There are various ways how customers reach out to the distributors or wholesalers. They might place the order by phone, email or e-commerce, especially post-pandemic. B2B customers demand accurate, rapid information, irrespective of how they are placing an order. While customers frequently use e-commerce to browse products, many might still prefer to talk to a sales representative to finalize their transactions. The kind of response the customer gets can make or break the deal. This is where Inside Sales and Counter Sales become crucial.

Inside sales is a business strategy that involves sales representatives contacting potential customers, reacting to inquiries, and delivering necessary product information to designate them as leads. By building solid relationships through digital funnels, Inside sales helps to automate and streamline the sales process.

To optimize the customer’s experience, it is important to leverage the right technology and tools to improve the Inside Sales and Counter Sales processes. At Vyas Consulting, we offer an add-on solution for Microsoft D365 F&O that enhances both of these processes, with the following key features:

Enhanced Customer Search

Our solution allows sales representatives to quickly locate a customer’s account and determine if they purchased before. This information can help the representative better understand the customer’s needs and preferences, resulting in a more personalized and efficient experience.

Automated Creation of Orders from Customer Email

Customers can send in their orders via email, and our solution will automatically create an order in Microsoft D365 F&O. This helps to minimize errors and streamline the order entry process.

Intelligent Product Search

Our solution makes it easy for sales representatives to locate the products that customers want to purchase. The system can provide information on stock availability and pricing, and even offer alternative options if the desired product is not available.

Product Authorization/Restriction Controls

Our solution allows for controls to be put in place to limit product access based on authorization levels. This ensures that only authorized personnel have access to sensitive products, such as those with safety concerns or high value.

External Catalog

Our solution enables sales representatives to easily send a quote to their customers using product data from supplier catalogs, without requiring the creation of a product master in the system. This prevents excess product master data for one-off quotations that never materialize into actual orders.

Visibility of Available Stock by Branch/Warehouse

Our solution provides real-time visibility of available stock by branch, allowing sales representatives to provide accurate information to customers and avoid backorders.

Pricing Details, including Analysis of Current Price and Customer Price History

Our solution provides sales representatives with access to pricing details, including analysis of current prices and customer price history. This allows for more informed pricing decisions and can help to increase customer satisfaction and loyalty.

Counter Sales

Our solution includes features such as cash drawer reconciliation, an efficient customer pick-up/will-call order process, and POS payment options. These features help to streamline the counter sales process.

Cash Drawer Reconciliation

In counter sales with a cash drawer, it is important to closely manage the opening and closing cash drawer balance and ensure that it reconciles to the posted cash transactions.

Opening a session allows the sales representative to start the transaction process by logging into the system and verifying their identity. Once the session is open, the sales representative can start processing customer orders.

Closing a session ensures that all transactions are accurately recorded, and that the sales representative is accountable for their sales. Once the session is closed, the system will generate a report summarizing all the transactions that occurred during that session.

Customer Pick-up/Will-call

In some cases, customers may prefer to place an order over the phone and then pick up the order in person at the store or warehouse. The will-call feature allows sales representatives to process these types of orders and ensure that the products are ready for the customer to pick up when they arrive.

POS payment

Counter sales often involve a customer paying for their order on the spot. To facilitate this process, Vyas Consulting has added a point-of-sale (POS) payment feature to their Inside Sales solution. The sales representative can accept various forms of payment, such as cash, credit card, or check, and process the payment through the system. This feature streamlines the payment process and ensures that all transactions are accurately recorded.

In conclusion, by integrating both inside sales and counter sales processes and using the right tools and features, you can improve customer satisfaction, increase sales, and streamline your operations. With Vyas Consulting’s Inside Sales & Counter Sales solution for Microsoft D365 FO, you can leverage these features and more to transform your sales processes and stay ahead of your competitors.

Unlocking Efficiency though Automation

As the corporate world faces increasing challenges, AI and Machine Learning are paving the way for a paradigm shift. Automation has unlocked capabilities across nodes and arcs of supply chain management. These nodes could be warehouses, stores, fulfilment centers, ports or even link between those nodes for e.g. Transportation. It is becoming increasingly adopted in huge value.

Furthermore, Automation allows precision. It enables the operators and associates that are there in these nodes to spend more time in areas first that are more fulfilling and add value to the organization. Outdated manual operations are giving way to cutting-edge technologies, ushering in an era of efficiency, adaptability, and unprecedented opportunities. These advanced technologies comprehend complex data sets, unravel patterns, and provide important insights, empowering decision-makers with precision and foresight. AI and ML transcend mere automation and optimization, adapting autonomously to shifting circumstances and predicting disruptions.

One such area that needs to adopt automation is Order management.

