It’s an interesting paradox: Though digital improvements in your inventory management processes can often radically boost your efficiency and bottom line, the rapid evolution of technology can also sometimes freeze you in place, unsure of precisely when or how to best move forward.
Well, get ready to rev up those transformational engines because we’ve got five simple, actionable steps you can take right now to bring your business back to the future.
Automated alerting
Think automation is only valuable for large manufacturing outfits and not smaller businesses?
Think again.
As the cost of automation technology shrinks and the scope of what it can accomplish in extremely targeted ways expands, its value increases for businesses of all sizes. Workflow and alerting software can, for example, drastically cut down on low-value work, improving concentration and saving enormous amounts of time across every level of your organization. From pursuing late invoices and purchase orders through to automatically checking stock reports and inventory levels, there are many ways you can get more out of the time of you and your staff.
Requirements planning
It’s a common refrain: Managing material levels is a constant, time-consuming task, taking precious manpower and leadership hours away from a slew of other overarching needs and goals.
The good news? Material requirements planning (MRP) can be made substantially easier via software that can automatically analyze inventory levels, forecast sales, and much more. When properly integrated, this can prove to be a significant step towards leaner, more efficient manufacturing.
Warehouse management
There are a range of affordable digital tools now available for improving warehouse management, empowering employees on the warehouse floor to more quickly locate products and materials, while providing management with a bird’s eye view of inventory and flow. The potential to revolutionize how your company receives and assigns space to incoming items is massive. Which, of course, can in turn minimize disruptive and expensive shipping and picking errors—a huge opportunity for savings through, say, not having to ship a second product to fulfill one order.
Real-time delivery alerts
Software and apps can improve how your business manages delivery, streamlining your workflow and—crucially—significantly improve customer experience. In fact, a single suite of software can ensure that you and your customers receive updates as their order is fulfilled and shipped, via either mobile or desktop, depending on each actor’s individual preference. At the destination, photographic proof of delivery can remove any doubt about where the product was dropped and in what condition. Not only can you expect a boost in productivity and delivery speed, but by getting everyone on the same page accountability and trust are built on every step of the product journey.
Next steps
If you’re ready to modernize your inventory management systems by investing in new tech—saving money, improving customer experience, and boosting productivity along the way—but need a bit of a funding assist to get there, a small business loan or business line of credit can help you make tomorrow’s technology a reality for your business today. Idea Financial, for example, offers up to $250,000 in working capital with a quick application and same day approval.
For more articles on how to optimize your enterprise, visit the Idea Financial Business Resource Center main page.
