Success in the digital age is for the most part being aware that disruption is inevitable and perhaps more importantly, being able to adapt to the changes and respond accordingly. To maintain a competitive edge, and meet the increasing demand to provide enhanced customer experience, businesses must integrate innovative solutions in their operations. One such solution that businesses could immediately reap the benefit from is smart inventory management software.

The key concept behind properly deployed inventory management software is straightforward. Practically all businesses have some form of inventory, and software allows companies to track, monitor and streamline the movement of goods, which results in faster delivery and seamless restocking. By having unprecedented visibility into its supply chain, a company could make more informed business decisions and investments. Some software even offers real-time insights, control, and auditing features.

What are the main benefits of smart inventory management tools?

Regardless of the method, manual inventory management is inefficient and extremely time-consuming. Never mind the fact that inventory information gathered using manual means is outdated but worse, it could be false as manual methods are incredibly error-prone. Having inaccurate inventory data could lead either; overstocking thus increasing warehouse costs, among other things, or; understocking; leading to loss in sales and potential revenue, while negatively affecting the customer experience.

Whichever way you look at it, having an inefficient inventory management system is bad for business. Hence why implementing a smart inventory management software is no longer a luxury, but a strategic imperative. And thus, it can be considered as one of the crucial factors that determine the competitiveness, and ultimately, the survival of a business.

Specific benefits of deploying a smart solution to create your inventory management system will include:

• Enhanced supply chain visibility – Having visibility into the entire supply chain empowers business owners to be more in control of the movement of their supplies and goods, and with that comes the information required to make timely, crucial business decisions.
• Real-time inventory tracking – The importance of having up-to-date information in today’s day and age cannot be over-stated, as competition to deliver the fastest service is at an all-time high.
• Improve financial performance – When inventory systems are optimized with predictive capabilities, companies can secure supplies and stocks at a better rate, and shift goods in a timely fashion: that will boost sales and revenue.
• Accurate accounting and reporting – Efficient tracking of inventory coupled with real-time data enables companies to generate precise reports that reflect the actual value of a company’s catalog, instead of an estimation, or worse, a hunch.
• Decreased inventory theft and loss – Finally, having a software systemically tracking the movement of goods will drastically reduce the loss of inventory due to factors like theft and negligence.

What features should inventory management software have?

If you are in the process of buying a solution, several key features are considered musts. These features include: inventory auditing functions which perform periodic reviews and flag any discrepancies; inventory control functions that prevent both over- and understocking; product categorization analytical tools; purchase order management.

Beyond that, business leaders should ensure that the inventory management platform can be integrated with the company’s other systems, like accounting software, logistics control systems or larger ERP facilities. Emerging future technologies such IoT is also expected to revolutionize the space further – automated warehousing a prime example – so the right solution should be able to integrate smart sensors and automated systems robustly.

Picking the ideal solution for inventory management is among the most challenging decisions facing IT leaders today. In addition to finding the right fit, multiple other factors such as scalability, and pricing models must be taken into account. To help make the decision-making process a little easier, Tech Wire Asia has picked four inventory management software businesses that prospective purchasers should seriously consider. The journey to optimize operations and increase operational efficiency begins today.

FISHBOWL INVENTORY

Whether you’re a full-scale manufacturer, a high throughput e-commerce business or a business-to-business wholesaler, Fishbowl Inventory has the entire range of solutions to help your business grow.

The Australian/Asian office for Fishbowl Inventory, based in Queensland Australia, takes care of over 2,500 users that use Fishbowl across Australia, New Zealand and South-East Asian region. Fishbowl Inventory’s two flagship offerings are Fishbowl Manufacturing (FBM) and Fishbowl Warehouse (FBW).

FBM is specifically tailored for manufacturing companies, and has features that generate complex work orders, manufacturer orders and bills of materials and assemblies, and ensures maximum efficiencies right along the production line, regardless of the inherent complexities that are part of manufacturing today.

