Zoho for the Trading Industry:

Tally has been the mainstay of business in India, and the trading sector is no different. However, workflow automation in certain functions such as sales and transportation necessitates the use of an integrated ERP system. Just being focused on numbers doesn’t solve the problem.

How does a traditional trading company work in the SME space?

Let's take an example of a simple commodity like iron and steel.

• Firstly, the sales team talks with the regular buyer, who is a small-scale distributor of the product. They begin by gathering requirements and quoting prices based on approval from the owner, as the gross margin is as low as 2%.%

• The price of a commodity like iron and steel is highly volatile on a daily basis. Managing pricing through a tally-based system becomes difficult.

• Upon agreement with the distributor, the inquiry must be moved to the sale order stage along with the delivery terms (place of delivery, time of delivery, payment terms, etc.). Beyond a certain scale, managing these through a manual system becomes highly difficult as there is poor visibility of inventory across the system.

• The dispatch team processes the sale orders one by one. Depending on the vehicle availability and the urgency of each sale order, a dispatch order is generated.

• Each item in the dispatch order is picked and weighed independently, and the total shipment is weighed to cross-verify.

• Since the quantity dealt with is in tons, there is a minor variation between the quantity in the sale order and the actual quantity loaded in the truck. If it is not recorded, the difference will result in a significant loss due to the scale of operations.

• Hence, the actual loaded quantity has to be entered against the quantity in the dispatch order. Once the loading is complete, the invoice is generated along with the e-way bill, and the transportation is initiated.

• An average trader spends at least 15-20% of the time dealing with transportation-related issues.

• This is just at the sales end. At the procurement end, the process can be just as intricate, if not more.

The system might seem simple, but upon closer look, it requires a detailed understanding of the process.

The Zoho Suite of products can be integrated and configured to manage the entire system.

• Zoho CRM can be configured to manage price changes on a daily basis with ease. A simple formula can be worked out.

• The sales stage of the process can be managed through the CRM itself.

• To integrate the Transport module with the Delivery Order, a detailed logic can be created in Zoho Creator.

• Invoicing, e-way billing, and expense management can be done with Zoho Books.

• The inventory, including several hundred SKUs, can be managed using a Zoho inventory system.

• Furthermore, using Zoho's client and vendor portal, clients and vendors can view transaction history, ledgers, and pensing payments with the click of a button.

• Also, all payment reminders can be automated so that they are followed up on a regular basis.

Such a system can easily free up 20–30 % ofthe owner'sstime,e which can be used for taking up additional distributor accounts. After all, freeing up owner’s time and creating a single source of truth that can be used for review is the utmost value addition that any ERP system can provide.

Please note that trading is an ocean and your category can be completely different. Irrespective of your category, the essence of the process is almost the same and the process along with a minor tweaks can suit your category as well. Yes- A Zoho based system can be created for your industry as well.

The fact that Zoho has a set of products that can be integrated with one another gives an ERP system a lot of flexibility.Hence, irrespective of the complexity in your industry, a zoho-based ERP system can be created for the same in an iterative manner, and it can have a huge impact on your business growth. It is time to consider Zoho!

About the Author

SN PALANIAPPAN

Alumni, IIM, Bangalore; Co-Founder, StratWorks Consulting LLP; Zoho Implementation Partner.

His consulting firm, StratWorks Consulting LLP, specialises in SME consulting and has been involved in the design and implementation of multiple ERP systems across several industries, including trading, manufacturing, FMCG, food retail, IT, etc. The author can be reached at can be reached at palani@strat-works.com, LinkedIn ID.

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