Right Approach To Distribution Management Software (DMS)

With today’s competitive business and the ever-changing market dynamics, businesses are evolving every minute to stay relevant. Having a solution in an increasingly competitive environment for tracking channel sales is very important in order to achieve increased revenues and faster ROIs. 

Owing to this, more & more companies are consciously adopting distributor management software for complete visibility of their channel sales.

You can manage your distributor network with various approaches. In the industry, while some approaches are fairly new, some have been prevalent for quite some time. It’s also tough to point out one particular approach that would perfectly work for the entire distributor network.

Manage your Distributor network with Various approaches:

#Custom Billing Software

This was one of the first approaches to be introduced in the industry by large brands to manage their distributor network. The principal company according to this approach, asked its super stockists and large distributors to install its own custom billing software and do all the transactions through it. 

This approach worked well then but in today’s business scenario, it’s completely insignificant. This is because, at the time when this custom billing was introduced, the concept of multi-brand distributors was unheard of. 

Most distributors used to manage one or two brands so using custom billing software wasn’t a big challenge for them. With the increase of multi-brand distributors, demand for an alternative approach to DMS (Distribution Management Software) was sensed.

Read More – 3 Costly Inventory Analysis Mistakes Made by Distributors

#Web Portals

You may consider web portals as another way of managing the distributor network. In this approach, the parent company provides a web portal to its distributors. Through the web portal, the distributors have to enter all the sales-related transactions specific to the company. 

For the implementation of Web Portal-based DMS, companies face increasing resistance from their distributor’s network. The main reason for this resistance is that the distributors managing multiple brands find it extremely inconvenient and time taking activity to first learn and then use different web portals for the different brands.

As the web portal is just for reporting purposes and with the help of different systems the billing is actually done, it is noticed that distributors provide manipulated sales data to justify their targets whereas, in reality, the figures are quite different. Thus, this fake data as a whole beats the purpose of implementing a DMS as there is a possibility of fabrication of data by the distributors.

#Data Extractors

The method of data extraction, as opposed to web portals or custom solutions, involves exporting data from the billing software of the distributor and then importing those data on the company’s software. This method was lengthy and time-consuming, so it didn’t work well and was short-lived.

#Integration with Distributor’s Tally / Busy

Integrating with the distributor’s accounting software (usually Tally & Busy) is a new and advanced approach, thereby enabling companies to be smoothly connected with the distributor’s billing software system. 

This approach makes their life comfortable by reducing the pain of duplication, multiple entries in different systems, data mismatch, Item alteration, Price sanctity, and a lot more just by working on their existing Tally system.

SalesBabu’s DMS works on this same principle and can be integrated with Tally. It plays an important role by bridging the information gap that manufacturer’s having a distribution network generally face, without having to deploy any new system at the distributor’s place. 

With this functionality, companies get real-time access to the secondary sales data & inventory and enable better decision-making. Therefore, you get free from doing regular follow-ups with your distributors for reports and information.

The limitation to this approach is mapping distributors who are not using Tally or Busy for their accounting purpose or those small distributors who don’t use billing software at all. The next approach might be useful for this.

Read More – Distributor Management Software in India’s FMCG sector

#Modern DMS Solutions: A Comprehensive Approach

To address the shortcomings of traditional methods, modern DMS solutions offer a comprehensive suite of features. These include:

• Centralized Order Management: Streamline the entire order process from placement to fulfillment.
• Real-time Inventory Tracking: Ensure accurate stock levels and avoid stockouts.
• Automated Reporting: Generate detailed reports on sales performance, distributor activity, and inventory turnover.
• Advanced Analytics: Gain valuable insights into market trends and customer behavior.
• Integration with Other Systems: Seamlessly connect with ERP, CRM, and accounting software.

#Mobile Apps

In today’s world of advanced technology, the latest trend amongst all is a mobile-enabled DMS app wherein the distributor can do the data entry on the mobile app. 

To map the rural distributor network this approach is more useful where infrastructure is not that developed or in the case of very small distributors who don’t have the resources or knowledge of using a desktop.

With the proper software solution in place for your sales and distribution activities, you can achieve remarkable performance in even the most fast-moving and disintegrated marketplace. 

Designed for the complex Indian market landscape, SalesBabu Distribution Management Software (DMS) provides complete visibility of the secondary Sales or stock lying at the distributor’s end. 

It can be integrated with the distributor’s Tally so that parent companies don’t have to deploy a separate portal at the distributor’s end and still can monitor and track all relevant information. The distributor can continue his work using his existing Tally software for his day-to-day billing and other activities.

A Tally integrated DMS like SalesBabu DMS is not just about extracting the data from the distributor; it is also capable of pushing information to the distributors like the masters, prices, and schemes that eventually bring a lot of grip and control to the principal. 

This feature enables the principal company to exercise complete control over the distributor’s MRP, Item Alteration, Backdate entries, Ledger Alteration, Negative Stock billings and Reorder levels. The PO generated by the Distributor’s Tally syncs automatically in the principal company’s software thus automating the primary sales as well.

SalesBabu’s Distribution Management Software offers an entire spectrum of DMS solutions in order to capitalize on the maximum number of distributors for a company. 

So a DMS solution integrated with Tally might work for most of your distributors but for mapping, the small distributors that are not using any billing software of their own or are not using Tally, for them mobile-enabled DMS platform make more sense as it’s easy to adopt without much of infrastructure investment and training.