Gaining competitive advantage in Marketing and Distribution

FICCI Rural Summit 2005 – Paper On IT as a means for Marketing and Distribution Gaining competitive advantage in Marketing and Distribution through Information Technology S. STALIN EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR NAGARJUNA FERTILIZERS AND CHEMICALS LTD Hyderabad, India 1 FICCI Rural Summit 2005 – Paper On IT as a means for Marketing and Distribution Abstract The potential of Information Technology is yet to be fully tapped in the major segment of the fertilizer industry in the field of marketing, sales and distribution. This paper describes the role of Information technology in imparting efficiency and effectiveness into marketing and distribution. Implementation of IT related initiatives in Nagarjuna Fertilizers and Chemicals Limited for achieving efficiency, productivity and customer relationship has been explained. 1.0 Introduction India is the third largest producer and consumer of fertilizers in the world with about 60 large sized plants in the country manufacturing a range of fertilizers. Thanks to the initiative taken by the Government through Green Revolution and various other initiatives, India now is self sufficient in food production. Since The Government of India is aiming to double the food production by 2010-2012, fertilizers have a major role to play in achieving this objective. Considering the demand for fertilizers among the farming fraternity and the need to ensure smooth and timely availability of fertilizer to all parts of the country, the pressure on marketing departments has increased many fold. The marketing departments of the fertilizer industry are giving increasing thrust on quality marketing to increase efficiency, improve sales productivity and bring down costs. In such a scenario the industry has adopted Information Technology to get the required support services. 2.0 Marketing and Distribution in Fertilizer Industry The Indian rural market is developing at a rapid pace with vast opportunities ahead. With increase in the disposable income, the rural consumers are showing increased consumerism. Moreover evolution of young farmers and women farmers has greatly attracted marketers to concentrate in the rural market. In this context, rural marketing and distribution have gained great significance. Marketing strategy differs from industry to industry and even among products in the same industry. Agri inputs, especially fertilizers require a different marketing and distribution strategy because of many reasons which are as follows : 2 FICCI Rural Summit 2005 – Paper On IT as a means for Marketing and Distribution The industry is regulated in terms of pricing and distribution. Customer segment is broad with varying requirement and seasonal demand Fertilizers are commodities and there is no product differentiation The information/knowledge level of consumers is low and The customers are located over a vast geographical area In addition to the above, marketers face many challenges while marketing fertilizers in the rural market such as low level of literacy, absence of adequate physical communication facilities, absence of media for rural communication, low per capita income and the presence of large number of intermediaries between the suppliers and the end consumer. These difficulties result in high spending in marketing, communication, market research and distribution. Keeping in view the organizational requirements, customer needs, financial capability, competition and the regulatory environment, fertilizer companies have designed IT infrastructure and have adopted various IT related initiatives such as Business Process Improvement (BPI), Business Process Reengineering (BPR) and Customer Relationship Management (CRM). 3.0 Applicability of IT in Marketing & Distribution of Fertilizer Industry Information technology is capable of contributing in many ways in the fertilizer industry. IT would help in bringing down costs, increasing efficiency and improving productivity thereby contributing to the bottom line of the organization. IT can play a major role in logistics, efficient sales operations, checking the marketing costs, safeguarding market share and providing efficient customer services. In addition to the above it helps the management in taking right decisions for success. Thus, a well conceived IT Organization can endow decision-makers at different levels to effectively respond to market conditions. Marketers perform under a competitive environment characterized by changing consumer preference, distribution related impediments, inadequate infrastructure and regulatory limitations. In order to overcome the above problems and to impart efficiency in process, IT has been adopted as a strategic area of focus. 