Our proven Distribution Solutions will enable you to track inventory in real time. All sales, orders, deliveries and payments done by sales representatives from retail outlets can be tracked. Relevant reports that enable the distributor to gain visibility on each player’s productivity across the value chain are hence generated. At the HQ level, information from the sales team to distributor level is consolidated. The modules are inter-connected making it possible to share information in real time.

The application is based in the cloud, making it easy and inexpensive to deploy.

Salesman Module
Track your sales team’s movement and actions verified with GPS. Manages sales transactions and payments via M-PESA. Collect orders from the outlet and send to the distributor. Manage transport by planning and tracking delivery vehicle movements. Finally, generate customized reports for sales and payments.

Distributor Module
Consolidate orders from field agents and place orders with HQ. For sales transactions, track delivery agents, sales agents and outlets. Improve stock management by monitoring re-order levels & purchasing requirements. Monitor distributor and sales agent performance against targets. Enhance route planning and optimization.

Manufacturer Module
In the absence of a direct link to the manufacturer, this module is not deployed. Process orders made by sales-men, generate order number and send a confirmation back to the distributor. Manage transport by planning and tracking vehicle movement.

Automation and Mobility Solutions: Informed Business Decisions Made easy

In today’s competitive business environment, businesses involved with field services or those that have many sales agents or are engaged in the distribution of goods and services, are fast moving away from just being able to reduce their operating costs, to making their businesses become more visible in the marketplace. They are also heavily concerned with satisfying the demands of their customers, through effective data gathering and real-time market information management.

It is appropriate to apply or adopt improved business processes like technology solutions, but to remain competitive, technology solutions must enhance sales growth, enable easy control and management of inventories, improve the reduction of out-of-stocks, maximise the efficiency of route sales, and improve the speed with which new products are circulated in the marketplace.

In addition, the ability of business managers to move with discreet real-time market information obtained from customer buying behaviours or any other factors like seasonality is very important. It is the ability of the technology applications to aid prompt responsiveness, improve real-time market visibility that will enable your company to grow beyond the limitations of any adverse economic conditions.

It is a reality that most wholesalers, retailers and manufacturers like food processing companies and companies that produce soft drinks for example, and or even cooperatives and farmer associations, rely heavily on their supply chains to achieve financial success. Hence, by integrating effective automation and mobility solutions to your company’s sales and distribution core processes, you can be able to:

• Monitor sales performance and manage business operations
• Stay on top of early warning insights based on the availability of operational data and external events
• Exchange performance information with suppliers, partners and customers.
• Make real-time quick decisions on sales, cashless payments and transaction inventory through handheld devices while at the same time you are able to continue to keep loyalty incentives for your suppliers.
• Manage any uncertainties in demand and supply which could easily improve increased lead times from supply sources and customers’ expectations of quick responses.
• Monitor and track sentiments of online social communities and reasonably measure customers’ opinions about your company and its brands.
• Achieve a balance among work-life, productivity and flexibility.

Streamline your Field Force for Enhanced Productivity

Today, with available mobile automation solutions, data generated from your field officers, inventory and asset management processes can be integrated seamlessly with your existing technology infrastructure in order to help your business satisfy modern marketplace challenges.

A good example is the use of Distributr’s automated dashboard management system to analyse your data and consequently help business managers make informed decisions that work. The dashboard management systems can help you identify which goods that are selling better and you can link that result to your labour management and ingredient ordering process. It can also help you make decisions on specific issues like, which goods to send to specific stores.

It is important that your distributors and sales agents are equipped with the right information at the instant expected in order to make every interaction with your customers an increased opportunity for income generation. Virtual City Distributr solution will help you deliver the quality service your customers expect and keep your business at par or ahead of your competitors.
For more information on Distributr and how it works, (contact us today. – info@virtualcity.co.ke, +254 703 091 300 )

Automated Mobility Solutions: Innovations that Makes Businesses Grow Productively and More Profitable

If you run or manage a supply and distribution chain you know what it takes to stay on top of all information you need to make future informed decisions for your business.
There are a number of pertinent questions that you have to keep asking such as:

1. Are you always aware of where the products are coming from and what quantities they are before your supply shows up?
2. Have you taken the time to evaluate how much you are losing to inefficiency, leakages and fraud in your supply chain?

We are living in an era when technology has changed the way we do most things. This is an era when mobility is fast increasing, where your business needs to operate efficiently outside of the four walls of your main business premises. There is the need for you to interact directly with your customers, distributors, employees and field agents for example, wherever they are in real-time through handheld mobile solutions, in most cases.

The value mobility solutions can provide Kenyan businesses

For starters, if properly implemented, automated mobility solutions provide businesses with increased efficiencies, productivities and profits.

Your business will gain a competitive advantage over your competitors once you start to have quick access to market information and resources needed for you to take quick management decisions based on market dynamics. Integrating automated mobility solutions into your business processes through mobile devices will help you protect and improve the efficiency of your business operations.

You can choose to equip your sales team workers and field agents with mobile devices such as tablet personal computers or cell phones and as they get your business done accurately and efficiently at their different locations outside your main business premises, you can monitor their activities in real-time. Whether it is in your retail stores, different construction sites or manufacturing plants and everywhere your business is being done, automated mobility solutions will give your workers and field agents the tools they need to provide you with real-time business intelligence reports, carry out order entries, shipment tracking and cashless payments where necessary.

The use of automated mobility solutions in mobile devices additionally eliminates redundancy and minimises human errors and fraud. Also, it eliminates the need to carry a stack of paperwork or manuals while on the field or other locations. Another advantage is that mobility solutions redefine the way businesses are managed and it consequently reduces the costs of doing business. If you are looking to keep sustaining the high standard your business and workers are known for, automating your business processes is one of the best ways and it will also help you to keep with industry best practices.

In a nutshell, an ideal automated mobility solution will help you achieve all or most of the following capabilities:

• Easy and real-time distribution of information and data
• Regular distribution of software updates
• Tracking of software and hardware assets and licence compliance
• Backing-up and restoring of critical data where necessary
• Providing support to handheld devices and controlling troubleshooting where needed
• Encrypting all wireless data and information transfers
• Managing access security and passwords
• Disconnecting and disabling lost or stolen devices

How to choose the right mobility solution

If you are looking to select an automated mobility solution for your business, here are some hints that will help you choose the best:

• Identify your specific area of need for mobility solution
• Select a solution that offers compatibility with multiple operating systems and also compatible with your existing systems without any need for additional infrastructure.
• Select a solution that will easily integrate with your existing management practices and hence help you maximize your existing IT infrastructure.
• Select a solution that is easily scalable to match your future development and growth
• Consider the hidden costs, if any, that goes with the application and what the effects will be on your business.

An ideal automated mobility solution will surely help you improve your customer satisfaction, cut your operational costs, improve the quality of your service delivery, provide efficient management of your workforce/finances and improve your productivity and profits.

Virtual City provides tailored mobility solutions for any kind of business. Contact us today to learn more.