Inventory management reminds me of a popular quote of Bob Parsons, “Anything that is measured and watched improves.” Can you relate? Since you have landed upon this blog, I assume you are an entrepreneur struggling to manage inventory operations. I understand the pain and empathize with it, so I have decided to come up with a blog that can soothe your struggle.
Well, this blog is specially designed for entrepreneurs seeking ways to improve their methods of tracking and maintaining their stocks. In this blog, we will discuss inventory management software development and how it can transform the way you handle things inside your organization. Shall we begin?
The Struggle is Real
Inventory management is the common enemy for the companies; well, I would slightly(almost a denial) disagree here. And I am sure, after reading this blog, you too would have the same opinion. The reason for your disagreement will be the comfort brought in by developing inventory management software.
Inventory management system development will enrich your organizational operations by reducing time and cost. The automation and transparency will literally put all your headaches at ease; how? The answer to this question is defined in this blog.
To begin with,
What is inventory management software?
An inventory is the heart of any business. It is treated as an asset that can generate revenue. Traditionally, the organization’s approach was labor-intensive and error-prone, but this problem seems to be resolved with inventory management software.
Inventory management software automates & streamlines inventory and warehouse aspects, allowing the owners to keep track of the same. It helps in mitigating human errors and assists in scaling your business.
In all, anything that moves in and out of the company is monitored by software. If you want to run your business efficiently and profitably, inventory management software is your solution.
So what does it cover under the umbrella?
An inventory management software will operate right from production to warehouse to shipment and finally to retail. The information of the movements is kept up-to-date, which increases the visibility of the stock and helps you optimize the flow.
To be honest, the features of this software are not generic and may differ from organization to organization. However, we will highlight the must-have features of this software that can help in enhancing the business capabilities.
Now, let’s look at the benefits of using inventory management software:
An inventory management software gives you complete control of the processes. The software gives real-time updates in a comprehensive manner that can be accessed from anywhere. A few other benefits include,
Centralized storage:
A scattered and messy inventory puts everything at risk. These risks involve the fear of missing out on orders, sending the correct order to the recipient, human errors while reporting, order mishandling, report mismanagement, and many others. An inventory management software will resolve the issue and help you in keeping track of distributed inventory and update the status of each.
Increases sales productivity:
Since the software automates almost every task, there are fewer chances of human interference. This reduces the chances of risks of reporting errors and inaccurate reporting.
Moreover, the software gives free space to the professionals managing the warehouse whereabouts, which they can utilize for completing other tasks. The automation of tasks also stimulates speedy operations, resulting in a reduced delivery time.
Reordering:
Inventory management software takes care of every single thing lying in an inventory. This ensures that you don’t run out of any prominent items and reminds you of restocking the same. So the state of being “dormant” or “deadstock” never comes into your organization.
Accounting integration:
You can also integrate accounting software into your inventory management software and increase your organization’s capabilities. The automation of tasks will prevent any double-entry of data or human fallacy if at all it happens.
Streamlined stock operations:
The software manages every organization’s task so that the responsible professionals do not have to rush back and forth to the inventory and sales to manage the rising demands.
Optimize the stock order:
Overstocking and shortage of items, both situations that are not good for business, exist if the operations are manually managed. However, with inventory management software, the supplies of goods can be channelized, and the wastage of products scenario can be avoided.
Customer satisfaction:
Inventory management software capacitates you to send accurate and timely responses to the customers. The real-time tracking of their delivery or being notified of any changes in the delivery is something that customers always expect. And the software will facilitate you to do so.
Saving space:
An inventory management system will force you to define storage locations and bin locations. Once this is organized, you will feel that you have more space than before.
As we have mentioned earlier, the features of an inventory system are personal and industry-specific. You can hire software developers who can design your inventory software specifically.
However, the list of common features includes the following.
Point of sale integration:
Inventory software allows retailers to keep track of the product sale from the distribution channel. It doesn’t matter whether the item is sold from the physical store, the eCommerce channel, or through any other channel; the software records everything.
Additionally, the reordering and stock optimization feature will keep an eagle’s eye on the stock and will never let you run out of items.
Asset tracking:
This feature will help professionals in tracing the product movements identified by barcodes or, radio frequency identification, or serial number.
Barcoding:
To manage the inflow and outflow of products, you can use barcodes in your organization. With the use of smartphones, you can transfer electronic data and keep track of the shipment.
Reporting tools:
An inventory management software should provide a detailed report on the orders placed, transactions completed, and the flow of the operations.
Product listing:
Inventory management software will help warehouse workers to organize the inventory. They can list down the products along with required details like cost, availability, SKUs, etc.
Notification alerts:
This software should notify the admin via email or SMS.
Raw material tracking:
The biggest hurdle of inventory is raw material management. The raw material tracking feature will help you control the flow of materials in and out of the warehouse.
Inventory levels for parts and finished products:
You can divide the warehouse into segments consisting of various product parts and finished products. The software will keep track of the same.
Integration with ERP or Maintenance software:
The inventory management software should be integrated with ERP so that every other information remains aligned in it.
Multiple location support:
The software should support multiple warehouses and stores with the highest capacity.
Shelf and bin tracking:
This feature is like a blessing for inventory managers. It helps them know the exact location of the product and respond to a query within no time.
Real-time reports:
The software should make it possible for managers to have real-time reports and tracking of products across multiple locations.
Serial number tracking:
The software should keep a record of all the product serial numbers and update new ones from time to time.
Expiration date tracking:
No more manual tracking of expiry dates. The software will assign expiry dates to the products lying in the warehouse.
Product images:
The product manager can upload various images of the product and also set a default image of the product.
Pricing:
This feature allows managers to set prices of the products that they can pitch to a variety of customers.
Logistic management:
You can integrate third-party features to upgrade the level of logistic tracking.
What are the various types of inventory management software?
You can have your inventory management software personalized to the highest level. This can be the combination of multiple things or core industry-specific software. However, it would be great to know the various types of inventory management systems that exist.
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Manually managed systems:
In a manually managed system, the operations and calculations are manually performed. The user needs to enter the data and thereby process the operations further. If you are a startup or a small business with a limited number of supplies, you can go for manually managed systems.
Risk factor: There are chances of committing errors if the data is manually managed.
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Barcode scanning systems:
This software model is more flexible when it comes to handling a giant pool of products. The information is extracted directly from the Point of Sale, and the operations are extremely simplified.
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Advanced Radiofrequency Systems:
It’s time to step up inventory management to the next level. The advanced radiofrequency system increases the capacity of handling warehouse materials by multi-folds.
The active and passive technology makes it possible for the store managers to facilitate real-time tracking of inventory of thousands of products.
Now that you know how to make inventory management software, let’s look at the cost to develop an inventory management software?
Since the entire concept is a personalized one, an inventory management software cost is concept-specific. If I mention Kody Technolab’s pricing estimate, it will be around $35K. This is inclusive of the software development process life cycle from designing the software to quality testing to its release. We believe in offering exceptional support to execute your app idea satisfactorily.
For a more accurate estimate, please get in touch with our sales associates.
Final Words:
Inventory management software is the need of the hour. It improves inventory control by showing where your product lies in real-time. The right software product will change the entire ecosystem of the inventory. The various inventory levels help in the quick identification of the product and don’t let you run out of stock. Well, there is more to the story which you can find out by getting in touch with our executives. We believe personal communication & discussion about an idea can create real magic.
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