Benefits of ERP for Distribution Companies Companies engaged in distribution activities can be very varied from specialist distribution

n organizations to a supply chain function within a vertically integrated enterprise. Whatever the business, distribution activities can be very complex, ensuring timely and efficient replenishment of the supply chain right through to the end customer. Some of the key challenges for distributors include:

Managing Global Sourcing: There is a massive shift in sourcing product internationally. The import landscape creates challenges with longer lead times, tracking visibility and the creation of multi-tier distribution centre networks to support inventory distribution. Managing Growth: Following the slow recovery of the 2008 financial crisis, wholesaler-distributors are carefully managing products and margins to ensure continued profitability. Distributors have diversified product offerings while trying to reach and engage new customers. Growth and consolidation are creating challenges in the design of an optimal distribution network to support these changes and determine the most strategic way to invest in inventory placement throughout the network. Managing Demand: Distributors are challenged to manage the ongoing shifts of their current customer bases, meet increased customer expectations despite uncertain demand, and accurately predict the reactions to promotional campaigns while gaining consensus on a single view of demand across multiple channels and internal departments. They must carefully balance long lead times, economic factors, and logistical constraints with anticipated demand. Managing Transportation and Logistics: The transportation landscape has changed dramatically in recent years, forcing supply chain professionals to rethink their strategies in addressing increasing freight costs, weak freight network infrastructure, constrained network-wide capacity, new government and environmental regulations as well as an overall increased awareness of and demand for better logistics data. Creating Competitive Differentiation: Many wholesaler-distributors are providing key services in repair and warranty, replenishment, assortment optimization, shelf space layout and competitive pricing analysis to build loyalty with their most strategic customers.

An integrated, next-generation Distribution Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solution can help solve some of these challenges with a full range of order management, supply chain and warehousing capabilities complemented customer relationship management (CRM), supplier relationship management (SRM), financial management, product data management, planning and scheduling, and manufacturing. Lets take a closer look at the features and benefits of some of these ERP functions: Supply Chain Management & Execution Linking the trading partners, processes, and systems in a complex global supply chain is a core function of a distribution company. You may already have specialist, point solutions to help manage these functions, but the benefits of a

comprehensive ERP solution is that these functions are all fully integrated to the rest of the business, streamlining business processes and increasing visibility of any potential issues. ERP gives you effective coordination from initial raw materials to the ultimate consumption of the finished product by providing the visibility you need throughout your value chain. Look for a complete suite of SCM capabilities within an ERP system including purchase management, sourcing and procurement, inventory management, advanced material management, and warehouse management.. Customer Relationship Management (CRM) CRM controls every aspect of a companys interaction with its customers and potential customers from generating the lead, developing the opportunity, taking the order, producing and shipping or supplying the goods or services, getting the cash, and supporting the customer. CRM provides a 360-degree view of the entire customer, supplier, or partner relationship. It broadens the scope of customer information to everyone within and across the organization and to stakeholders beyond, through contextual delivery of essential customer data to information workers, wherever it is needed. Sales Management By streamlining the sales process with centralized access to product, pricing, and customer information, orders can be generated with a minimal number of steps. Sales management automates and improves labour-intensive processes for quoting, proposal generation, configuration, and order entry, enabling you to improve sales productivity by increasing accuracy during the quote and order processes, and identifying the right products to meet customers needs Demand Management In todays climate of shorter lead times, more frequent orders of smaller quantities, and where meeting customer demand secures your competitive edge, distributors must find ways to anticipate changes in customer demand. Demand Management responds to these business conditions and incorporates the requirements of Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) to help your company reduce lead time in the office for planning and procurement, thus enabling you to respond to fluctuating inventory needs faster. Kitting & Assembly The ability to differentiate product offerings has never been more important than in todays hyper-competitive marketplace. Perfect order fulfilment is only part of the equationto sustain competitive advantage the best distributors also provide customers with an assortment of unique value-added services and products. Therefore, it is imperative that you hone your companys ability to deliver sales kits that your competitors cannot match, and compelling product bundles so that your customers are not inclined to comparison shop. ERP should provide you with an extensive set of capabilities that range from the creation of simple product bundles and sales kits to the engineering and manufacture of products with complex subassemblies. Business Intelligence ERP will include Enterprise Performance Management (or Business Intelligence) as an end-to-end solution for better business insight. EPM will include flexible reports, dashboards, KPIs, and pre-packaged analytics that have real meaning to the business.