3.1 Applicability of IT in Fertilizer Marketing & Distribution 3 FICCI Rural Summit 2005 – Paper On IT as a means for Marketing and Distribution Applicability of IT varies from industry to industry. In the context of fertilizer industry, it can be categorized under five major heads as follows. a) Marketing and Sales Planning Product planning, Inventory planning, Branding, Promotion/Communication b) Business Application Enterprise Resources Planning (ERP), Advanced Planning Optimizer (APO) Sales Management (Dispatch information, Logistics, Warehouse Management, Dealer Management, Invoicing, Receivable Management etc.) Customer Relationship Management (CRM) c) Productivity Enhancement Applications Efficiency and productivity of the field personnel. Usage of PCs, PDAs, spread sheets, web, e-mails, VOIP, Video Conferencing d) Development service Extension services – By use of modern multimedia Information services – website/Information portals/call centers/GIS 4 FICCI Rural Summit 2005 – Paper On IT as a means for Marketing and Distribution 3.1.1 Planning, Monitoring and Control applications Major users of these applications are members of various levels of management. This class includes Management Reporting Applications (MRA) and Decision Support Systems (DSS). MRA & DSS are used to improve the effectiveness of marketing and distribution plans through continuous monitoring and feedback mechanism. In most of the organizations in the fertilizer sector, there is a need to improve the effectiveness of these applications with better backward integration, feedback mechanism and data warehousing. Several business intelligence software are available which can organize information in any required manner so that decision makers can use them for effective decision making. In addition, there is scope to provide appropriate IT tools to field personnel to carry out this function at micro level. Ex: Business intelligence software (BI), Internet and Videoconference Many cost effective IT solutions for planning, monitoring and control such as use of Internet for Chat and video conferencing facilities are available which save time and facilitate timely decisions in a cost-effective manner. 3.1.2 Business Applications These broadly cover those applications that involve business applications requiring direct input from the marketing offices or field personnel. This class of applications typically contain fertilizer dispatch information systems, logistics such as movement from production units/ports, warehouse management, dealer network management, sales, invoicing, accounting-outstanding/overdue system, fund transfer & monitoring systems, subsidy claims & monitoring system, accounting applications etc. Ex: Enterprise Resources Planning (ERP), Customer Relationship Management (CRM), Advanced Planning Optimizer (APO)* Online integrated systems capture the required information from the source itself. Once authorized personnel contribute the data, all the changes on various systems are immediately reflected. Integrated systems help in avoiding duplication and data re-entry eliminating human errors. Fertilizer companies have implemented marketing module of ERP to suit their business requirement. The first step towards this is the establishment of a robust network. 3.1.3 Productivity Enhancement Applications 5 FICCI Rural Summit 2005 – Paper On IT as a means for Marketing and Distribution This class of applications is used to increase the efficiency and productivity of the field personnel. Field personnel, by working on word processors, spread sheet, web browsers and emails can save time and cost on maintenance of manual ledgers, fax, telephone and telex bills. Ex: Usage of PCs, PDAs, spread sheets, web, e-mails, VOIP, Video Conferencing It is generally observed that substantial time of field staff is required in attending to paperwork. In a competitive environment, the field personnel have to devote maximum time attending to the customers. At present, most of the field personnel do not have direct access to computers. Most of them need to visit their nearest marketing office for access. Considering the downward trend in prices of hardware and software, companies have started providing desktops / laptops to field personnel. The field personnel are provided with training in basic office automation packages such as word processing spreadsheet, scheduling, usage of web browsers and emails. These measures will not only enhance the productivity of the field personnel but also will directly improve the efficiency of the organization. The productivity of field personnel can also be improved if supporting information needed by them such as manuals, guidelines etc. are provided online to them for ready reference. Similarly, approval of various activities such as tour plans etc. can be handled electronically to eliminate need to cut down unnecessary paper work and visit to local offices. *Details in Annexure 1 3.1.4 Customer Service Applications Fertilizer companies are migrating from a product oriented approach to a more sophisticated solution oriented approach thereby providing a variety of products and value added services to the customers. In services aspect, the fertilizer industry undertakes a large number of agricultural extension activities to serve their target