"DCM"-Distributor Complaint Management

Abstract

Fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) is an industry where fast moving day-to-day consumer products are manufactured and delivered to the end consumers through distributors. This project will be focusing on distribution process that falls under FMCG industry. Dissatisfaction among distributors in complaint management was identified as a key concern by the author through observation. Further, it was identified that the communication gap was the core reason for distributor dissatisfaction by means of conducted primary research. Moving on, the extensive literature review authored by domain professionals proved valid the problem domain. Besides, several existing solutions were compared which indeed endorsed that there is a need for solution to address the communication gap. Moreover, an industrial survey was conducted to the key stakeholders through questionnaires and interview. The analysis report revealed that the key four contributing factors such as lack of transparency, delay in attempting complaints, knowledge gap and poor record management causes the communication gap. Alongside, requirements were elicited and used as a foundation to design and develop a solution. Solution “Distributor complaint management (DCM)” which is comprised of both IT and business was designed to rectify the identified issues. The FMCG companies are provided with a front-end desktop application for optimized complaint handling whereas the distributors are provided with a self-service technology (SST) aligned mobile solution for improved reporting capability. Since all the records are captured in the system, transparency will increase where both the parties will have a visibility on the process. Suggesting similar complaints and requesting feedback will minimize the knowledge gap. Besides, automated solution, alert and complaint prioritizing facility will increase process efficiency. Further, the concept as a whole will increase the efficiency, effectiveness, productivity and impose a standardized discipline across the distribution channel which in turn will create a WIN-WIN business situation. The proposed system was evaluated with field experts and gained positive outcome. This paper concludes with recommendations and future work for DCM project.