Inventory management needn't be complicated. If you’re looking at inventory management software,
these are six core features you need to look for
The most important inventory management feature you need is real-time tracking.
That means being able to see – 24-7 – exactly how much stock you have – and where it is
Now to do that your digital records
need to be update every time new stock comes into your business
And every time something leaves.
So the next important features you need in inventory software
are support for barcode scanning – to track those stock movements into your warehouse
And then to track all the ways stock can LEAVE your business, you’re going to need things like
Pick, pack and dispatch functionality – so, creating pick lists, printing labels and so on.
eCommerce functionality – sharing data with any online stores you may run. That’s super important
if you’re selling across different channels, otherwise you risk selling the same stock twice.
And don’t forget eCommerce also means B2B eCommerce. Ideally your inventory software
should have a built in eCommerce portal to take all that admin out of your on-account sales.
Finally, if you run any kind of brick and mortar
store – then you’ll need the ability to integrate with your Point of Sale system.
When all of the features come together,
your inventory data is going to be live - and up to date
Next, you need a live view of what your inventory costs.
Not just a total value for all your stock, but a live view of the value of each product type,
product category, the value of stock held in each location, and so on
Having that knowledge to hand will make your finance manager
very happy, and totally transform your ability to manage cashflow.
In practical terms, that means your inventory software should issue your Purchase Orders,
and your Sales Orders
You also want the ability to adjust them to account for variable costs like freight,
duties and even labour. That’s a really important feature because
it will give you a clear view of your margins.
And finally, of course, you want your inventory software to integrate
in real time with your accounting software, so that your stock
position – and your purchases and sales – are instantly reflected in your accounts
So if your inventory software is actually the main place you go to manage your buying
and selling activity, you’re going to need a really mature suite of functions there.
Features you should look for include
Low stock alerts, of course
Quick & efficient email-based reordering off the back of those alerts
Supplier price lists that you can update
Dynamically applied quantity price breaks when you order
And the ability to analyse your supplier performance data.
Are they delivering on time & in full?
Then on the sales management side of things, look for
Centralised pricing management that's flexible enough to set
special prices for different customers and things like volume discounts
An app that lets your sales people see stock availability
And again – that central view of all your sales orders,
so you can see what stock has been sold, what might be reserved for other purposes,
and how much you might need to buy in to fulfil your sales.
The next set of features to look for are batch tracking–
or lot tracking as it’s also known - and serial number tracking.
These are particularly important for food and beverage companies,
or any business that deals in perishables. And that’s because
a good batch or lot tracking system let’s you manage the age of stock.
That means getting alerts before stock expires and goes to waste.
And it also means, in the event of a product recall,
you track exactly what stock went where, and recall only the affected batches.
In a similar vein serial number tracking is ideal if you need to manage high value components
down to an individual level. It's especially useful for warranties and after-sales care.
Now, if you manufacture your own products, your inventory software needs to support that too.
And the most important feature here is Bills of Materials management
If, for every product you make, you have a bill of materials stored within your inventory software,
then your production planning becomes very efficient.
You simply decide what quantity of product you want to create,
and your software checks your BOM against the stock you have on hand
to find out what you might need to order in, and creates those purchase orders for you.
Again – it's all about efficiency of work flows here. You want to be able
to initiate a production run based off a sales order arriving in your system – and
have any other follow-up activities actionable straight away. Things like warehouse transfers,
purchasing, and of course delivery once your goods are made.
As you can see, a good inventory system touches
almost every part of your business – and that generates a lot of valuable data.
So another important feature of your inventory software are those reporting tools
that will save you time at month end, and extract valuable insights
You’ll want to report on things like how fast you’re turning over your inventory,
which are you slowest and fastest moving lines and your wastage, as well as reporting
on your margins, and which sales channels - and personnel - are performing best.
Now I hope that has been useful. Obviously, inventory management can get complex,
but a good system should always make your life
easier – empowering you to better make, manage and move your products
If you’re interested in learning more about inventory software,
I encourage you to check out Unleashed, and view some of our recorded demos
Until then, my name’s Greg Roughan and I’ll see you in the next video