What is DMS? 5 Ways to Choose the Right Distribution Management Software

DMS software is a solution that helps businesses and stakeholders comprehensively track the activities of distribution channels and collaborate more easily. However, not every business is a suitable fit for this distribution management system software. Join 1Office to discover the 5 ways to choose the most suitable DMS solution for your business.

1. What is DMS software?

DMS stands for Distribution Management System. This is a term for specialized software that helps businesses manage their goods distribution activities in the market.

This software is known for applications such as:

• Sales staff management: Track schedules, routes, and sales activity reports of employees.
• Inventory management: Helps track sales figures, promotional programs, and discounts.
• Debt management: Track receivables and payables from customers and suppliers.
• Contract management: Track and store business contracts and distribution agreements for the company.
• Customer management: Track and manage orders, purchase history, and customer care programs, and support customers as soon as they need help.

Currently, there are many definitions of DMS software provided by various software vendors. Although they differ in wording, they all share common points such as:

• DMS software focuses on optimizing the management of a company’s product/service distribution activities. With the help of the software, businesses can easily update the situation at distribution points, increase the efficiency of the sales team, and accelerate order processing and delivery.
• DMS provides an ecosystem to help manage the sales team. Through this software, your business will always be updated with data on employee routes. This supports an effective sales process and the in-store product display process.
• Moreover, this software helps businesses control inventory more proactively. This helps orders to be processed quickly and efficiently. Business owners can easily assess the actual sales situation through real-time reports and find quick solutions.

2. Some key features of DMS software

DMS solutions developed by different companies will have different features. However, all DMS software has the following key features:

Managing field sales staff

Through DMS solutions, businesses can more easily track and manage sales staff during their fieldwork. Specifically, the benefits of the sales staff management function allow for:

• Planning travel schedules before going into the field.
• Arranging and allocating schedules to optimize and save time.
• Storing and managing information about created schedules for easy tracking.
• Continuously tracking the routes of personnel.
• Reporting on route effectiveness. From there, evaluating work efficiency and performance.

Managing distributors, points of sale, and stores

In addition, DMS also allows businesses to manage distributor data such as:

• Company information, contact address, number of orders, etc.
• Managing information on distributors’ goods receipts and shipments.
• Managing order status, warehouse status, inventory, promotional information, etc.
• Distributors and points of sale can work directly with the manufacturer using the software. This saves more time than placing orders through a sales representative.
• The system allows for sales reporting and timely care for distributors based on data updated in real-time.

Managing Trade Marketing activities

The DMS solution provides businesses with an ecosystem to carry out trade marketing requirements. Businesses find it easier to:

• Manage trade marketing by point of sale.
• Develop in-store sales policies.
• Track, update, and evaluate program effectiveness.

Managing inventory lookups

Businesses no longer have to worry about issues surrounding centralized goods management by expiration date, lot number, and unit of measure.

In particular, you no longer face difficulties in looking up inventory status, the number of orders placed, undelivered orders, etc. This allows staff to easily process and proceed with shipping automatically.

Possessing a reporting, statistics, and analysis system

All information and activities of sales staff, distributors, and points of sale are quickly updated on the system in real-time.

Automatic reports will also be displayed in various formats such as statistics and charts, helping leaders get the most comprehensive view of the business. Managers and leaders can easily motivate staff and make crucial business decisions.

3. Who is DMS software suitable for?

Regarding businesses and target users

DMS is suitable for large-scale businesses with a large workforce and extensive goods distribution channels. This software is especially perfect for businesses in the manufacturing and distribution sector or distributors with a team of Sales/PGs who are frequently in the field. More specifically, businesses that seek DMS often have the following characteristics:

• Large-scale businesses that still operate manually. Difficulty in managing the books, paperwork, and contracts of Sales/PGs during market consultations.
• Businesses that want to add points of sale to the distribution process, allowing them to order directly from the manufacturer.
• Businesses with complex distribution models that require a dedicated management solution.

Regarding managed entities

In addition, DMS software allows for management by synchronizing data throughout the supply chain, from manufacturers, distributors, agents, to retail points, etc. Depending on the department, the system manager can be: Sales Director, Sales Accountant, Warehouse Keeper, Regional Manager (if any), and store owners.

In cases where distributors have a sales team of fewer than 10 people, the only users are the business owner and the sales staff. Each different user will be provided with different functions or permissions on the software. With its outstanding features, DMS software completely replaces manual management methods using Excel. It not only automates processes but also helps store data more securely.

4. Benefits businesses receive when using a DMS solution

After learning about the features, you are probably wondering what benefits you get from using DMS software.

Cost savings

Although a business will need to spend money to purchase and maintain the software, DMS applications help businesses save a much larger amount than they have to spend.

Thanks to honest, transparent, and always-updated investment reports, businesses can track and evaluate. From there, you can decide to make reasonable investments. You can control promotion and display costs at points of sale.

Measure sales performance

Large-scale businesses consider DMS a “lifesaving” tool. Despite a large number of employees, dense distribution channels, and tens of thousands of sales points, businesses can still track and evaluate performance through DMS. From reports and data summaries, you can easily evaluate the work performance of personnel, which distribution channels bring high profits, and which distribution points attract a large number of buyers.

Improve sales efficiency

Through DMS software, sales staff can clearly grasp information and measurement data about customers via the display interface. From there, it becomes easier for sales staff to approach buyers and discover more sales opportunities for each product.

5. How to choose the right DMS software

Currently, there are numerous providers of distribution management system software on the market. By nature, DMS software does not differ much in terms of features and benefits. However, even a small difference can lead to difficulties in managing a business’s supply chain. Therefore, it is necessary to wisely choose a truly suitable DMS solution by considering many factors.

5.1 Reputation and experience of the provider

Most software providers are also solution implementation consulting units for businesses. Therefore, a provider with extensive experience, quality consulting, and good software implementation signifies the reliability of the DMS product.

In addition, experienced providers already have implementation processes refined through many completed projects. As a result, their solutions are perfected and built to suit many business models of distribution management. This saves both the business and the provider time and implementation costs.

5.2 Investment cost for the solution

Cost is always a top priority for businesses. When approaching a DMS solution, it’s a matter of optimizing costs so that the business can operate at its most productive for the smallest fee.

Businesses can easily find solution providers with various fee levels (depending on usage needs). This model helps businesses avoid large initial costs while still being able to use software features directly on a web browser. However, when choosing this model, businesses need to have a big question mark about data security.

Concerned about security, businesses can turn to the model of buying and installing DMS software on their own hardware infrastructure. In return, the business needs to make a significant investment and meet minimum hardware configuration requirements to use it. Flexibility is also one of the limitations of this model.

5.3 Choosing between foreign or Vietnamese DMS software?

With today’s rapid development, the domestic and international technology markets are more vibrant than ever. Businesses can choose a DMS solution consulted and implemented by a domestic provider or software from foreign entities with a representative in Vietnam for implementation.

The two biggest differences between these two choices are price and flexible customization. Typically, software provided by foreign suppliers is significantly more expensive. And the time to modify the software according to business requirements often takes longer than with domestic providers due to communication limitations and differences in working hours.

Therefore, it is necessary to be wise when choosing and implementing DMS software. Businesses need to carefully research the information. At the same time, consider it based on budget capabilities as well as the specific nature of the field in which the business is operating.

6. Conclusion

In the article above, 1Office has provided you with the most general essential knowledge about DMS software. For a business with a large production scale, operating the business with a DMS solution is the most optimal choice. We hope that based on the method for choosing a distribution management software mentioned above, your business will soon find a suitable solution to help optimize its operational and management processes.