"We believe the new standard of business management technology for companies reliant on Direct Store Delivery as a primary distribution method, is building all the DSD functionality and business rules natively into global, cloud-based ERP. We refer to the concept as 'Enterprise DSD' and we think it's something the market will really respond and adapt to." ~Paul Ziliak, co-founder, xkzero.
Enterprise DSD Defined
In order to understand āEnterprise Direct Store Delivery (DSD)ā itās important first to understand the limits and shortcomings of traditional DSD systems themselves.
Life Beyond Traditional Direct Store Delivery
Historically consumer packed goods wholesalers and manufacturers have placed heavy emphasis on Direct Store Delivery (DSD) as a means to grow revenue, open new markets, enhance customer relationships, and control inventory. The problem is, almost every DSD available on the market fails to address other vitally important aspects of the business. The result is these companies not only need to purchase and maintain DSD software and data, but they need to separately purchase software systems for accounting and ERP, CRM, equipment and asset maintenance, payroll and HR.
Furthermore, you then have to hope that you can make these systems talk with one another, because there is an incredible amount of shared data (related to customers, inventory, pricing, and logistics, not to mention transactions of all sorts) that must be synchronized to make the other applications meaningful at all. Itās also import to note that each major software system is likely to have complex business process that often impact the processes of other software data and processes.
The results can be painful. No single version of the truth. āVersion lockā because upgrading one system may cause the other to fail. No unity in the business, because individuals in different roles rely on different primary systems to perform their jobs. On top of all that you must pay for (and manage the technology) of two, three, four or more systems.
Enterprise DSD Changes Everything
Enterprise DSD is a new and innovative technology that allows companies to take full control over the destiny of the business in ways traditional DSD software simply cannot.
xkzero defines Enterprise DSD software as a single, unified system used to collect, store, manage and interpret data from a full range of business processes and activities including:
- Sales and order management
- Mobile route sales and delivery
- Merchandising and shelf management
- Route planning, order dispatch and warehouse logistics
- Traditional distribution and shipping
- Purchasing and procurement
- Production and planning
- Customer service including CRM
- Human resources
- eCommerce
- Asset/equipment management
- Business intelligence and financial accounting.
Industries Benefiting From Enterprise DSD
Enterprise DSD software is targeted primarily at Consumer Packaged Goods businesses, wholesalers and producers, who rely on Direct Store Delivery as a primary means of getting their product into the hands of their customers.
Specific industries reliant on DSD as a distribution strategy include the following SIC codes:
- 2024 Ice Cream and Frozen Deserts
- 2026 Fluid Milk
- 2038 Frozen Specialties
- 2051 Bread and Related Products
- 2086 Bottled and Canned Soft Drinks
- 2095 Roasted Coffee
- 5141 Groceries, General Line
- 5142 Packaged Frozen Goods
- 5143 Dairy Products
- 5145 Confectionary
- 5149 Grocery and Related Products
- 5181 Beer and Ale
- 5182 Wine and Distilled Alcoholic Beverages
- 5171 Petroleum Bulk Stations and Terminals
- 5172 Petroleum and Petroleum Products Wholesalers
Characteristics
Enterprise DSD systems typically include the following characteristics:
- One single integrated system
- Operates in (or near) real time
- A common database that supports all the application functions and processes
- A consistent look and feel across modules (common user experience)
- Deployment options include: on-premises, cloud hosted, or SaaS
Functional Areas Impacted
An Enterprise DSD covers the following common functional areas.
- Direct Store Delivery: Order Management, Tour Preparation, Load Check Out and Check In, Physical Distribution including in-store stock and shelf management, fulfillment of sales, payment collection, returns processing, merchandising, competitive intelligence gathering
- Finance & Accounting: General Ledger, Fixed Assets, payables including vouchering, matching and payment, receivables Cash Management and collections, cash management, Financial Consolidation
- Management Accounting: Budgeting, Costing, cost management, activity based costing
- Human resources: Recruiting, training, rostering, payroll, benefits, retirement and pension plans, diversity management, retirement, separation
- Production: R&D, recipe management, bill of materials, work orders, scheduling, capacity, workflow management, quality control, manufacturing process, manufacturing projects, manufacturing flow, product life cycle management
- Order Processing: Order to cash, order entry, credit checking, pricing, promotions, EDI, PAR levels, Reorder levels, available to promise, inventory, shipping, sales analysis and reporting, sales commissioning.
- Supply chain management: Supply chain planning, supplier scheduling, order to cash, purchasing, inventory, claim processing, warehousing (receiving, putaway, picking and packing).
- Equipment asset management: manage and maintain physical assets throughout the lifecycle.
- Project management: Project planning, resource planning, project costing, work breakdown structure, billing, time and expense, performance units, activity management
- Customer relationship management: Sales and marketing, commissions, service, customer contact, call center support
- Data services : Various "selfāservice" interfaces for customers, suppliers and/or employees
Would you like to learn more about Enterprise DSD systems and how they can benefit your business? You can contact us at [email protected] or learn more about our offering here.