The greater need for stock and inventory control
According to the U.S Bureau, the total business inventory in the country is about to rise in coming years. This isn’t all that surprising, seeing as it is an expected response to a rise in consumer income. As the demand for products increases, businesses stock up on more inventory to easily meet this need. However, if operational processes aren’t optimized, taking on more inventory can turn into quite a problem for businesses. This is why companies need to invest in robust inventory control solutions in order to make the most out of this expected change.
Source : U.S Bureau of the Census
But what exactly is inventory control? In simple terms, inventory control means being able to constantly monitor your stock and keep tabs on how it changes over time. Doing this enables you to maximize returns on your inventory.
You’d be forgiven for thinking inventory management and control entail the same processes, but the truth is that the two are quite different, with inventory control being a more localized operation. While ‘management’ deals with forecasting inventory needs and figuring out the best procurement channels, ‘control’ refers mainly to the act of regulating inventory you already have access to.
As an example, we all know that most firms tend to suffer from negative externalities due to a lack of information about their stock levels. Proper stock surveillance mainly includes keeping a record of what types of products you have in your inventory, and managing their quantities in a way that lowers stockouts and spoilage while at the same time making room for fast-moving inventory items.
This can play an essential role in determining your company’s ability to leverage its inventory profitably. The best way to make the most out of your stock is therefore to make it a top priority for your business. Cloud-based programs like inventory control software come with supercharged features to help you achieve high inventory performance targets. Below, we’ll list a few ways you can use this software to implement inventory control for your business.
Monitor stock for less waste and more profit
Asset consumption can be tracked in more than one ways; it is up to your company which technique it wants to adopt. What they all have in common is the ability to track how inventory is used up. For example, they could use stock lifecycle management to monitor the rate of consumption over a specific period of time, or even simple check-in and checkout tracking so that they’re able to keep tabs on custodians consuming the items.
Organizations tend to be selective about which mechanism they want to implement in their offices. For this purpose, inventory control software offers you a variety of ways to manage stock usage.
For starters, this solution comes with sophisticated item tagging. By scanning inventory tags, you can keep track of all instances when an item was checked out for use by an employee. If this isn’t convenient for you, you can simply log inventory usage manually by clicking a few buttons within the system. This updates your database, giving you more well-grounded insights for the future. For example, you can order less of those items that aren’t used all that often, and save yourself money by reducing spoilage. In this way, you can refine stock management to increase profitability within your business.
Stay up to date with the latest consumption patterns.
Generate real-time data to avoid asset shortages
Automation in management processes has a higher rate of return as compared to the old-school manual documentation structure. The reason behind this is simple. By setting a software to do a certain task, you lower the risk of human error involved in the process. Inventory control is no different. Asset stock needs to be diligently supervised in order to ensure optimal quantities of goods at all times. While it is possible to keep track of consumption manually, doing it through an online solution would be quicker, cleaner, and a lot more efficient.
To help you out with stock management, inventory control software lets you set minimum item thresholds. By doing this, you can stay ahead of shortages and plan well in advance. Every time you hit the minimum threshold level, alerts are sent out so you’re able to take quick action as soon as it’s required. This kind of automatic stock control helps you buy stock on time and avoid delays in work procedures.
Read more: Get in Depth analytics on inventory consumption with inventory control software
Prepare value added analytics to forecast growth
Companies often go through drastic changes due to seasonal fluctuations in the market. In order to deal with such situations, it is necessary that you adopt a response strategy. One of the fundamental rules of business management is to carry out comprehensive analytics all the time, every time. This helps to counter sudden changes in your workflows, such as spikes in inventory consumption. Inventory control software lets you do all this from a single point of access. The software stores wide ranging data on inventory consumption which can be used to generate actionable reports. These reports can then be your point of reference for deciding what your low stock thresholds should be, what quantities work for which items, and what needs to be ordered at a greater or lesser rate in the future.
You can also create customized documents on inventory tools of your choice. Say you want to examine the usage of specific batteries in your office. With the consumption reports, you will be able to judge better on whether you should cut down the budget for these batteries, for example. Therefore, you can run valuable reports to improve business strategies catering to future trends.
Use tags to quickly locate and allocate inventory
Inventory items are often needed on extremely short notice. While it makes sense to make grand arrangements if you want to use a crane or an excavator for a day, for example, the same can’t be said for small odds and ends that count as inventory items in most companies. Due to the huge quantities of inventory that companies can often go through, the ability to locate them quickly becomes critical. Luckily, inventory control software helps you monitor inventory locations efficiently. You can simply scan a Barcode, QR Code, or RFID tag to allocate an inventory item to a staff member, and can even pull up the tag on the system to check where the item currently is. This not only makes things a lot quicker, but it also lowers the risk of loss through misplacement and theft!
Label all your inventory items for streamlined checkouts.
Read more: Managing the 5 types of inventory every business has with inventory control software
Boost business productivity with inventory control software
All small and medium sized businesses follow a set pattern for inventory control practices. One of the main features of this is the use of a cloud based software program. With the advancements in technology, you can now easily control all inventory movements through a single system with limited need for human intervention. This speeds up your management processes while providing accurate data at the same time. Inventory control software plays a critical part in helping you gain high performance. It lets you track inventory with barcode labels, monitor consumption levels, and generate value added analytical reports. Therefore, if your business is looking for a way to increase productivity, the ideal solution would be to invest in an inventory control software.
EZOfficeInventory: Leverage Your Inventory
EZOfficeInventory is the leading inventory tracking software, allowing SMBs and enterprises to improve performance and lower overheads. In short, we enable streamlined inventory control practices to boost productivity
