If your organization operates in the distribution sector, there are prevailing headaches that everyone in the industry feels – which ultimately hinder productivity and slow the potential to grow.
One such headache is the implementation of an inferior route accounting and planning solution which stifles your productivity, and more often than not, results in you having poor operational visibility to expand your business. A major pain-point is the organisation and planning of delivery routes. Having a legacy system in place which requires a lot of manual work, is not updated in real-time, or is susceptible to error can leave your business disorganised.
This is all apart from the pen and paper system you may currently use for proof-of-delivery when at client sites. Such pen and paper process slows your workflow and is prone to human error. These day-to-day headaches might not appear to have much of an impact in the short term, but in the long run they can inhibit productivity and substantially hinder your business growth.
Curing the headaches
Fortunately, nowadays technologies exist which cater for all these inhibitors. You can now reduce workers’ stress which is brought about by using old, antiquated and inadequate systems. Now you can improve relationships with customers and build customer loyalty, all the whilst planning future routes and schedules with optimal insight. So how can you cut out unnecessary issues and expand quicker?
Adopt an end-to-end route accounting and planning solution
It is ideal that the system you adopt and implement into your business is one which saves you the time of manually processing everything yourself – from the ordering stage, to route planning and report processing. Apart from time, such a system will save you money as well.
That is where Orbis DSD Route Accounting & Planning comes into play. It has the capability to hold extensive data for each product, allows you to easily organise this data, and enables you to keep track of all inventory – both on the road and in the warehouse. Stock updates happen in real-time, so you are able to plan orders and organise routes with up-to-the-minute data at your fingertips.
Gone are the days when you employ admin staff to take care of all the above. Your current workforce can now focus their efforts on tending to customer sales queries and improving your customer service levels. This in turn saves money, while also improving revenue, relationships and loyalty with existing customers.
Orbis DSD can integrate with various mobile sales force automation apps, so your van drivers have a handheld device which is fully connected to the back-office system. Orbis streamlines your day-to-day processes – from order creation to loading the vans and tracking their progress. You will be able to refer back to vehicle inspections, proof-of-deliveries, and day-end reports in real-time while providing back office staff the ability to track every van throughout the day.
Prioritize customers
In current times, customers can be easily poached by competitors given the plethora of communication options out there. Therefore, the ability to communicate with them and providing them with informed answers to their queries, while ensuring optimal delivery times is key to maintaining solid relationships and growing the business. By improving and actually offering customers better service, you can build and maintain long lasting relationships while avoiding losses due to the threat posed by competition. Orbis DSD enables you to provide personalised services to each customer by using its technology to track customer sales records and recommend relevant products to maximise van sale opportunities.
Contact us to learn how Orbis DSD can optimize delivery, increase sales, and strengthen customer loyalty.