FBW allows everyday operators to run warehouses with ultimate precision and centralizes all information and customer order management into one easy-to-access platform, expediting picking, packing, and the shipping of goods.

Seamlessly integrating with Intuit QuickBooks Online, QuickBooks Desktop, Xero and Reckon Accounts, both FBM and FBW extend those packages’ capabilities, performing inventory management tasks, such as barcoding, part tracking (serial numbers/batches), advanced bill of materials formulations and work orders. Integration of this nature, where systems work as a “joined-up” unit allows for instant inventory and accounting updates, while increasing data accuracy.

Fishbowl Inventory solutions aim to simplify your inventory and operations as a business, too, with flexible, highly scalable features proven to boost efficiency, reduce costs and increase productivity. That translates into happier customers, and makes repeat business an everyday occurrence, rather than an occasional bonus.

For more information on Fishbowl’s cost-effective inventory management solutions, please read more here.

TRADEGECKO

Meanwhile, Tradegecko also offers its own take on robust inventory management solutions that help businesses to take control of their operations. Having been a reliable vendor to numerous companies spanning multiple industries, the company is a specialist in cloud-based inventory and order management software.

Especially suitable for modern, online businesses, the platform combines all the different sales channels, locations, and currencies, enabling centralized management of every product, order, and customer. Promising improved stock tracking, the software automatically creates, edits, and e-mails purchase orders while also updating inventory levels – in real-time.

With a CRM function integrated, companies can keep all customer and supplier data in a single platform. The solution also records customer orders and purchase history, providing valuable insights into customer behavior. This data is also be used to improve the customer experience – tracking returns, compaints, patterns of purchase and repeat business.

Moreover, with the help of TradeGecko, order fulfillment can be automated at much increased volumes while still maintaining cost efficiency. How? The system integrates inventory data from the different branches of a company, as well as the multiple sales channels. As all the various functions are modular in nature, organizations can pick and choose to tailor the exact solutions that they need.

STITCH LABS

Stitch Labs is an inventory management solution provider. The platform, by the San Francisco-based company, is optimized to deliver maximum efficiency and geared towards supporting growing businesses and those making the jump up to the next level of operations – perhaps from paper-or Excel-based solutions.

Stitch understands that inventory is the lifeline of every business and having the right solution is crucial to meet the demands of customers that today demand (even at scale) individualized or personalized service. Thus, Stitch’s inventory management software enables quick delivery via its state-of-the-art order management system as the first, yet most important step.

For starters, the software optimizes order logistics with automatic order splitting and custom order-routing workflows based on service availability, geography, and costs of shipping. Also, when it comes to delivering to customers, the platform streamlines the fulfillment process across different warehouses, drop shippers and third-party logistics suppliers (3PLs).

If you are seeking to get rid of your error-prone spreadsheet or legacy systems and are interested in leveraging advanced inventory management tools such as taxonomy and categorizations management, then Stitch’s solutions might be able to help.

However, like every other premium service, it does come with a hefty price tag which could impede some smaller enterprise. For those who don’t mind the worthy investment, Stitch’s solutions could transform your business.

CIN7

Cin7 is an amalgamation of “connected inventory” and the seven trends in multi-channel business that the founders of the company saw at its time of inception. Completely cloud native, Cin7 promises ultimate business control, even as companies grow in capacity, sales channels multiply, warehouse services become outsourced and logistics function automated.

The company’s solution comes as standard with essential features such as centralized inventory management, automatic reordering, and accounting solution integrations, allowing small and growing business to automate specific tasks as part of a process of piecemeal integration and deployment.

Since modern businesses have to cope with increasingly shorter product lifecycles, the ability to quickly change and adapt hinges on the insights and visibility a company has; into its supply chains and sales data in particular. Cin7 offers real-time visibility across all channels and augments it with forecasting tools that enable the business to respond to market signals.

A reliable provider that has served numerous multi-industry clients, Cin7 could help integrate powerful business tools into your inventory management systems, allowing you to focus on other aspects of your business.

*Some of the companies featured in this article are commercial partners of Tech Wire Asia