Inventory management software provides the control and visibility that operations leaders need to see in the modern age. With real-time inventory management, the value that managers feel when they have clarity into their supply chains can be shared with their clients. To reflect the true state of your inventory and facilitate live purchasing without warehouse issues is a modern luxury.
Real-time inventory management is the process of receiving sales and purchases and using software to track those changes to inventory right as it happens. Real-time inventory management and supply chain management software can help streamline your supply chain and give you visibility into the state of your inventory at any time.
Receiving inventory and making it available without real-time connectivity could take awhile, even more so in the case of unexpected events. Therefore, if you want to reduce the time to restock or quickly respond and scale to high demand, you need real-time inventory management on your side.
Implementing Real-Time Inventory Management Software To Improve Processes & Procedures
The primary task when implementing a real-time inventory strategy is to initiate the scanning of goods. When scanners are implemented at every facet of the inventory ecosystem, company employees have insight as to what inventory is at what location in the process. As a result, workers can prepare the orders, and office personnel can provide better estimates on when certain orders will be available.
As with all systems, the crucial component to making a piece of software valuable is the adoption in the business. It’s great if everyone in the warehouse is scanning inventory, but the real cost benefit of a certain piece of software is its ability to revolutionize business functions. You can instantly lean on the inventory management software to set up invoices, process shipping information, and more.
By unifying the warehouse and the office spaces, there’s much more clarity into the process for office employees; they can easily look at real-time data and take action. For example, maybe a shipment came in with fewer items than anticipated.
Instead of allowing the problem to get downstream to another department, someone could take action and go out to the floor and see the real state of inventory. Being able to take action on real-time data to make a difference is one of the big ways inventory management can revolutionize your business.
Utilizing Real-Time Data To Create Dashboards & Improve Forecasting Accuracy
Out of the box, software systems provide a number of different insights into your business operations. You can instantly go to the web portal and learn about sales, inventory, gross profit, and more from a holistic point of view.
Another great tool is the ability to look at transactions between specific vendors or clients. You can instantly filter and cube data to learn about your transactions with particular customers, their schedules, how much they usually spend, and even their spending habits, like if they have been spending more or less money on a monthly basis.
With the information available in a real-time inventory management system, you can even forecast the customer’s future behavior. With this trend, you can more confidently plan inventory purchases based on forecasted demand.
Even sales orders can be automated with a real-time inventory management system. Because of the integration with inventory, by linking sales orders, you can more accurately monitor and fix any inventory issues. Gone are the days of manual entry and workarounds.
Instead, real-time management software provides a one-stop shop for inventory and more. No more accidentally buying more stock than you need; you can even automate your system to order more inventory if you begin to run low.
Improving Customer Support By Providing Location-Based Tracking Information
By integrating a warehouse software solution with your freight specialist, you can share the power that companies like SmartFreight, FedEx, UPS, DHL, and more offer their customers.
With an automated solution from your real-time inventory management system and your shippers, you can show your customers the same sort of detailed, last-leg shipping information they’re used to from big companies like Amazon.
These companies are used to providing these services, and plugging them into your inventory management is a breeze. Plus, when you integrate with their services, you get helpful feedback about exactly when your customers are getting their shipments. This can help you confirm successful shipments, avoid fraud, and provide the best tracking information possible.
Eliminating Automatable Tasks & Mitigating Costly Risks
Having validated information in your real-time inventory management system is valuable in and of itself. Once you’re confident in the data and your company is using it daily, it becomes a source of value that you can share. Your clients and suppliers might be interested in an up-to-date view of your current inventory.
Whether it’s a busy time of year or you’re bringing on a new client, there will be many people watching the state of the supply chain at your company. Beyond just monitoring, a real-time inventory system has many benefits that help you save.
Immediately, scanning inventory will cut down on the constant task of tracking the number of items you have in inventory, on the floor, or in the warehouse. No longer will employee hours be spent on mindless tasks like counting Work-In-Progress.
With that spare time, members of your teams can ensure there aren’t major issues with the supply chain. Catching anomalies early can save big, and instead of having to backtrack wasted hours or reorder more inventory, those calculated losses can be reinvested in your business.
When it comes to utilizing business management software to prioritize business capabilities and processes, Gartner discovered organizations rated the ability to improve financial management capabilities was among the highest requirements, but ranked the lowest in terms of current ability to do so, as shown within Figure 1.2.
A software inventory management system immediately helps to mitigate risks associated with inventory, but the best thing about incorporating a strategy like real-time inventory management is that it scales. It doesn’t matter if you’re getting 1,000 units or a million if all you’re doing to receive the items is a quick scan. With software doing the heavy lifting, you can feel confident that your company has the right foundation to grow.
Expanding Business Operations & Increasing Opportunities
With powerful and reliable data to back you up, a real-time inventory management solution enables any business to make exceptional decisions. The software generates reports quickly and easily, allowing you and your management teams to use data in day-to-day operations.
By using the data, they also validate it, ensuring actions are taken on the same information available to everyone else.
With real-time data, managers can easily see insights and take action quickly. In addition, because everyone is looking at the same information, maybe even the same dashboards, it’s normal for the data to be discussed in any setting.
With that sort of openness, your team members will feel empowered to make change, increasing team unity and cohesion.
By receiving inventory directly into your inventory management system, you not only optimize your digital inventory but you have the opportunity to organize your real-life warehouse. Because of the implementation of scanners, there are a lot of practices that need to be implemented. Finding a way to keep batches together and accessible is part of moving forward and scaling with a real-time inventory solution.
Because of this tight coupling, there’s more accountability concerning mix-ups at shipping time. Every shipment needs to be scanned, so if the scanner shows the wrong shipment is on a truck, there’s a problem!
Empowering your workforce to spot issues and find solutions is a huge part of the power shift required for a successful real-time inventory management solution. People on the floor need to be empowered to speak up if there’s a problem because the last thing you want is people working outside the system.
Reach Out To An Experienced Supply Chain Management Software Development Company
A real-time inventory management system can be a substantial asset in helping your organization streamline operations. If you’ve been wondering how to make this happen ASAP, you’re best off calling the experts.
However, if implementing a real-time solution for your inventory woes seems like a big project, you’re not wrong. Unfortunately, there are several ways that true transparency and insights into inventory data can fall short of full implementation.
The professionals at Orases don’t do everything, but what they can do, they do well. So if you’re interested in a fresh implementation of inventory management software, call Orases today. Orases has helped numerous companies revolutionize their inventory management and so much more.
If you’re looking for help with a new project or have an idea you’d like to brainstorm on, schedule a consultation with Orases today. For 20 years, clients have chosen and returned to Orases thanks to their exceptional service and expertise.
If you’re trying to better manage your inventory but can’t get the traction you need, Orases can help guide you through a software management solution guaranteed to save money and meet your requirements.