Understanding the Importance of Order Management

Normally, any order processing often involves manually entering the order data into the ERP, tracking down orders, printing and collecting documents, etc. Since the orders are received in bulk quantities, the companies lose out on their critical time and resources due to this manual process. This is where these organizations need the Automated Order Management System. It makes processing orders easier and with little or no manual intervention.

Benefits of Automated Order Management

Streamlining Processes

Automating the sales order process helps in reducing the number of order entry errors due to manual handling. It streamlines these processes by automating tasks, resulting in faster order fulfilment and reduced operational costs.

Enhancing Efficiency

Manual order management processes are prone to errors and inefficiencies, leading to delayed order processing and dissatisfied customers. By automating repetitive tasks and eliminating manual intervention, businesses can allocate resources more effectively thereby focusing on strategic initiatives to drive growth. Automated order management frees up time for employees to concentrate on tasks that require human expertise, such as customer service and product innovation.

Improved Customer Satisfaction

Timely order processing and accurate order fulfilment are key drivers of customer satisfaction. Automated order management systems ensure orders are processed promptly and accurately, leading to faster delivery times and happier customers.

Automated Order Management by VyasTec

VyasTec has developed an Automated Order Management system built on Microsoft D365 F&O functionality. Using this solution, the sales orders can be created automatically in the system without much manual intervention. This solution is proficient in reading and processing the order details sent by the customer through different mediums. The responsible sales rep gets the information of the automatically created sales order and whether there were any validation issues. The templates can be customized, trained and executed as per the specific needs of the organization.

Greatest advantage of using the Automated order management by Vyastec is that it translates to faster processing times and low-value admin activities. This enables the other team members to focus on cross-selling, upselling, problem solving, customer relationship building and other growth activities.

Such was the case for Virtual Supply, a national wholesale distributor and fulfillment partner for a host of products spanning several industries.

About Virtual Supply

A number of manufacturers partner with Virtual Supply’s Consumer Goods Division to manage the sales and distribution of their products, leveraging Virtual Supply’s strong relationships with big-name retailers such as Amazon.com, Costco Wholesale, Walmart.com, and Home Depot.

Earl & Brown, the Business Solutions Division of Virtual Supply, distributes Motorola two-way radios and also sells a variety of products to Amazon Delivery Service Partners.

The Virtual Supply Vendor Services Division also offers à la carte value-added services.

The Special Pricing Challenge

Virtual Supply was searching for an all-encompassing ERP system that would also help them effectively manage their special pricing programs. They required functionality to track discounts being offered by their suppliers and pass those discounts on to their customers when applicable. Most importantly, they needed to be able to submit accurate chargeback claims to those suppliers and recover the cost delta to accurately reflect their COGS and margin.

Several manual processes were in place to accomplish these objectives; as you can imagine, they were fraught with difficulties. They needed to track which sales were eligible for each type of discount. They also needed to post accrual entries in the general ledger, and they were creating negative POs for the cost delta that they needed to recover from their suppliers.

Aside from home-grown solutions to core business challenges, they also suffered from a lack of visibility into the financial impact of these special pricing programs. As a result, there was no clear data on their margins or bottom line.

The Solution: Special Pricing and Chargeback Management for Dynamics 365

Virtual Supply settled on Microsoft Dynamics 365 as their ERP software of choice, and they found the solution to their discounting woes in the Special Pricing and Chargeback Management add-on for Dynamics 365.

With the entire Special Pricing Agreement (SPA) cycle integrated into one solution, Virtual Supply now has an efficient set of automated tools that reduce manual calculation and data entry, reducing both labor and errors. Best of all, the pricing carries over from Sales to AR, Inventory, AP, and the GL, maintaining pricing consistency and offering flexibility as pricing and promotions change.

As a result, Virtual Supply enjoys the following benefits:

• SPA Types, Reimbursement Methods, and Discount Calculations are set up just once and applied as needed by the system
• Streamlined Special Pricing Agreement management in a single system
• A flexible solution to manage various types of vendor programs
• SPAs are integrated with Sales Orders in real time
• All accruals, chargeback claims, and payments are automatically posted to the General Ledger
• Reduced accounting labor for vendor pricing promotions
• Visibility into profit margins
• A simple interface that feels like part of the overall Dynamics 365 solution

Just as important as a reliable software solution, the service from Vyas Consulting during implementation and beyond helped Virtual Supply to make a success of this project. Phil Bickler, Information Technology Director, states: “Vyas truly cared about providing excellent service throughout our project. Working closely with our project team allowed them to thoroughly understand our business requirements. Their project manager and development team provided us with solutions to challenges that helped deliver an excellent end product for our business.”

Distributors should focus on the efficiencies of a few key aspects during the sales process:

Identifying the customer: Locate the customer’s account quickly and determine if they have purchase before.

Understanding the customer: Does the customer have any open customer services issues? What is their purchase history?

