A Scientific Approach to Inventory Management Software

Science is cool. Whenever I see an article or a website with the word “science” in it, I’m instantly intrigued. So when I saw an article entitled “What Are The Real Advantages Of Inventory Management Software?” on the blog Science Warp, I just had to read it.

Confession

And I have to admit, after reading that blog post I envied the author’s ability to put so much interesting content into just one post. In a blog post of my own, I talked about whether inventory management is a science or an art. I decided that, even though it requires a lot of scientific inquiries and data, inventory management is more of an art than a science because it requires so much creativity and flexibility to pull off.

The author of the Science Wrap article had his own interesting take on this discussion, so I’d like to share my thoughts on what he had to say.

Funny Aside

Just a side note: When I read someone else’s work I have a habit of finding all the flaws and wishing I could fix them. In this article, although there are plenty of grammatical oddities, I actually found them charming and funny rather than annoying. I especially enjoyed this one: “But there’s 1 distinct distinction and further use that manufacturing firm’s (sic) use this software program for.” Distinct distinction? A use that someone uses something for? [Face palm] Those are both redundant but incredibly cute and silly, darn it. There are so many slipups like that in here, but they make the post even more fun to read, strangely enough. Must. Resist. Urge. To. Praise. Bad. Grammar.

Okay, I feel better now. Let’s continue with a scientific approach to inventory management software!

Who Should Use Inventory Software

As I said before, this article covers pretty much everything you need to know about inventory software. They start with the basics, like what company types should use it: retailers, manufacturers, wholesalers, distributors and even service providers.

They then go into what makes up inventory management software: asset tracking, barcoding, order management and service management. I like how they separate these concepts. They cover pretty much everything that needs to be covered on this topic. Anything that they seem to have missed – such as accounting integration – can easily be included in one of the categories they list.

Different Focuses

Companies in the different industries will use inventory management software in a variety of ways:

• Retailers use barcodes, order management and asset tracking tools to balance their inventory.
• Manufacturers use the work orders, bills of materials and warehouse management tools to keep their production lines moving smoothly.
• Distributors use order management asset tracking tools, like retailers, to stay on top of their inventory levels and where orders are being sent.
• Service providers use service management solutions to track all of their costs and know what price to charge for their services.

It’s so nice to find someone else’s intelligent look at the benefits and uses of inventory management software. I highly recommend you go and read it. And when you’re done with that, you should get a free inventory software demo to put their theories to the test in your business.

My 10 Best Inventory Management Blog Posts of 2011

We are rapidly approaching the 100^th blog post on the Inventory System Software Blog. In honor of that and the fact that we just crossed over into a new year, I’ll examine my top 10 favorite posts that I wrote in 2011.

I average a new post every week, so I published about 50 last year. That’s a good number to choose my favorite from. I’ll count down from No. 10 to No. 1, and I’ll explain why each post made it on the list. So prepare to enjoy the cream of the crop from the Inventory System Software Blog!

10. I Heart Inventory Management Software

I really enjoy writing themed blog posts. Holidays lend themselves perfectly to this type of writing. Valentine’s Day is all about love and fluffy stuff like that, and I found a perfect way to use that to my advantage when discussing inventory management software, of all things. This made it on the bottom of this list because it’s not the most interesting or informative, but it’s just so fun.

9. Take Stock of Your Inventory Management

I’m always thinking of clever wordplays and silly ways to make inventory management more interesting. In this case, I managed to do that extremely subtly. Instead of taking stock of inventory, I encouraged readers to explore how they manage their inventory. I just love the mixture of honest questions and helpful suggestions in this post. It felt like I was sharing a conversation as I wrote it.

8. What Is Driving the Trend Toward Bigger Houses?

I don’t usually delve into controversial topics. For me, modern housing is controversial because I have some experience in the real-estate industry and I’m a little concerned about overconsumption, debt and other resulting problems. I found a way to frame the discussion in a way that hopefully challenged people’s perceptions of what they need and introduced a novel concept in warehouse management.

7. Top 10 Benefits of Great Inventory Management

Top 10 lists are always a challenge for me. Although the end result might seem effortless, it took a lot of time to put myself in a business owner’s shoes and figure out all the ways they can benefit by using inventory management software. This list, however, stands as an excellent resource for anyone on the fence about whether or not they should buy inventory software.