market such as soil testing facility to farmers, agri consultancy services to the farmers by deploying trained professionals and the provision of agri related information to the consumers for increasing their productivity and earnings. The potential of information technology is being fully utilized to increase the scope and to spread the usage of such activities. Multimedia based applications are being 6 FICCI Rural Summit 2005 – Paper On IT as a means for Marketing and Distribution used to educate the farmers on various aspects of agriculture and allied fields. Such applications are cost effective providing interaction that encourages user participation. Although farmers are the ultimate consumers, adequate attentions to the needs of the channel is also essential. Applications focusing on specific requirements of intermediaries like dealers and cooperatives are also being developed. Though the usage of CDs, LCD projectors and TVs is still underway, many companies have adopted more sophisticated medium for proliferating their services like GIS, GPS, Agri portals, information Kiosks, call centers etc, details of which are given in the Annexure 2. As the spread of Internet is widening in the country, companies are conditions, weather, advice on agricultural prospects, counseling, etc. competing to provide online information based services such as local market 4.0 IT in Nagarjuna Fertilizers and Chemicals Ltd (NFCL) Nagarjuna Fertilizers and Chemicals Limited (NFCL), is the flagship company of the Nagarjuna Group. NFCL markets a wide range of plant nutrients such as Urea, water soluble fertilisers, MoP, Zinc Sulphate and water management system among numerous others. Its range amongst Indian farmers. of products sold under the Nagarjuna brand has built considerable brand loyalty In order to develop agro-techniques that will lead to increase in farm productivity, Nagarjuna Agricultural Research and Development Institute (NARDI) has been established. The objective of this Institute is to source and evaluate agri-inputs thereby ensuring better crop protection and sustainability and transferring the products and technologies to farmers. NFCL markets its products in 14 states across the country through 5 zonal and 22 area offices. All zonal and area offices are connected through V-SAT network. NFCL has a strong distribution network of more than 8500 dealers, 183 warehouse and transport agents to support the logistics operations. 4.1 History of IT application at NFCL NFCL has been focusing on excellence in Manufacturing, Marketing, Sales & Distribution, Finance and HR and has leveraged Information Technology. Over the years NFCL has adopted the best and the modern technologies to aid its business process and has constantly upgraded itself in the technology front. Presently it has a 7 FICCI Rural Summit 2005 – Paper On IT as a means for Marketing and Distribution well designed IT set up to endow decision-makers at various levels to effectively respond to market conditions. NFCL’s first step towards IT implementation was the introduction of Mainframe computers and Terminals (Personal Computers) for limited activities by the use of low-end software. With time NFCL has upgraded its IT infrastructure by introducing the latest computer systems and high-end application software as ERP. NFCL’s journey from mainframe/terminal system to the modern ERP system is discussed below. Pre 1992: In the pre 1992 period, all area offices, zonal offices and the Head office equipment. Processes like invoicing and stock reconciliation were carried out at the used to maintain manual accounts with electronic calculators only as support respective area offices and were then sent to head office with collections centralized at head office. Manual ledgers were maintained and due to high volumes, monthly account closure for the month used to be around 10th of the next month. offices were provided with PCs but the use of PCs for operations was limited to Sales accounts, stock reconciliation by use of Dbase software. There was no integration of area offices to zonal offices or head office and thus for account reconciliation accountants had to visit the head office every month. There were no stand alone PCs at the head office and all terminals were connected with the server only. Post 1992-95: In the year 1992, terminals were introduced in the system and area Oracle DBMS software-1995: By the introduction of Oracle Database Management System, bottlenecks of Dbase program were overcome and integration issue was reasonably addressed but the problem of data transfer persisted where physical movement of floppies was required to transfer data from area offices to head office. Moreover, report generation happened at head office only, which hampered the access of reports by area offices. 