesses to implement what they need, when they need it. Whether that’s inventory visibility, dynamic order promising or segmentation logic — each module is purpose-built and integrative.
Infios’ platform accelerates time to value by allowing companies to roll out capabilities in weeks, not years. For example, a 3PL can onboard a new client and launch a fulfillment strategy within 30 days using modular deployment, while a retailer can implement intelligent routing without overhauling legacy systems.
By treating OMS as the orchestrator within your broader supply chain — not just a standalone tool — Infios equips companies to not only survive volatility but thrive through it. The future of order management isn’t one-size-fits-all. It’s modular, intelligent and focused on what matters most: delivering value to customers and the business alike.
Resource Link: https://www.infios.com/en/supply-chain-solutions/orders-and-commerce/modular-solutions-in-order-management
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