6. Scary Times Call for Brave Business Tactics

Halloween was coming up way too fast last year and I realized I didn’t have a Halloween-themed blog post in the works. That would have been a tragedy to pass up such a perfect opportunity to entertain my readers. So at the last minute I came up with this fun idea and ran with it. It turned out great, and it gave me a big confidence boost.

5. How to Survive a Double-Dip Recession

I’m an optimistic man. I like to think that things will turn out for the best eventually. But I’m realistic about the short term. In order to weather storms, businesses have to act prudently and cut waste without crippling their ability to bounce back. Writing this post helped me realize what an essential function inventory management software plays in helping businesses stay alive and prosper in the best and worst times.

4. Change the Way You Think About Inventory Management!

I had an epiphany while writing this post: I realized I was answering the what, when, where, why and how questions about inventory management as I went along. But I ran into a problem at the end. I thought the “who” was a bit too obvious. I’m talking to the reader the whole time, so of course I want that person to change. To solve this problem, I simply snuck the “who” in at the end. Pretty creative, huh?

3. The Difference Between George Lucas and Gene Roddenberry

I love movies. I’m fascinated by how much fervor fans have for the two big sci-fi series: Star Wars and Star Trek. I like them both, and I came up with a creative way to talk about them and then relate it back to inventory management. It wasn’t easy, but I pulled off something special with this blog post that resonated with a lot of people.

2. Is the Fastest-Growing Company Really the Best?

I was shocked when I learned that a company that was crowned the fastest-growing company in America in 2009 suddenly went out of business shortly thereafter. It was sobering to realize that growth isn’t the same as lasting success. I thought it might be a bit controversial to point out that fact, but this post surprisingly didn’t turn many heads. That’s too bad because I worry that in today’s society of instant news and overnight success stories, it’s important to emphasize the need for consistency and sustainability.

1. If That’s Impossible, How Am I Doing It Right Now?

One of my good friends and coworkers, Marilyn Bigney, inspired this blog post. She sent me the Chinese proverb: “The person who says it cannot be done should not interrupt the person doing it.” So many times throughout history one man or woman has had to buck all the wisdom of the ages to come up with a solution to a supposedly impossible problem. I love living in a country, and working at a company, that encourages such behavior. This post taps into that spirit and hopefully inspires readers to reach new heights.

Those are my top 10 favorite blog posts I published in 2011 on this blog. Do you have your own personal favorite? Even if it’s from another year or another blog, I’d love to hear about it. Feel free to share a comment below. Here’s to a great 2012!

An Optimistic Approach to Inventory Control

“If you don’t have an inventory management system, consider one,” says Kraig Quisenberry, a car dealer and general manager in his blog post “Inventory: Half Full or Half Empty?” “Just one mistake could cost you more than the system itself. I promise you won’t regret the investment. If you have a system, use it faithfully for 12 months, and you’ll see big results.”

I couldn’t have said it better. In fact, this blog post could end right now because Quisenberry has really just made my whole case for using an inventory management system. It saves you money, keeps you from making costly mistakes, and it takes time to see some of the biggest results.

Let’s Keep Going Anyway

Let’s back up a minute and talk about where Quisenberry is coming from. He’s a successful car dealer in Washington State, and he used to buy cars and manage his inventory based on gut feelings rather than hard data. Despite his overall success, he realized he was often losing money on vehicles he thought should have been safe investments.

Realizing something needed to change, he wisely started using an automated inventory system. “Looking back at my past purchases, before I used an inventory management system, my gut instincts alone didn’t serve me very well,” he says. “I have come to rely on data over the years like market scarcity, retail price index, strategic market view and sale-ability.”

It’s nearly impossible to keep track of all of those factors without a good inventory management system. Unfortunately, not every system is easy to use or contains the right features for a business.

You Get What You Put in

Quisenberry talked to some other car dealers who complained about their inventory systems. “We all agree that technology is a tool that is only as good as the information put into it. And with all the historical data stored over years of being in the business, my friends have valuable unused information on their hands.”

It’s so frustrating to have lots of information and tools, but be unable to use them because of either a lack of training or hard-to-use software. As I’ve discussed before, you need to be very careful when choosing inventory software for your business. Follow Quisenberry’s example and find one that is user-friendly and meets your needs without costing too much or being overly complex.

