Multichannel Business Systems

First and foremost, F. Curtis Barry & Company is vendor-independent and completely objective. For over two decades we have helped multichannel marketers to evaluate, select, develop, and implement inventory, warehouse and order management systems. We consult with companies to evaluate their business needs, including future growth plans and wish lists, as well as to select commercially available applications or to develop systems in-house.

We help companies find the right business solution including:

• Catalog / order management systems
• E-commerce solutions
• Warehouse management systems
• Warehouse management software/RF bar-coding
• Manifesting
• Forecasting and inventory management systems
• Contact/Call center scheduling/workforce management
• Retail merchandising/point of sale solutions
• Financial–accounts receivable, payables, general ledger
• Data warehousing

Order management systems

Multichannel businesses increasingly rely on order management systems to maintain optimum fulfillment and customer service levels. F. Curtis Barry & Company, with over two decades of experience with direct and multichannel business systems and solutions, will help your company choose the order management system that meets your requirements for efficiency and growth.

Warehouse management systems

F. Curtis Barry & Company has extensive experience and knowledge with regard to warehouse management systems for catalog, online, retail, and wholesale operations. If you’re looking for a system to control warehouse operations as an integral segment of your multichannel business, we will help you search and select the warehouse management system best suited to your company’s requirements and needs.

Inventory management systems

Multichannel businesses seeking to improve their inventory management practices can rely on F. Curtis Barry & Company to assist with selecting an inventory management system that has the planning, forecasting, and inventory control functions and requirements needed to expand and manage inventory-related functions more accurately and efficiently.

Initial Assessment

In order to find the best solutions for a company's needs, F. Curtis Barry & Company conducts an initial on-site assessment to learn about the way a particular business operates. Based on this information, we compile a management summary of our findings and industry best practices that include a comparative list of potential vendors, solutions, and investment budget estimates.

This initial assessment provides estimates for the range of investment that the project requires, project milestones, and a short list of who the vendors should be. At that point, clients can decide if they need advisory assistance and whether to continue to use F. Curtis Barry & Company. If clients decide to take on the project themselves, the assessment can serve as a road map to help them move forward.

Business System Selection

Compile Business Requirements – Once F. Curtis Barry & Company is retained to work on this portion of a project, we prepare detailed business requirements with the client, interviewing managers and collecting data, based on our knowledge of the industry and best practices. We follow a highly collaborative method, communicating back and forth to make sure clients are getting all the information they need to make decisions.

Send Out Requests for Proposals – The next step is to send out requests for proposals (RFPs) to potential vendors. F. Curtis Barry & Company's extensive experience with direct-to-customer/order management system providers, WMS, retail/POS, inventory management systems and forecasting systems, and e-commerce platform vendors allows us to narrow the field to the two or three providers who might best meet the client's needs.

Selection and Negotiations – The next step is to conduct due diligence with potential vendors, scheduling scripted demos by the vendors, talking to their client bases, and making site visits to companies that are using the finalist vendors' systems. Once the client has selected a vendor, F. Curtis Barry & Company will also assist with vendor negotiations and contracting to complete the system selection process. Once a project is completed, F. Curtis Barry & Company remains accessible and responsive for clients who may have future questions or need services in other areas of their business.

Project Manage the Implementation – F. Curtis Barry & Company can assist clients in project-managing implementation of the system(s) they select. We will assist with planning and managing the client and vendor resources to complete the project within the budget and proposed time frame of the client.  F. Curtis Barry & Company can manage the project while keeping clients well informed about the ongoing process, while clients continue their daily routines of marketing and merchandising without being unduly distracted by the implementation process.

E-commerce Solutions

Choosing e-commerce systems presents a special situation. E-commerce technology changes rapidly, and the field of vendors is crowded and competitive. In addition, costs are frequently higher for e-commerce systems than for other systems. Clients can face a significant challenge when integrating e-commerce with their preexisting systems. F. Curtis Barry & Company can help clients link their marketing and IT needs, narrow the focus on potential vendors, determine integration touch points, and decide which service model makes the most sense for their business. We use the same methodology to assess potential e-commerce vendors that we use for multichannel systems vendors, first submitting a detailed RFP to a short list of vendors, and then assisting with vendor demos, negotiations, and contracting if desired.

Below are a few examples of the types of business and order management system solutions we have provided to our clients:

If you would like help in selecting an order management system, warehouse management system, inventory management system or other multichannel business systems, contact us.  Our marketing manager, Jeff Barry, can assist you by phone at (804) 740-8743, by e-mail at jbarry@fcbco.com, or through our Request Information Form.