8 FICCI Rural Summit 2005 – Paper On IT as a means for Marketing and Distribution IT implementation in NFCL IT Paradigm Manual Accounts Calculator - Only Support Equipment Consequences: Monthly A/Cs closure - 10th-15th Clerical Errors Big Manual Ledgers Certain Bottlenecks of Dbase overcome Customized Package with Internal Control Measures. Workflow systemized to reasonable extent. Integration issues - reasonably addressed. Problems: Physical Movement of Floppies - AO to HO for data download - Every Month Reports Generation - Central Level Biggest Constraint. NFCL Pre 1992 Terminals and server at Head Office/Plant PCs placed at Area Offices Limitation - Sales A/c, Stock Reconciliation - Localized. No Integration with other offices to HO For account Consolidation / Reconciliation Area Accountants to visit HO-Finance Every Month Post 1992-1995 DBMS 1995 I – Kisan (Agri portal) Enterprise Resources Planning (ERP) Characteristics and Benefits I-Kisan is an initiative for using IT for the benefit of agriculture. Services provided by I-Kisan and its benefits to farmers are 1) Crop Information: Provides exhaustive information about various crops to the farmers thus enabling them to know and grow the crop to maximize their farm income. Input and output suppliers directory: I-kisan provides selected list of agri input suppliers list to help farmers in sourcing of material and to increase the choice of selection and improve negotiation. Crop diagnostics services: It is an interactive tool that helps the farmer in identifying problems related to crops and helps to diagnose various problems and suggest the right solutions. Characteristics and Benefits 1. 2. Monitoring and Control DSS for management from online data. Marketing & development Reduction in order to payment cycle Information on New markets & for new & existing Product development Formulating communication strategy Efficient customer complaint redressal for customer satisfaction 2) 3. Sales Flexibility in pricing as per mkt. needs. Efficient dealer A/C management Less lead-time for issuing invoice, credit /debit notes. Credit management: Reduced credit exposure, reduce deviations 3) 4. Distribution Automation of Sales forces through hand held devises Efficient execution of Indents, dispatches, Stocks management & min. Tsp. Cost. Proper monitoring of movement Connectivity of WH to ERP system 4) Expert service: A Question and answer section in which any farmer can query through Kiosk and experts would give answers. 9 FICCI Rural Summit 2005 – Paper On IT as a means for Marketing and Distribution Current IT applications: To adopt the most recent and the best of the breed technology into the system, two major areas of activity viz. Up-gradation of the IT infrastructure and implementation of an Application support have been identified to help the business processes. • IT Infrastructure • • • V-SAT Network PC’s & Laptops PDAs LCD Projectors Modern IT Initiative IT Application • Enterprise Resources Planning (i) IT infrastructure A robust IT infrastructure is a pre-requisite for the successful implementation of ERP. The most robust PCs of that time with P-III processors replaced the aging machines in the plant, marketing offices and the corporate office. A direct PAMA VSAT link of 96 KbPS was established between the plant and the corporate office. An additional 64 KbPS leased line link was established as standby. Both corporate office and the Plant were networked with Fibre-State of Art Giga Bit UTP network and all the area offices were networked with 4 KbPS TDM/TDMA V SAT. Lotus notes as the mailing system and workflow software were introduced within the organization. Two ES-40 Compaq server in cluster constitute the production server, sharing a disk array of 90 GB. Two similar ES 40 Server were installed as development server. SAP R/3 was implemented using Digital Unix as the operating system and Oracle 8 as the RDBMS. (ii) IT Application In line with the strategic direction, NFCL has taken various initiatives for adopting and implementing the modern IT applications. First and the foremost of them is the implementation of ERP. Further, I-Kisan agri portal and I-kisan agri kiosks have been set up for customer services. The BPR exercise was started in October 1998 and was completed in 8 months time. SAP R/3 4.0b was selected as ERP for implementation by the company. The SAP system went live on 1st Jan 2000. 10 FICCI Rural Summit 2005 – Paper On IT as a means for Marketing and Distribution The modules implemented include Financials (FI), Controlling (CO), Material Management (MM), Sales & Distribution (S&D), Asset Accounting (AA), Production Planning (PP-PI), Quality Management (QM), Plant Maintenance (PM) and Human Resources (HR). Today the organization has completed more than five years of ERP implementation and is reaping the benefits. In addition to efficiency, productiveness and cost minimization, NFCL has achieved the advantage of strong customer relationship. 