Affordable Inventory Management Software

Everyone is looking for a great deal. We want to know we’re getting a lot of value for the money and time we put into something.

This is, of course, true of inventory management software. When comparing inventory management solutions and trying to find the best deal, you should look beyond the price tag. Consider hidden costs, return on investment, ease of use and other factors that could either sweeten or break the deal for your business. All of this will help you find the most affordable inventory management software.

Hidden Costs

Instead of only looking at the obvious costs of buying inventory management software, think of the expenses that are harder to see. These include training costs, installation fees and more. Try to find inventory management software that is intuitive and user-friendly so you can quickly learn how to use it. You don’t want to spend too much time or money just getting started with the software. If you get a small group of your staff members initially trained on how to use the software, they can help train their coworkers.

Return on Investment

Even if an inventory management solution is a little more expensive than another, it may still be more affordable in the long run if it offers a higher ROI. Whichever software you choose should pay for itself within a fairly short amount of time by cutting your inventory expenses and making your business more efficient. Not every inventory solution will have the same impact on your bottom line. Ask the software providers for an ROI calculator to see how quickly you can recoup your costs and continue saving with their software.

Ease of Use

As I mentioned earlier, inventory management software should be user-friendly. It may not be the easiest thing in the world to master at first, but it shouldn’t feel like a constant struggle to get it to do what you want it to, either. If you have to spend a little more to avoid a lot of frustration with the software, it’s a small price to pay.

Beyond the Price

Think about other costs that can arise by buying the wrong inventory management software. If you get a cheap solution, it may work fine for a while. But what about when your company grows and you need more functionality, like multiple warehouses, cycle counting or advanced manufacturing tools? The cheap solution might not offer those features, and you’ll have to hunt for a new one. This means having to spend time and money searching for, buying and learning a whole new inventory system.

It’s a better idea to get a flexible solution that can add features over time when you need them. That way, you don’t have to pay for advanced features at the start, but they’re available when you need them.

Truly Affordable

If you’re looking for truly affordable inventory management software, you should be sure to take into account all of the above factors, in addition to the software’s actual price. Find the software with the features you need right now and in the future. As long as it’s user-friendly and in your price range, go for it!

Christmas Trees Face an Inventory Management Dilemma

Do you know how long it takes to grow a Christmas tree? A year? Two, maybe? No, it takes eight years to grow one. That’s incredible! What a huge investment of time and money. How would you like to be in charge of planning your inventory eight years into the future? That would be a pretty nerve-wracking job.

Risky Business

A Wall Street Journal article points out one of the dangers of trying to plan that far ahead: “When consumers do buy real trees in today’s tough economy, they’re opting for shorter, less expensive ones – often four feet or smaller – which are less profitable for growers. A persistent oversupply of trees has also held prices down in the past several years, as the current crop was optimistically planted during the economically robust times of the early 2000s.” (Emphasis added)

A Christmas tree is probably the ultimate perishable item. Not only do growers have to cut the trees down in order to ship them to customers, but they have to sell them in a narrow timeframe somewhere between Thanksgiving and Christmas Eve. That doesn’t leave much room for error when it comes to delivery times and inventory management.

Two Solutions

What can tree sellers do to mitigate these problems? Here are two ideas: use inventory management software and add artificial trees to your mix of items for sale.

Inventory management software lets you track shipments, monitor how many trees you have in stock, and even see trends in consumer buying habits. It’s pretty tough to look eight years ahead and make concrete inventory plans. But if you have access to a great deal of information on your customers’ previous buying habits, you’ll be able to make a more accurate decision than if you trust intuition or limited data.

Artificial trees are becoming much more popular, as people seek ways to cut costs and find a solution that’s permanent and doesn’t require any cleanup or disposal. They seem like much more attractive options for Christmas tree sellers, as well. They don’t take eight years to produce, they can be modified depending on customers’ preferences in a given year, and they won’t die like real trees after being chopped down.

Be Flexible

The Christmas tree industry could look much different in just a few years. Will real trees remain dominant or will artificial trees become the norm? It’s hard to tell, which is why tree sellers need to be flexible and not put all their eggs into one basket. Sign up for a free inventory software demo to see how inventory management software can help you make smart business decisions now and in the future.