Finding the products: Determine what products the customer wishes to purchase, how much stock is available, and quote an accurate price. If product is not available, be prepared to offer alternatives, or accurate available to promise data.

Closing the deal: If the customer is placing an order by phone, ensure that all necessary details have been finalized and send them a confirmation that their order has been created. If the customer is on-site placing a counter sale, be prepared to take a payment, print a receipt, and fulfill the order on the spot.

Although these steps seem simple and straightforward, there is always room for improvement. Small things can make a big difference in how quickly a sales representative can respond to a customer’s inquiries. At Vyas Consulting, we have created an add-on solution for Microsoft D365 FO that makes the Inside Sales/Counter Sales processes quick and easy. Contact us today to learn more and request a demo, or use the following link to learn more about Vyas Inside Sales and Counter Sales for D365.

The distributor would benefit from a collaborative approach within a framework that will help him retain and strengthen the core of his business and help him gain an edge over the competitors in terms of maximizing sales and revenue in the marketplace.

Wholesale distributors face a lot of risks in their business due to volatility in customer demand, and the challenges encountered like physical documentation, maintaining client-specific data, monitoring the cost pricing, list pricing, purchase pricing and inventory, the retention of customers, and acquiring new customers all are very exhaustive and costly process. All the above factors increase the chance of incurring a loss when working with such close margins. To derive the perfect permutations and combinations of demand and supply, maximizing the product margin and achieving profitable growth is the key.

The profitability of distributorship depends on this chargeback as this is the net profit in the ever-growing, competitive, expensive, and time-consuming process. The SPA is designed to mitigate risks, limit time and boost consumption and optimize the profits of distributors’ increasing market reach. The SPA customizes the pricing agreements specifically suited to each vendor in a manner that helps both the manufacturer and the distributor to achieve maximum profit in an efficient and fast chargeback process.

The SPA helps in keeping meticulous track of all agreements for each market and clientele efficiently and is the most effective for fraternization which collectively works with and for the distributors and customers alike each distributor has a unique code with their manufacturer which means the process of claims is foolproof. The chargeback does not have any duplicity and ensures the most economical, friendly software for maximum efficacy and ease of business.

The wholesaler search for cost-effective enterprise solutions for large organizations and Vyas Consulting (we do it right the very first time) is the ultimate in providing solutions for the same. Our version of Microsoft Dynamics 365 can be customized for your precise business needs and ensure that you utilize the application to its full potential.

At Vyas, we have the most advanced and coherent system to help clear bottlenecks, customized to suit every client. We enable better planning, design, and execution of agreements. streamlined management of chargeback claims minimizes the expensive reconciliation tools which are automated with system workflow to quickly manage the functionality with the fullest efficiency.

Though the current profit margins are razor-thin, acquiring more customers in the shortest amount of time is the key to increasing the volume of the business. Inside sales is an excellent business strategy when the sales process is more transactional and automated through digital funnels. These funnels Build solid relationships that lead to sale

Sales reps spend less time closing leads, and smaller deals with quick turnarounds conducted through online channels result in a shorter sale cycle complexity. The new features also enable users to quickly find products based on their shape, size, attributes, pricing, and so on. The Product search is also more convenient and only a click away with the Insides sales application on Microsoft Dynamics 365.

Vyas Consulting has an Inside sales solution that includes many features to streamline the order entry process:

• Enhanced customer search
• Intelligent product search
• Visibility of available stock by branch
• Pricing details, including analysis of current price and customer price history
• Product authorization/restriction controls
• Automated creation of orders from customer email

Vyas consulting creates a positive onboarding experience and provides your team with the resources they need to succeed in inside sales. With the right application, you can exponentially grow your business and profits. Thereby increasing the revenue by boosting sales volume, reduction in costs, bring improved performance through intuitive data management and analytics.

We do realize the value of accurately train the customer staff and provide training services as part of other service offerings or as a standalone service. With a team of Microsoft Certified Professionals (MCPs) and Microsoft Certified Trainers (MCTs) who have strong track record and hands on experience working on Microsoft Dynamics AX, we cover a wide range of training areas targeting functional, technical and infrastructural needs of customers and partners.

During this pandemic crisis, Power Platform and D365 F&O have come as blessing to the companies. Knowing that, lets take a deeper look at the benefits provided by all the components of Power Platform and D365 F&O-

Effective Communication-

Not the companies that produce a large amount of data are successful, but how that data is analysed for insights is important. Big data should be analysed properly for better decision making, innovation, creation of new opportunities, improved customer service, efficiency and effectiveness. Power BI is a versatile tool which helps in aggregating, analysing, visualising, and sharing data. It helps the human brain to understand the big and small data as it makes it easier to detect patterns, trends, and outliers in groups of data. The complicated datasets provide a clear and concise meaning with the help of Power BI.

