The time is now, no matter what industry your business is in, to start thinking about inventory management software before things could irrevocably damage your brand image.
There was a time when robust inventory management software was reserved for industry experts and multinational companies. But now, thanks to the convergence of the internet and cloud storage, the playing field has leveled. Processes like controlling and ordering inventory, ensuring case flow, and tracking inventory are now automated thanks to inventory management software.
Table of Contents
Key Features
Inventory management software often packs a lot of different features. But there are some key features you should consider before picking up a inventory software for your business
Inventory Management
The reason for using a centralized inventory management system is to keep track of every single inventory detail like stock level, product history along with product specifications. All the data syncs with modules present in the inventory system and enhance productivity and increase collaboration among team members.
With inventory management software, you have many tools and features to generate real-time reports for all necessary inventory. Reports generated that show a shortage in inventory can help you control understocking issues quickly and on time. Notifications and alerts will prevent any unfortunate inventory mishaps, and you can successfully build an e-Commerce presence to various locations.
Automated Replenishment
If you overstock your inventory, you have wasted money, and if you’re under stock your inventory, you won’t be able to provide for the demand. It is crucial to maintain the right amount of inventory flowing so that your business does not stop.
Inventory management systems have tools to automate this process. The system automatically calculates preferred stocking levels and reorders stock from the vendor when it seems necessary. For organizations with several distribution locations, the solution allows more advanced parameters to help balance supply and demand across their business.
The inventory management software should have the crucial ability to manage inventory across the entire organization and, more importantly, enable this skill for multi-location planning.
Cycle Counting
Even the most sophisticated systems still need regular checks of inventory levels for key items. The inventory manager ensures an accurate item count and then reduces safety stock levels to increase operational savings. Inventory management tools have features to ease this process by enabling the manager to categorize stocks based on the volume of transactions. Here are some ways you can perform counting of your inventory:
Count one category at a time -Ideally, it is best to cycle through your entire inventory periodically. It is considered the best practice to focus on one category at a time so that you can count efficiently during operational hours and don’t need additional downtime.
Choose count categories based on seasonality -Inventory counting aims to predict inventory disparities as and when they happen. So it is best to conduct an item count when products are at their peak so you can fix issues immediately.
Mix up your count schedule -One of the primary reasons for the inventory loss is staff theft. So try and keep varying your schedule to detail employees from ‘gaming the system.’
The inventory software packs ability, which will alert the manager to conduct regular stock counts to maintain inventory accuracy. It also automatically prompts for a new account when new items are added to any category.
Traceability
With more and more e-Commerce businesses popping up and increasing customer expectations, all these demands greater visibility into the life cycle of the product. Good inventory management software should have the ability to define inventory and assembly items as being lot or serial tracked.
Providing a search system gives record and identity of all transactions taking place with your inventory. This gives you full traceability of where your product is. In turn, the user interface of inventory software makes it easy to search and lookup by lot or serial numbers related to transactions.
For security the inventory management software can provide secure access to authorized operators using personal login. The operators can keep track of inventory like shared tools and gear required for staff workers. This additional measure of security allows missing or misplaced items to be quickly traced back to an individual. This significantly reduces the downtime of staff workers and improves productivity.
Conclusion
Inventory management is an art. With inventory management software in place businesses with even multiple locations, can I have the ability to see different stock levels.
But the bottom line is you need to have enough inventory on hand in the right location to meet demand, whether it is to meet customer expectations or to supply work order to a manufacturing facility—right inventory management software will help you make this a reality.