4.2 Measurement of Performance Before the implementation started, based on the series of interactions with the users, the company identified “Measure of Performance” (MOP) in respect to various modules. The MOPs identified for Marketing (Sales and Distribution Module) were Elimination of re-entry of sales order by the distribution department and bringing consistency in Master data between Marketing Head Office and Distribution. Bringing port operations under distribution for consistency in master data. Availability of online operations data for the chief executive. Enhanced credit check by the system at sales order, delivery and billing stage. Enhanced control of prices through the system. Invoice generation at area offices for both plant and post sales. Reduction in order processing cycle, Online order processing and order status enquiry facility. Capturing of warehousing data for minimum reservation and peak stock level to facilitate warehouse stock planing. Dynamic allocation of rail and road mix. 4.3 ERP at NFCL is a well-established and trusted application. The users are comfortable with the system and are appreciating the applications and are using it for delivering efficiency in the Manufacturing, Finance & Marketing process, ensuring service to the internal and external customers. The load on IT department in trouble shooting or writing new programs for users has significantly reduced. Benefits of ERP to NFCL 11 FICCI Rural Summit 2005 – Paper On IT as a means for Marketing and Distribution a) Marketing Planning and decision making: The top executives of NFCL use ERP information for strategic and tactical decision making. Online and real-time data availability supports top executives to evaluate various options and take suitable decisions. simple. Profit center concept could be implemented at branch level, with transparency in analysis and presentation. Performance review: Review of performance has become uniform, quick and to the customers needs, customer queries and complaints are also addressed in an effective manner. Customer complaint handling: Marketing department has been highly responsive Customer relation has become more focused and meaningful. Value added services are being planned and delivered to the customers. Customer Satisfaction: NFCL has achieved high level of customer satisfaction. b) Marketing finance Data duplication: During the legacy system multiple entry of data i.e. entry of sales and data, invoicing data once at area offices and then at head office used to result in data duplication and frequent data entry errors. With the introduction of ERP system with online data entry at the source i.e. area office, data duplication and data entry errors have been eliminated. thus making real time data available to the management for review purpose and for decision making. Online availability of Data: Once the data is entered, it is updated in the server data is maintained at different levels. Access of data is controlled to users based access data related to their function and usability. Data accessibility: Despite multi level and multi location data entry, accessibility of on their job function. Authorized users have unique logins through which they can Compared to a lead-time of 7 to 8 days in the legacy system, data entry has become online in most cases. This has facilitated in monitoring of sales (order vs. delivery), stock, debtors’ etc. on real time enabling effective decision making. ERP-SAP managed database is safe and secured from any manipulation. In other words it is a highly controlled system. For example data once entered cannot be 12 FICCI Rural Summit 2005 – Paper On IT as a means for Marketing and Distribution changed or deleted. It can only be reversed. Even after reversal the originally entered data can be viewed through the automatically created registry. Maintaining and updating of master data like Customers, Locations, Products, Pricing etc. have become simple with data security and unique data codes. Monitoring of customer accounts has become simple. Lead time for issuing of invoices, debit / credit notes etc has reduced and there is clarity in account statements. This has resulted in minimizing instances of wrong delivery of material, wrong invoices, disputes with customers on account related issues etc and has resulted in improving the level of customer satisfaction. Monthly accounts could be closed on 3rd of every month compared to earlier practice of closing on 10th. Dealer credit status and credit limits can be monitored online thus establishing control over dispatch of material to dealers who have exceeded credit limits. System based online credit management has helped in reduction in credit exposure, recording deviations and taking necessary corrective measures and reduction in cases of critical dues and bad debts Pop-up facility is available to know about payment due date of dealers thus helping in managing material supplies to dealers with outstanding. Online budget monitoring facility is also available for all products range. c) Distribution The distribution department of NFCL has been working on Oracle interface till the implementation ERP for Distribution Business process in 2000. department got many benefits due to SAP installation. Oracle DBMS had limited storage space for various functions in Distribution and at