Smart Analysis –

It is important for companies to assess the impact of covid-19 on their workforce, customers, revenue, and costs. Power BI helps in tracking the consequences of the pandemic on the business and get useful insights to make smarter decisions.

Strategizing –

Manufacturers are giving distributors different incentives to fight the decline in sales due to the pandemic. Billback SPA Management Module in MS D365 by Vyas Consulting helps manufacturers to manage the complex contracts and execute the claim process by paying the difference between the original price (acquisition price) and the new price (price agreed upon after entering into a Special Pricing Agreement with distributors) effectively and efficiently.

Balancing Supply Chain –

With the help of Supply Chain Management Module of D365, shop floor and equipment operations can be managed with a real-time view of your entire production and stock using IoT.Also, Companies can address the change in demand by resizing the stock levels with Planning Optimization Add-in.

Fixed Asset Management –

Fixed Asset management is always a concern for Manufacturers. With the help of Asset Tracking App, manufacturers can reduce the risk of asset theft. Scheduled preventive maintenance helps in unexpected breakdown of assets.

Power Platform and D365 F&O helps to address and overcome the unexpected events and is considered essential by many companies these days.

Misconception 1 – Companies which produce a large amount of data are successful.

Not the companies that produce a large amount of data are successful, but how that data is analysed for insights is important. Big data should be analysed properly for better decision making, innovation, creation of new opportunities, improved customer service, efficiency and effectiveness. Power BI is a versatile tool which helps in aggregating, analysing, visualising, and sharing data. It helps the human brain to understand the big and small data as it makes it easier to detect patterns, trends, and outliers in groups of data. The complicated datasets provide a clear and concise meaning with the help of Power BI.

Misconception 2 – It takes a lot of time to pull out data from different databases and structure them to get useful insights.

More than 250 connectors help you to connect to your data sources. With the help of Power Query, it has become easy for power users to shape data to build reports and dashboards that meet the needs of their organization. It enables the automate refreshing data connections to external data sources which help in saving time and efforts. The ability to share queries saves the business users to unknowingly do work that someone has already done within the organization.

Misconception 3 – You need a team of data scientists to take the advantage of Data Analysis Systems.

Anyone from any department can easily use Power BI to meet the requirements. It has inbuilt intelligence which assists you to select attributes for your reports by suggesting the best reporting element. Also, it allows selection of attributes by a simple drag & drop for your reports.The QA feature of the Power BI answers to your queries in a highly visualized manner.

Misconception 4 – It is very costly to implement data analysis systems.

Companies rely on manual processes and excel for data evaluation as they assume that the data analysis systems are expensive and are for companies that have huge budgets. Power BI has three pricing plans to dater to different needs of its customers and removing cost as the major barrier.

• Power BI Desktop – It is free for any single user who wants to clean data, create custom visualisations and publish it to Power BI service.
• Power BI Pro – The Pro plan costs $9.99/user/month but the users can try it for free for 60 days. It allows users to collaborate with data, govern data, build dashboards with a 360-degree real-time view and the ability to publish reports anywhere.
• Power BI Premium – The Premium plan starts at $4,995 a month per dedicated cloud compute and storage resource.

Misconception 5 – Excel can do it all.

Excel is everywhere and is available with most of the people but struggles to handle a large amount of data and fails to offer a wide variety of visualisations. Excel does not guarantee any data security while Power BI can restrict data view to individuals by setting rules.Power Bi is built on Azure, like many other MS Services, ensuring a high level of security.

The ERP System is used as a very vital tool to integrate different organizational systems and facilitates error-free transactions and production. ERP System makes an organization more efficient and less rigidly structured so that organization components operate more easily, enhancing organization internally and externally. It helps to find sufficiency, competence and usefulness of the information system’s internal control structure. It audits to review the reliability and integrity of information and inspects the systems for agreement with policies, conventions, events and laws.

Vyas Consulting provides different services of ERP audit to give assurance in coverage area of system’s integrity, application’s safety measures, business audits and infrastructure’s reliability and implementation review. It ensures that the system component is properly configured and the system is secured and your ERP software is eliminating manual work done related to understanding and usage of business process. Collaboration in between business and ERP System audit will definitely help to find the gap between expectations of customers and exact services which are provided by the company. It is necessary to fill that gap through right moves of process improvements that creates return of investment in terms of customer satisfaction.

ERP audit will be done in real time environment, when an organization goes live so many transactions will happen in terms of business process. To reduce duplicity in the database, ERP system audit will work according to software development life cycle (SDLC) to manage all work in an appropriate manner and after auditing all projects it also provides a pre-implementation review of the desired result. Vyas Consulting is also associated to perform and measure these initiatives to give the important feedback to its clients and use them according to its future requirements.