Inventory management: finding the balance

It’s always important to get your inventory management right – but especially during the holidays, when your customers depend on you. They expect you to provide the right items at the right time for the right price. If you don’t have the inventory your customers need, they will likely look elsewhere the next time. On the flip side, over-ordering means you could be stuck with expensive inventory you can’t sell.

You probably started out using spreadsheets to manage your inventory. But using a manual process for inventory management creates a host of challenges – and potential costs.

• As your company grows, it becomes difficult to handle the increasing complexity with manual spreadsheets.
• Having a “master” of the spreadsheet – one person who builds and manages it – opens your organization up to risk if that person leaves or is unable to work.
• Spreadsheets become increasingly complex as your inventory planning and management needs grow.
• Getting the right data into the spreadsheet – and ensuring its accuracy – can be difficult and time-consuming.
• Synchronizing data from multiple sources is challenging and can result in costly mistakes.
• Reports have to be produced manually and often can’t be consolidated across departments or locations.

You may think you’re limited to cumbersome spreadsheets and manual processes because your organization isn’t big enough to use an automated inventory management system. But with today’s cloud-based technologies such as Sage Inventory Advisor, you can benefit from – and afford – tools that were previously available only to large companies. The benefits include:

• Real-time sales and inventory data visibility, so you know what you have in your warehouse.
• Customized dashboards that put the information you need at your fingertips.
• Remote access to critical information anytime, anywhere.
• Reports that can be tailored to your needs.
• Streamlined, automated processes – so your personnel can focus on strategic tasks instead of manual workarounds.
• Scalability as your organization grows.
• Improved forecasting.
• Quick implementation.

Whether you’ve been stuck with stock that doesn’t move or suffered from costly stock-outs, Sage Inventory Advisor can help. Want to know more? Call MicroAccounting today at 855-876-3773.