area offices. Since the interfaces were not integrated, the data generated from various sources were processed separately taking more time for manual data entry. Data redundancy was also high due to many interfaces. ERP integrated all applications and could run multiple processes together thus saving time preventing duplication of data. The data entry points reduced and hence cost of taking printouts and time taken for data entry also reduced considerably. The distribution 13 FICCI Rural Summit 2005 – Paper On IT as a means for Marketing and Distribution - Data integration helped in streamlining data access. Area offices can view the status of orders online. - The master data concept along with low system constraints reduced the need for storage related concerns. - Decentralization of data entry points and online processing made reliability and speed a part and parcel of distribution operations. - Various reports viz. freight and equated lead reports, material loading, dispatches, sales, costs, stocks etc could be done using ERP system. Keeping all the above benefits in view, it can be said that ERP has helped in transforming various processes in the organization. 4.4 I-Kisan Agri portal & kiosks I-Kisan is an initiative for using information technology for the benefit of agriculture. It is based on the realization that substantial gap exist in agriculture between the actual and the potential in terms of productivity, quality and the farmer is at a disadvantage as compared to his counterpart elsewhere in the world. I-Kisan envisions Rural Prosperity through enhanced knowledge and technology. I-kisan would enable farmers realize the best from their farms through Knowledge based farming practices. It would help farmers realize best value in the Agri business processes, through transparency in deals, wastage reduction in the value chain and creation of new value in the chain. I-kisan is an IT portal to communicate the best farming practices, latest technological developments etc. to the farming community. I-kisan uses Internet media as a tool for efficient communication and input-output transaction. For this purpose I-kisan has set up Internet enabled booths across villages. Farmers have access to the latest information on all cultivation aspects, 14 FICCI Rural Summit 2005 – Paper On IT as a means for Marketing and Distribution agronomic practices, agri-inputs (seeds, fertilizers and agro-chemicals), management of pests and diseases, market rates for the produce etc. Apart from accessing useful information, farmers can also book their requirement of NFCL products in IEBs. The bookings will be routed to the distributor/dealer through whom the supply will be made to the farmer directly. 4.4.1 I-Kisan Model The model utilizes information technology to the supply chain management of agriculture inputs (NFCL products) directly to the farmers at their doorsteps. Through this initiative Internet connected Kiosks have been established in various villages which are fairly remote and with a population of around 3000- 5000. The kiosks are being operated by Ikisan personnel offering the convenience of ordering specified agri inputs from the village itself and organizing deliveries in the village thereby obviating the need for the farmer to travel to other towns to purchase agri inputs. 4.5 Currently NFCL has opened Kiosks in Andhra Pradesh and Orissa and is facilitating farmers in collecting a variety of information on agriculture and allied activities. Hundreds of farmers are being benefited through the kiosks. As future endeavor, NFCL plans to open more kiosks in various states and benefit farmers. I-Kisan Service offerings and Benefits to farmers Crop Information Output Agencies Input Suppliers Info Agri business Information I-KISAN Services Crop diagnostics services Expert services Weather Information a) Crop Information: I-kisan provides exhaustive information about various crops to the farmers thus enabling them to know and grow the crop to maximize their farm income. b) Input and output suppliers directory: I-kisan provides selected list of agri input suppliers list to help farmers in sourcing of material and to increase the choice of 15 FICCI Rural Summit 2005 – Paper On IT as a means for Marketing and Distribution selection and improve negotiation. Similarly the directory of agri output buyers helps the farmer in getting the list of the agencies handling the purchase of the crop which the farmer cultivates. c) Crop diagnostics services: It is an interactive tool in I-kisan which helps the farmer in identifying problems and its causes related to crops. It helps to diagnose various problems and suggest the right solutions. d) Weather Information: Provision is made for weather information and forecast from medium range weather stations /research stations. e) Expert service: It is a Question and answer section in which any farmer can present his query through Kiosk and experts would give answers. Thus farmers can avail the services of technically qualified and experienced persons