Port gets tech savvy with e-Commerce
The new Order to Cash technology is expected to greatly enhance the business process for receiving and processing customer sales
TRANSNET has not finished digitizing South Africa’s ports.
After rolling out the R79-million web-based Integrated Port Management System (IPMS) nationwide last year, the Transnet National Ports Authority (TNPA) is now focused on fully integrating an e-Commerce platform, expected to go live in April next year.
The new Order to Cash technology is expected to greatly enhance the business process for receiving and processing customer sales.
It will replace the TNPA’s nine-year-old PortsOnline system, which customers previously used for online submission of cargo documentation.
TNPA Chief Financial Officer and executive sponsor of the project, Mohammed Abdool, said hopes are high that the new system will improve their customer relationships.
‘PortsOnline had significantly reduced the manual capturing process and the time taken to conclude the online order processing cycle.
‘The aim now is to cater for the changing needs of TNPA ports and customers by creating a better customer experience through improved visibility across various interactions with the port authority.’
He said the system will offer self-service functionality. Customers can log in, maintain their own profiles, place sales orders, view current credit limits and view and download invoices and statements.
It will also allow customers to interact with TNPA across various channels, including TNPA’s call centre and online.
‘Global ports must embrace digital technologies and data analytics to remain competitive and to make monitoring, tracking, evaluation and optimizing more efficient for both the port authority and the customer,’ said TNPA CE Richard Vallihu.
Under the R300-plus billion Transnet market demand strategy, the TNPA said next in the pipeline will be introducing technologies for the management of port interfaces with rail, road and other trading partners in the ports eco system, but this will only be implemented at a later stage.
Benefits of the new Order to Cash system
• Significant reduction in manual processing of orders
• E-commerce platform with seamless customer interaction independent of the mode of engagement with TNPA
• End-to-end visibility of the entire sales order and query handling processes
• Provide customer specific information online 24/7
• Streamlined and optimized back-office processes across the entire value chain
• Provide a channel to allow the updating of various required parts for the joint operations centres for planning, monitoring and reporting of the port value chain.
Any comments or questions about the new system can be sent to OrdertoCash@transnet.net
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