The operating systems of sales companies have changed a lot over the years and as technology advances. The systems have always updated themselves until DCM (Distant Channel Management), the new 3-letter of digitalization in sales companies, appeared.
In the 90s, sales managers were at the height of their power. All the operations passed through their hands, they were stars within the company as they had all the critical information at their disposal as the cloud technology was not yet available. When the regional sales manager enters the room, everyone stands up as if the commander has come. At annual sales meetings, if the CEO got one applause, the sales director would get three. The respect shown to these star sales executives would also significantly improve the performance of their subordinates. Everyone, from the sales manager to the sales representative, from the wholesaler to the distributor, strived to meet the targets.
In those years, our first 3-letter MIS (Management Information Systems) came into our lives. MIS was revolutionary, enabling different departments within the company to communicate with each other. It became possible to view and print out sales, collections, and even customer risk with a single click, on a regional basis, on a product basis, or even on a sales representative basis. Now all company executives, not just sales representatives or managers, had access to this information. The era of star sales managers, who took their power from knowledge and field dominance, was coming to an end, and the power was being shared with other managers.
Shortly after, our new 3-letter ERP (Enterprise Retail Program) took digitalization to a whole new level. The Oracle program was the star of ERP. With ERP, sales, production and finance data were fully integrated with each other, and all sales companies were directing their operations with ERP.
CRM (Customer Relationship Management) has maintained its star position among sales companies since 2000. The reasons that brought him to this position were the intense competition, the possibility of dozens of new options targeting the same customer, and the extension of the information systems to the single last customer detail. CRM, which has changed the view of the customer and the whole sales process wholesale, still maintains its position as a must for every salesperson, from the largest sales organizations to the smallest digital traders.
Today, one of the most important legs of digitalization is the transformation of remote work. We are living in the days when the concept of crowded cities, lost hours of traffic, disappearing national borders, development in information systems and the concept of office begin to mean the place where one is with a laptop computer.
Sales departments are organizations that have been trying to adapt to this revolution as a top priority, since they have been working in the field for a long time. There is no longer a need to visit a customer to talk to a customer, take an order or make a collection. Calls with mobile phones, video calls when necessary, conference calls to which a third support person is connected, and finally, common video conferencing platforms enable sales teams to establish customer relations without wasting time in traffic.
The client is ok, the relationship is established, but management? The biggest pursuit of sales organizations in this transition period is now in a completely different form. How will they manage this relationship that has evolved into digital conversations between the customer and the sales representative?
DCM (Distant Channel Management), the new three-letter of digitalization in sales organizations, finds a solution to this problem. It provides the management of the customer relationship that will be realized entirely through video conferencing platforms. It ensures that the indispensable functions of sales management such as planning, measurement and reporting are present in the new sales process and that the field channel is managed in line with the strategies of the central sales management.
The first global example of DCM, the new trend in the digitalization of sales companies, came from Turkey. OctaSales was launched as the first video-call platform equipped with DCM functions for sales organizations. In the next 10 years, when the teleworking transformation will be the main trend, there is room for many startups like OCTAPULL to grow,both in Turkey and in the world.