for solving their problems. f) Agri business information: This section provides information on aromatic and medicinal plants, animal husbandry, agri equipment and machinery, agro industries and other information related to credit, Insurance, Govt Policy and irrigation facility. I-kisan is currently leveraging its domain expertise in digital information management pertaining to agriculture. The expertise of I-kisan along with the project management skills of NFCL has enabled us to bag the Technology Mission on Cotton project on BOT basis. I-kisan has also obtained entry into rural e-Seva project of Government of A.P. by virtue of which it has access to 1200 operation kiosks located all over Andhra Pradesh state. The rural e -Seva now caters to the information technology needs of thousands of farmers and is providing value-added services to farmers for increasing their yields and farm income. As a future endeavor, I-kisan and Govt of A.P. envisage setting up of 6000 kiosks in next two years, which will immensely benefit the farming community. 5.0 Conclusion The fertilizer marketing activity involves flow of large volume of information and movement of documents while handling of millions of tonnes of fertilizers. Information technology can play an important role in improving the efficiency and effectiveness of marketing and allied activities. Major segment of the Indian fertilizer industry can fully exploit the potential available from information technology that 16 FICCI Rural Summit 2005 – Paper On IT as a means for Marketing and Distribution could help them in enhancing competitiveness, controlling marketing costs and improving monitoring mechanisms to gain leadership in the market. In addition, IT has a major role to play in customer services also. IT can bridge the information gap with farmers, by updating them on scientific practices, value addition by new technologies etc. This will go a long way in improving the rural economy of India. Annexure 1 CRM CRM is an initiative to manage relationship with customers. Fertilizer marketing involves relationship management management is also required with Government departments, railways, tax authorities and transporters. Thus engaging the direct and indirect customers in a meaningful way will result in strong relationships. Market Development activities including farmer / dealer education activities are examples of CRM. with a wide array of customers, the primary among them being farmers and dealers. Effective relationship 17 In fertilizer industry IT can be effectively used for managing relationships with dealers and farmers. Creating farmers’ database FICCI Rural Summit 2005 – Paper On IT as a means for Marketing and Distribution 18 FICCI Rural Summit 2005 – Paper On IT as a means for Marketing and Distribution Annexure 2 GIS is defined as a computer hardware and software system designed to collect, manage, analyze and display geographically (spatially) referenced data through two crucial components namely Satellite mapping and Remote sensing. Satellites carry sophisticated remote sensing that record data like topography, climate data, soil mapping, cropping pattern, insect and pest attacks and market study etc. The data and information generated are accurate and flexible. Farmers are benefited on the basis of advice given for which crops to grow, fertilizer schedule based on soil profile, types of fertilizer to be used and also market trends. It is a mix of Telecom and IT where Information is given to farmers over phone. Central Gov. and various state Govt. have taken a lead in promoting this service among farmers. A bright example is KISAN CALL CENTRE service, which is available throughout the country. common toll free telephone number which can be dialed from anywhere in the country. Call center concept can be used effectively by fertilizer companies as an extension tool. By effectively using Knowledge Management tools, the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) can be mined for developing a program to address to farmer needs. Companies can generate leads for sales and market opportunities from these in brand building. Some pesticide companies have already used this strategy through cell phones. centers and thus can differentiate from the competitors. This service can also be used for customer service and At present the Call Center services are available at a Geographical Information System Agri call centers Agri Portals and Agri Kiosks Farmers require information on remunerative crops, market information of demand and supply, output prices, future output prices, prices of produce in various markets in the country, weather forecast etc. In order to satisfy the above needs, many agri-input companies, Govt. organizations and private bodies are providing information through Internet portals. Through Agri portals it is possible to provide customized rich information, knowledge and specific solutions to a wide audience. Even though information delivery through internet is very effective, computers and access to 19