Tech overview #4: productive end of the year

December: a time for taking stock, a time for giving thanks and making plans for the new year. I'm not going to be original, I'll try to make the fourth, closing 2022 Tech Overview go with the flow and not break out strongly off the charts. But maybe I'll add something that hasn't been mentioned yet :)

So far I have only shared information that was happening around the Fulfillment application. In a recent article, I uncovered some cards related to the environment of our product. I don't know how many of you are aware that Linker is not only Fulfillment. Linker is first and foremost the Order Management System Software (OMS), which is the heart of all our operations and activities. It is the system that supports the e-commerce operations of logistics operators and retailers. So I will try to devote some attention to it as well.

Post-summary time: business leaders and not only digital technology

For me, the fourth tech overview means that my adventure at Linker Cloud has its anniversary and I have just passed my first year on board. What was it like? For me, the transition itself was painful. I was leaving my previous workplace after more than 13 years and leaving a great team there that I had built around me for a few nice years. Today I see how that team is doing without me and I am very proud of them!

I was able to test myself in a new environment, alone among the developers. It's a big challenge to be a Product Owner who knows nothing about coding. You have to stay focused at all times and prove your worth to the team and prove that you are needed by them. Today, I can confirm with full responsibility that it was worth it! We have managed to build a great product team based on honesty and trust. Beyond that? It will come as no surprise if I write that Linker Cloud is a much smaller company than my previous employer. So the biggest advantage of this change for me is the broader perspective of the whole business and the direct impact of the product on our performance. Added to that is the feeling that I have a real impact on what happens here!

The previous year was a brave start for us. Using our experience, we decided to build a European network offering operational support for e-commerce. We started with a few hundred operations per month. Currently, we closed November 2022 with 5500 operations (including receipts, releases, and returns)! We carry out these operations in 10 warehouses located in various European countries: Poland, Germany, Belgium, France, Italy, Spain, United Kingdom. And this is only the beginning of our expansion. This year has allowed us to learn a lot and now we stand stronger fighting for new goals in 2023.

Let's get down to business: fulfillment is coming

Now that the nostalgic summaries of the year are behind us, let's move on to what is most important for every business in our industry - logistics news. Below, I present to you the newest functionalities implemented in the Fulfillment Platform available to our users:

1. Product import from integration

   If you have already set up an integration with your e-commerce shop, or marketplace-m, you can easily download product data from the shop. Simply navigate to the product list in the app. In the top right-hand window, select the Add product button and choose "Import from integration" from the expanded list. You can perform the same action from the integration configurator in the Settings tab.

   
   

2. SLA improvements

   A chart has been added for SLA, displaying historical monthly results data for the last 12 months. The chart has also been supplemented with a function to filter results by Fulfillment site, i.e. the warehouse to which the results relate. This feature is particularly useful for customers in our network who use more than one warehouse.

   

In addition, the mechanism itself has been supplemented by support for recalculation of the lead date for rejected and out-of-stock orders. We have also implemented the European calendar of public holidays and, when calculating the lead date, we omit public holidays depending on which country the order is being processed in.

We have added a new module that allows you to fully take over the management of users. From this level, you can add new users. There are no limits or restrictions on their number in our platform. You can manage their rights and decide what options they have access to.

Fulfillment is not everything: check out our other new technologies

As announced earlier, I would also like to share with you what has been happening in the development of the OMS system. And here I must start with a very worthy initiative, which must not be forgotten in product development.

As you probably know, the last quarter of the year is a very busy time for e-commerce. It is high season. The number of orders being processed increases significantly. For us, this means increased traffic and an increased workload. In planning our work for Q4, we wanted to focus first and foremost on increasing efficiency and preparing for the coming peak. To deal more intensively than usual with technology debt and to solve problems that arise in support. These were the guiding activities for us, about which I will not elaborate. In addition to these, we were able to launch some more interesting solutions:

1. [OMS system] IAI with multiple allegro accounts

   Servicing customers who use integrators such as Baselinker, IdoSell, or Shoper is an everyday occurrence for us. On the other hand, a new challenge turned out to be handling customers who are connected to several allegro accounts in these solutions and for each of them you need to use a separate account for shipments with "I ship from allegro". In the delivery maps, we have added a new field that allows you to define Origin. If the field in the delivery map is empty, the map assignment works without change. If you enter "IAI_allegro_1" in the field, we will first try to assign a map where the Origin value from the map and from the order match. Also taking into account the external delivery parameters, country code, max weight and max value.
   

2. The lifecycle of product in details of product.

   This is a new feature of our WMS. If an operator processes orders in our WMS, he now has the option of displaying the product history, which shows all receipts and releases, as well as internal transfers and shortages issued during picking. Including details such as the user performing the operation and the exact date and time of the operation.

3. Integrations:

   -> Shopee - we have prepared an integration with Shopee where we can download orders and change their statuses. We also have a supported scenario for generating and downloading courier labels from the platform;

   -> EuroPost Plus (service to generate ship labels) for Dynamic UK which handles Packhelp orders.

   Furthermore, we have also enabled our customers to integrate with Raben and Pocztex 2.0.

In lieu of a summary...

New technology is the heart of our business. All year the it teams work hard to improve the end user experience using the right tools. Due to the high season, we have recently seen increased productivity and a high volume of parcels sent out - the best Christmas present we could have dreamed of.

We are keeping our fingers crossed for the continued development of our clients and for them achieving even more impressive business goals in the new year. We wish ourselves further improvement in infrastructure, growing effectively and gaining new capabilities while meeting customers' demands.

But before we start the even harder work of the new year - please accept our most sincere logistical wishes!