Emma: Today, we are going to be looking at something that can really help streamline shipping, especially for small to mid sized businesses. Using Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central. Oh, yeah, it’s a free app from InsightWorks. It’s called Order Ship Express. And basically what it does is it gives you a really direct way to generate shipping labels.
Ryan: Okay.
Emma: And it does this using real time rates from EasyPost.
Ryan: Gotcha. So you’re not stuck with like, you know, outdated rates or anything like that.
Emma: Exactly. And it really kind of solves a pretty common problem that I think a lot of folks run into.
Ryan: Right.
Emma: And that is how can we make parcel shipping less of a headache, less complex, less costly? So that’s our mission today with this deep dive, is to see if we can free up some of your valuable time.
Ryan: Yeah, free up some time. Reduce those errors that happen when you’re doing things manually.
Emma: Ugh, the manual errors, Nobody likes those. Yes.
Ryan: So this is really perfect for businesses that are already using Business Central. You’re handling your own parcel shipments, but you don’t have like a massive warehouse operation that requires a super sophisticated, expensive system.
Emma: Right. It’s not for the big guys.
Ryan: Yeah, not for the big guys. So if you are finding yourself, you know, going to FedEx, going to UPS, going to USPS, typing in the same address over and over and over.
Emma: Stop doing that. Please stop.
Ryan: Order Ship Express can be a really big.
Emma: Help to you, so let’s get practical here. Okay. How does it actually work?
Ryan: It’s very simple. You need a free EasyPost account. So go get that.
Emma: Okay, so step one, get the free EasyPost account. Check what’s next?
Ryan: Within the Order Ship Express app, you’re going to connect to your EasyPost account using an API key.
Emma: Okay. An API key. I think a lot of people have heard that, but they might not necessarily know what it is. Can you give us just a very like 30 second explanation?
Ryan: Sure. It’s essentially like a secure digital key. It lets Business Central and EasyPost like, talk to each other.
Emma: Gotcha.
Ryan: So you’ve got your EasyPost account connected and then you can select up to three domestic shipping carriers.
Emma: Three. All right, so we’re keeping it focused, keeping it simple.
Ryan: That’s right. From EasyPost’s very extensive list. And the setup process is, you know, it’s designed to be super quick. Under 10 minutes usually. And you don’t need to be a developer or anything like that.
Emma: Under 10 minutes, that’s like a coffee break. Yeah. To potentially solve a major pain point.
Ryan: I like it.
Emma: Yeah, I like it. So under 10 minutes, free EasyPost account. You mentioned carriers. You said there’s a big list. So who are we talking about here?
Ryan: You have access to all the big ones. So USPS, UPS, via DAP, FedEx, DHL.
Emma: Okay. All the heavy hitters. Gotcha.
Ryan: Those are just a few. And again, with the free version of Order Ship Express, you get three domestic carriers.
Emma: Right. So this sounds pretty good, but I think our listeners always want to know why this matters to them.
Ryan: Well, I think if you’re a small business owner, you know how valuable your time is and you might not have a huge budget for a bunch of software.
Emma: Right. Resources are tight.
Ryan: Exactly. And so this is where Order Ship Express comes in. You get a lot of the benefits of automation without having to spend a ton of money or going through, like, complex integrations. And it’s free.
Emma: Free.
Ryan: So there’s really, like, no risk to try it out and see if it works for you.
Emma: So I’m hearing you say it’s kind of like dipping your toes in the water of shipping automation.
Ryan: I like that analogy. It’s a great way to get started. And then, you know, if your business needs to grow, maybe you need more carriers or you need to start doing international shipments. InsightWorks actually offers a bigger solution called Dynamic Ship.
Emma: Oh, okay. So there’s a whole ecosystem here.
Ryan: That’s right.
Emma: So Order Ship Express is sort of like a gateway.
Ryan: Yeah, it’s like the gateway drug of shipping automation.
Emma: I like that. All right.
Ryan: It’s addicting, but in a good way.
Emma: Let’s bring this to life for our listeners. Can you give us like a real world example of how someone would use Order Ship Express?
Ryan: Absolutely. So picture this. You’re in the warehouse and you just finished a sales order in Business Central. Normally you’d have to go to another website, copy and paste the customer’s address, retype everything.
Emma: Yeah. All that tedious stuff. Nobody wants to do that.
Ryan: Exactly. But with Order Ship Express, you can just print the shipping label right. From the sales order screen.
Emma: From within Business Central.
Ryan: Boom. Right within Business Central. So you’re saving a ton of time and you’re less likely to make mistakes.
Emma: So this is really cool. And just to recap, we’re talking about EasyPost, which offers connections to a huge number of carriers. But this particular app, Order Ship Express, is focused on just the domestic shipping keeping things simplified, right?
Ryan: It’s focused on simplicity, efficiency and affordability.
Emma: And it’s free. Let’s not forget that.
Ryan: Free.
Emma: So to summarize, Order Ship Express is a fast, free and simple way for you, our listeners, to handle your domestic parcel shipping by connecting to up to three carriers through EasyPost.
Ryan: That’s right. It’s about making a time consuming process much more efficient and you don’t need a big budget or a ton of training to use it.
Emma: So here’s something for you to consider. If you’re currently spending like a big chunk of your day doing all this manual shipping stuff in Business Central, think about what you could accomplish if you automated even a small part of that, right?
Ryan: Think about all the other things you could be doing to grow your business.
Emma: Could this no cost app Order Ship Express be the start of a more streamlined, more efficient shipping operation for you?
Ryan: It’s certainly worth exploring.
Emma: That’s all the time we have for today’s deep dive. Thanks for joining us.
Ryan: Thanks for having me and we’ll catch you next time.
