With the evolution of technology and the culture of doing business, a lot of companies are already investing in inventory management software not only to add control measures but also to be able to effectively plan resources from the procurement of raw materials up to the delivery of goods to the customers.
The integration to online inventory management will require a company to shell out money to be invested in such software. Thus, when a business owner will contemplate in availing the use of an inventory management software, the business owner must be able to evaluate first the status of the company’s stocks, and the magnitude that such system must be able to cover.
One key to maintain and flourish the growth of a company is by way of effectively managing its inventories. Thus, it is really crucial that the business owner knows what kind of module or modules that they should be making use of.
So to define, an inventory management system is the automation of the stock transactions that covers the entire supply chain which covers all possible inventory movements from production to delivery.
A good inventory management software should possess the following basic features like barcoding, the reporting tools, inventory forecasting, inventory alerts, and the necessary accounting tools. Of course, with the more feature that you will require, chances are you will also need to allocate more money to afford a sophisticated inventory management software.
Inventory management software can help your business to employ automation of transactions that you can easily monitor the stock movement and be able to produce an effective plan for your company’s supply chain. This will also help you with a better stock positioning thereby allowing you to determine and distinguish items which are fast moving against those which are slow-moving and those which can be potentially obsolete.
There are different inventory management modules that you can consider in terms of the needs of your business. Below are some of the modules:
- The warehouse inventory management
Warehouse management is a different area and this requires different features of the system. There are different interests when it comes to warehouse management and one of the most crucial interest is by having the right level of stocks on hand. However, another important thing in terms of the value in inventory management in a warehouse is by being able to find an item as quickly as possible. The common feature that a warehouse inventory management system offers are the advanced barcode systems which support QR codes and other standards, the multiple location support, the shelf, and bin tracking systems and the order picking support
With this, you can now order more inventory and pick existing stocks for customer orders. You will also now be able to set restocking levels thus helping you avoid stock-outs.
- The retail management software
This inventory management system will help the retailers in keeping their businesses up and running with a possible maximization of profitability. One prime goal of a retail inventory management software is for the users to reorder items before such items run out of stock. This will enable the businesses to maintain adequate inventory levels thus helping users in capitalizing more sales opportunities.
This scenario encapsulates the order picking support, the automatic reordering, the inventory forecasting tools, and the barcoding support. With this, the business will be able to set all of the reorder points that are based primarily on the company’s goals. So may decide to maintain a buffer that is five times more than what your competitors do. This is all up to you.
In finding the right inventory management software, you must make sure that such inventory management software will complement well with your business process or else, the system might become a problem for your business.
To give you a kick start, below are some of the inventory management software which you might want to invest to:
- Netsuite Software
The Oracle Netsuite is offering a complete set of inventory management, manufacturing and procurement abilities which will help improve your supply chain and warehouse management practices and deliver an end-to-end, procurement-to-payment process for both growing and midsize businesses. This software can also give you a real-time view of key suppliers, inventory and procurement indicators.
- Sortly Pro Sofware
The Sortly Pro is a very simple inventory and asset monitoring system for you to visually track your inventory items which include the details of your item’s location, its price, its condition, and all other spontaneous ways of tracking the status of your items. The software offers a free trial period so that you can have more in-depth experience of the software and be able to have a better evaluation of this fits your business or not.
- Zoho Inventory Software
The Zoho Inventory system is an online application which enables a business to manage its orders and inventories that comes with multi-channel selling, shipping integrations and powerful control of your inventories. With this, you can now be able to optimize your inventory and order management from purchasing to packaging up to payments.
- EZOfficeInventory
The EZOfficeInventoy is the leading asset tracking software which helps you manage your inventories and assets of your entire company. This will enable you to track vendors, to move across inventory locations, and customize low stocks threshold alerts for optimum management of your inventories. This also features scan barcodes, QR Codes, and even RFID tags so that you can use mobile apps and help you manage your operations on the go. The procurement module even allows a quick inventory replenishment by way of purchase orders which can automatically update your product catalog. EZOfficeInventory also offers a free trial period for you to be able to make a good evaluation of the system.
There are other choices when it comes to what inventory management system you should be getting. You can have this matter consulted especially if it will be your company’s first time of adapting an inventory management software because the migration process will not be easy, and there are a whole lot of processes that need to be considered upon the integration of the system to your business.