Inventory management is one of the most important aspects of a supply chain business. At the same time, the system calls for high accuracy and investment in the right tool. The absence of a high performing tool can hamper any business, whether it is a retail store, a grocery shop or an eCommerce business.

Problems in activities such as inventory counting, forecasting, and tracking can result in overstocking or low stock problems, which is not good for any business. In order to overcome these issues, the businesses want to use the best inventory management software applications to eliminate the issues of stock wastage, fulfil the order accurately, and achieve high customer satisfaction.

The article shares some insights on inventory management software applications and how to select an application that can shape your business currently and prepare it for the future.

What is Inventory management Software?   

This is an application that helps a business organize and track their products that are not stored but are lying in the warehouse. The business might have more than one warehouses where there are several products stores for sales.

The inventory management software helps a business to record, track, and access all the inventory information accurately from a single interface on a real-time basis. Whenever a product is sold to a customer or is returned by the customer, the inventory management software application updates the stock count in the system. The system also sends notifications when the stock goes below a certain level so that the business is able to make buying decisions and avoid low stock issues.

Some of the smart stock management systems can also make future forecasts sales so that you are able to make the right decisions related to the stock inventory.

How an Inventory Management system is Important for a Business?

An efficient and accurate inventory management system gives easy access to accurate and real-time information about your stock levels. An updated inventory track level helps the businesses to make the right decisions at the time of stocking and selling the products. Or, we can say that the inventory management system help to save a lot of time, eliminate human errors, improve productivity, and streamline the order fulfilment process. It helps to achieve all the sales goals.

So if you are looking for an Inventory Management Tool, here are some of the things to consider..!

It can be difficult to decide which is the best inventory management application for your business. But, this can be easy when you know the features of some of the tools. Here is a set of must-have qualities for a high-performance inventory control system.

Barcoding

The primary way to automate the process of inventory management is Barcoding. A barcode is attached to every product that is present in the warehouse. This barcode is scanned whenever a product enters or exits the warehouse. The entire process is automated, including the printing as well as scanning of the barcodes with the help of the inventory management applications.

Tracking

Efficient tracking of the products makes a system highly powerful for managing inventory for your warehouse. The application allows you to have clear visibility of the exact location of the items that are present in the warehouse.

Updates in real Time

If your inventory management tool cannot provide real-time updates, it is of no use. Whenever a stock enters the warehouse, the inventory management system must do real-time updates of the information by scanning the barcode on the product. Similarly, when a product is sold from the warehouse, the barcode scan will deduct the item from the inventory stock. These activities help to manage the applications in a better way.

Integration

A business uses a set of different applications to manage its activities. These may include accounting tools, CRM tools, and Human Resource tools. It is important for the tool to integrate all the other applications used in the business so that the entire business processes are perfectly streamlined. This will eliminate the presence of repeated data entry and save a lot of valuable time. It will also enhance the overall business processes.

Analytical Reporting

The inventory management system records all the data about the products and services that move in and out of the warehouse. But what is the use of all this data when it cannot be analyzed to generate valuable results?  The inventory management system for your business must allow you to generate analytical reports that show clear and concise information about your sales, stock levels, and sales returns. This will help you to make informed decisions for your business.

Scalability

Business growth is inevitable and must take place with time. You must always choose the inventory management tool that meets your current business situations as well as will scale as your business scale in the future. It might be possible that you will ditch some of its features or use a new set of features like the number of users of the application increases with time. Thus, you need an inventory management system that is scalable with your business, and you do not have to change it or replace it with a new one as you grow.

User Friendliness

If it takes hours and hours for your team to learn how to use the inventory management system, it is not the right choice for your business. Your inventory management system must be highly user friendly. Your team must be able to easily integrate it into your workflow. If it is difficult to learn and use, your team will eventually start to manage the inventory record manually and abandon the system completely.

Customer Support

An inventory system might stop responding at the moment or might show errors. Therefore, you need 24/7 support from the inventory management software provider to resolve your issues promptly. Unresolved issues may affect your order fulfilment for your business. Thus, you need an application that provides strong customer support.

It is very important to invest in the right inventory management system. At the same time, you have to be careful at the time of making the final purchase. It will be wise if you consider all the features mentioned above before you buy an inventory management system for your business.

Source – Smallbizdaily