Are you Ready to Adopt an Inventory Management Software?
From my years of consulting, l have always advised entrepreneurs to adopt an order & inventory management software as early as possible.
Before we started developing EMERGE App, that was the advice that helped me and many other businesses the most.
If you are wondering when you are ready, these are some of the guidelines.
Of course, please don’t wait till these signs show up – losing track of your inventory will lead to customer and business loss!
1. You lost control of your inventory
Do you lose track of your inventory numbers even though you’re looking at your Excel sheets?
This happens when other things take priority and you haven’t been diligently updating it.
Day to day operations has already taken most of your time and the last time you updated your list was weeks ago: you have totally no idea how much inventory you have or lack.
This is dangerous because it makes it difficult to commit to orders because of insufficient stock. When you feel this way, you are ready to adopt an inventory system.
2. Your employees are suggesting to get a software
You’ve got some young and tech savvy employees that want to help the company grow.
They are the ones running your daily operations and if they suggest adopting a software solution, you should listen to them.
In the worst scenario, other employees become resistant to adopting a particular solution. If that happens, it might be the software’s failure to adapt to your company, or else the change is too sudden.
You can implement the software in stages and watch how your employees react.
Once they are on board and using the software efficiently, you can get your operations streamlined and stocks in order, and let them and the software run the show for you.
3. You get customer complaints from missing their orders
You’re having difficulty keeping up with your customers, and your customers are letting you know about it.
Your stocks are always insufficient and delivery takes longer than it should. This is a recipe for disaster for your business, and it must be immediately rectified.
One way is to use a software solution to leverage on your available manpower.
This ensures your orders can be generated rapidly, quotations issues fast and stocks updated in real time.
Deliver on what your business promises, boost your customer’s confidence and trust, and that’s how they will stay with you.
4. You are unsure when your purchases are arriving
You’ve purchased stock but your supplier missed the delivery deadline, and you have no clue because you have forgotten about it. Else you’ve received partial stock and are unsure when the rest are arriving.
This is a sign of poor operations management or tracking. If this continues, it’s still possible to manage 1-2 orders a week.
However, when the business is operating at a much larger quantity of both stocks and orders, a system will work much better than your brain.
Ensure your supplier delivers on time so you can always be on top of your sales & operations
Conclusion:
There are many reasons why adopting an order and inventory management system early will pay off in the long run.
Don’t wait till the signs show up in your business, else it might do irreversible harm!
Good management prevents massive headaches later because it forces you to get your processes right.
Stop procrastinating and start running your business better!