And have a merry Christmas!

Small Businesses Need Inventory Software More Than Ever

Small businesses need to start using inventory software as soon as possible. Why is it so urgent? Because they don’t have much of a safety net anymore. “Before the economic downturn, many businesses could overlook inventory data because sales increases made up for inefficiencies in operations,” says Ted Hurlbut, a small business consultant in the CNBC article “New Rules of Supply and Demand: Sacrificing Inventory to Save the Store.”

As you can tell, that’s no longer the case. You can’t grow your way out of every problem. Eventually, businesses have to correct bad habits in order to survive, and one of the biggest problems that can hurt a small business is inefficient inventory management. Now is the time to start fixing it by using small business inventory software.

Let’s talk about three reasons why you need to use inventory management software in your business:

1. Run Leaner

Inventory management software is an extremely useful tool for businesses to cut costs and be more profitable. With it, you can reduce staff size, make your workers more productive, reduce your inventory size, and optimize your manufacturing, shipping and other business operations. All of this leads to a healthier company poised for growth.

2. Integrate with QuickBooks

If you’re currently using QuickBooks for your accounting (like the vast majority of U.S. small businesses) and you’d like to add more inventory management functionality to it, you should use inventory software that integrates with QuickBooks. A QuickBooks inventory management solution saves time by eliminating double data entry and keeping your inventory and accounting records accurate and in synch.

3. Plan Ahead

Instead of always playing a game of catch-up with your inventory management, you should try to be more proactive and flexible in your planning. Inventory management software gives your small business access to all the data you need to do this. You can get detailed reports on product sales, trends, delivery times, warehouse performance and more. With this information, you can prepare for seasonal demand changes, supply chain disruptions and more.

Don’t let inventory management fall by the wayside because it’s either too difficult or it doesn’t seem important. A company’s inventory is usually its biggest asset, and if you don’t keep close control over it, your business may have trouble surviving hard times. Use small business inventory software to run leaner, integrate with QuickBooks and plan ahead.

What Are You Looking for in an Inventory Control System?

I saw a provocative headline recently: “Small Businesses Demand More from Their Inventory Management Systems.” Unfortunately, the article itself failed to live up to its intriguing headline. It’s mostly just talking about how great a particular inventory management system in New Zealand is.

There’s nothing wrong with a business talking about its products – I’ve done that a time or two. But right now I would love to talk about what small-business leaders want from their inventory control systems.

Instead of being the one providing all the clever answers, I’ll simply ask you some questions. I’ve separated the questions into two categories. I welcome your comments and answers below.

Questions for Inventory Control Software Seekers

What are the main things you hope to accomplish by using inventory control software?

What features are you looking for? (e.g., barcode scanning, inventory tracking, QuickBooks integration)

Which is most important to you when considering buying inventory control software: cost, feature set or flexibility?

Questions for Current Inventory Control Software Users

How do you use inventory control software in your business? (i.e., how is it most useful to you?)

What do wish your software could do that it doesn’t already do?

What do you like and dislike most about the software you’re using? (You don’t have to name names if you don’t want to)

Is it important to you to stay with the same inventory control software for a long time or do you not mind learning new software every few years?

I can’t wait to hear from you. I’m excited to answer your questions in future blog posts. Thank you!

Get Rid of Busyness So You Can Get Down to Business

Running a business can sometimes feel a lot like busywork. How much time do you spend writing reports, balancing accounting records and making sure you have enough products in your inventory? Wouldn’t you rather spend that time on something more productive and up your alley of expertise?

In order to get down to business, you need to get rid of all the busyness that’s cluttering your schedule. To do that, you should start doing three things: Automating processes, delegating essential tasks, and boosting efficiency. Inventory control software lets you do all three of these things. Let’s talk about each one in depth:

1. Automating Processes

There are plenty of processes that need to happen to keep your business running. These include reordering products before they run out, updating inventory records and accounting books each time a sale or order is made, and picking, packing and shipping products to customers. Each of these processes could take hours to complete by hand. But if you use inventory control software, you can cut that time down to minutes.

