The Importance of Proper Inventory Management

In business, anything inventory related is a huge area that needs implementation of efficient of effective processes in order to avoid inventory-related issues. Manual inventory management, however, consumes too much time yet it does not guarantee accurate and error-free records.

This is why a lot of businesses who had been in denial of the need to invest in inventory management software would often suffer from inventory stock-out, unbalanced stocks, and inaccurate figures no matter how thorough the reconciliation was.
Solid inventory management routines are often necessary. Absence of this often results to a loss of cash and other potential opportunities to earn more.

What is Inventory Management?

Inventory management is simply the process of keeping track or monitoring of the company’s inventories/stocked goods including specific details about their dimensions, weight, location, and amounts. The purpose of inventory management is to use up a minimal cost of holding inventories. This can be achieved by helping business owners identify the best times to restock or replenish products and purchase more materials for manufacturing (if the company is a manufacturing business).

Why is inventory management necessary?

Mismanagement of inventories can lead to catastrophic results like loss of money from potential sales, or waste of money by keeping a high inventory of stocks that are not needed.
If you have the tools needed to ensure that your company has enough stocks on hand to meet the demands of your customers or the company like inventory management software, then you most likely are having an effective inventory management approach.

How inventory management software can help…

Inventory management software are one of the most common software solutions many companies use and they are selling out for a reason. Investing in one is unquestionably worth it given the amazing advantages it offers:

• More accurate order frequency. In spite of warehouse men perceiving shortages of stocks to be the worst possible case, overstocking is still one of the unnecessary yet common issues businesses face. This results to more wasted products and the business has to bear with its maintenance and storage cost too. Consequently, businesses lose money which could have been significantly avoided with the help of an inventory management software. One of the amazing features of inventory management software is how it displays real time records of actual stock supplies which can serve as a solid basis for any reordering move in the future. With this tool, a more accurate order frequency is achieved.
• Centralized, reliable storage of records. Managing inventories from one location alone already requires a lot of hard work. What more in managing and governing inventories from multiple locations? But thanks to inventory management software, this is no longer an issue. Inventory management software usually comes with more than enough warehouse tools deployed in multiple locations, enabling users to track product availability from different warehouses as it maintains centralized storage for all these records.
• Efficient and effective stock management processes. Healthy retail businesses are often backed by a good inventory management software as it saves them both effort and time needed in manually managing stocks. With the help of such a collaborative system, employees no longer need to spend a lot of time writing about daily reports and literally running back and forth to give stakeholders an answer.
• Improved sales productivity. As per many companies, significant sale improvements have been seen after inventory management software solution was deployed. This is because it helped achieved more accurate inventories that helped reduce the occurrence of losing customers and clerical mistakes that could result to untimely out of stocks.
• Timely delivery. One of the best perks of using an inventory management software is how it facilitates timely delivery deadlines which prevents customers from having to unnecessarily wait for their shipments to arrive. More advanced inventory management software even impart roles on the customers about the process with realistic picture and status of their order.
• Integration with other systems in the company. Even before the discovery of inventory management software and other software solutions, a lot of companies have already begun using back-office applications like that for accounting and ERP. Integration and migration of these data into inventory management software is actually allowed, making it easier to process stock related data that were previously gathered.
• Reduced hidden costs. Another perk of having a good inventory management software is how it adjusts easily to sudden increases in sales and as a user or owner of the process, you can easily tweak them according to the sudden spikes or drops. This consequently reduces your responsibility to pay for extra storage fees. Advanced software even automate the preparation, packing, and shipping of products with just a few clicks.
• Happier customers. Many inventory management processes display personalized messages and accurate responses to help you better reach your customers. This leaves them happier and more satisfied than ever. Plus, a good inventory management software can also feature an automated tracking of shipped orders, keeping customers grounded about the progress of their orders.
• More accurate planning and forecasting. With a good inventory management software, users get to plan ahead and act more proactive in light of the displayed statuses of stocks. Negative trends and opportunities that the software displays can also serve as a reliable basis for future decisions.

All the above mentioned advantages are made possible because of an inventory management software’s reliable features. Below are some common features you can find in a basic inventory program package:

• Product Categorization. This feature enables users to migrate products between different locations and groups. These products lists are displayed in a way that they are easily searchable by price, type, name, supplier, date, popularity, or other relevant sort grounds. Product categorization facilitates full stock control as it enables users to forecast demand and make accurate orders from suppliers.
• Order Management. This feature lets users manage their sales and purchases through the system, besides tracking orders and stock levels. As much as possible, invest in an inventory management software that reads third-party accounting tools.
• Automated Ordering. This feature which facilitates multichannel stock management, helps achieve time efficiency in inventory management processes as other efforts needed to bill and monitor projected sales need not be done manually.
• Barcode Scanning. This feature significantly speeds up the inventory management process as inflow and outflow of stocks would only have to be scanned.
• Up-to-date Product Information. Inventory management software sees data as dynamic variables. It features a simplified and time efficient way to process and maintain product-related information so that all users can rely only on accurate and up to date data.