iPaaS (Integration Platform as a Service)
In online retail, iPaaS (Integrated platform as a service) is well known for providing automation solutions.
Consider Mike, an inventory manager at an online retail business. Every week or so, he must update stock levels across various platforms such as Shopify, Amazon and others, a task that involves checking and reconciling thousands of items. A small human error in this manual process can lead to significant inventory problems.
To overcome this challenge, all he needs is an iPaaS (Integration Platform as a Service) that syncs inventory across multiple sales channels simultaneously in a real time manner. This leaves no room for manual errors.
iPaaS in fact offers an end to end solution where you can automate the retail processes right through product listings, catalog, inventory, order, accounting and more.
All of these automated capabilities free up an online retailer to focus on critical aspects such as supplier relationships and marketing which are essential for scale and growth. The role of automation in ecommerce is clear here: it frees retailers to focus on strategic areas, enhancing scalability and growth.
RPA: Robotic Process Automation
To be clear, these do not involve physical robots like the ones used by large retailers in their warehouses; they are software bots. Their role is to automate small, repetitive, rule-based tasks such as updating customer records or processing orders. They can work independently or under human supervision.
The process of RPA begins with data collection from multiple sources. For instance, extracting product IDs, quantities, customer shipping details, and payment information. Next, the data is transformed and categorized, prioritizing products based on delivery deadlines and inventory levels.
Finally, the bots deliver the output, updating the inventory system and completing the order processing cycle.
However, it’s important to note that these bots are pre-programmed for specific tasks and this means they operate well within a defined framework but can’t adapt to changes or new scenarios independently.
For example, if an online retail store introduces a new product line or changes its order processing software, RPA bots would require reprogramming to handle these changes.
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