All you have to do is set up automatic reorder points to prevent shortages, integrate your inventory control software with QuickBooks to instantly update your financial records whenever your inventory levels change, and use mobile wireless devices to navigate your warehouse and quickly find products to pick, pack and ship. And that’s just scratching the surface of what you can do with inventory software.

2. Delegating Essential Tasks

Your time is precious. That’s why you hire employees to handle many of the day-to-day operations of your company. If you can find a way to delegate complex inventory control tasks to them, then you’ll be able to free up even more of your time. A good inventory control solution should be able to help with this.

You can limit user rights so your employees can only access the information they need to complete specific tasks. This protects you from unnecessary risk and it allows your employees to focus on only the areas they need without being deluged with data. Software training shouldn’t be too difficult, especially if your employees are only learning how to use certain parts of the software.

3. Boosting Efficiency

Boosting efficiency relates to the first two points. When you automate processes, you naturally increase efficiency. The same goes for delegating important tasks. If you can build a product and get it to your customers faster than your competitors, then you have a major advantage over them. If you can do all of that while spending the majority of your time on expanding your business, then you’ll be even further ahead of the competition.

If you’re constantly busy but you never feel very productive, maybe it’s time for a change. Get a free inventory software demo today to get down to the business of running a great business!

Time to Face the Music and Start Using Lean ERP

Remember the good ol’ days when you needed giant speakers attached to a cassette player to create a proportionately huge amount of noise? Now you can do the same thing with a device that’s tinier than a driver license: Apple’s iPod. Smaller is clearly better in this case.

Get What You Need

This also applies to business. You don’t need to buy an ERP that is full of expensive features you don’t need yet. All of those extra features can add up to a heavy cost and, unless you’re careful, it can seriously weigh your business down.

Why bother with that headache? You’re better off using a lean yet powerful enterprise resource planning solution. Instead of getting every software feature known to man, you can start with just the tools you need, like warehouse management, barcoding, accounting and inventory management software. This way, you’re only paying for what you’ll use. As you get bigger, you have the option to add even more features, like customer relationship management (CRM), point of sale (POS), server hosting and other services.

Something Entirely New

This brings us back to the iPod analogy. An iPod lets users download new apps to make it even more useful. The device itself doesn’t change, but it can contain all sorts of new tools that allows people to listen to music, be guided as they drive, read e-books and much more. Each additional app can make it feel like a whole new product. You might even start to wonder what you ever did without it.

A flexible ERP works the same way. The same ERP can work for your business, whether your needs are big or small. And you don’t have to trade it in every few years for a newer model because you can just add more features to it until it seems like a completely new system. Pretty soon it will become an essential part of your business, saving time and money in virtually every part of your operations.

It’s time to face the music and stop using big, clunky ERPs in favor of a lean option. Click the link above to learn more.

Are Your Employees Playing with the Box, Not the Toy?

Have you ever bought a child an expensive toy and then been bitterly disappointed when they completely ignore the toy in favor of the box it came in? It’s funny but frustrating. What was the point of getting such an impressive gift if they’re not going to use it?

The sad thing is that this same story is playing out in an increasing number of companies. Employees who are used to the user-friendly interface of Facebook, Twitter and Apple products are not happy about using frustrating ERPs and CRMs. In fact, many of them are refusing to use these tools that companies spend so much money to buy.

Productivity Problems

Enterprise resource planning and customer relationship management systems are supposed to boost a company’s efficiency. But if employees don’t use them because they’re too clunky and hard to use, then they’re just money down the drain.

If employees keep using their own system to manage inventory, track accounting changes and do other tasks, this can create a big headache for managers trying to create some semblance of order. Whether employees use Excel spreadsheets or their own limited apps, they are not being as productive as they could if they all used the same system to share information.

Before You Buy

Here are a few questions you should ask about an ERP or CRM you’re currently using or thinking of buying:

• Is it available via mobile devices and/or through the cloud?
• Can employees do their jobs remotely or do they need to be at a desk?
• Can employees use tablets, smartphones or other mobile devices to perform essential tasks?
• How long will it take to train employees on how to use the new system?
• Is it as intuitive as other programs my employees are familiar with?

As you answer these questions, you’ll be able to make a smart decision about whether or not a particular ERP or CRM is a good choice for your business. Hopefully your employees won’t feel boxed in by the software and hardware they use to do their jobs.