Technology is Helping Small Businesses Innovate Inventory Management

For many businesses, keeping on top of their inventory is crucial to the profitability of their operations. Inventory management thus becomes incredibly important. Today there are tools being developed that can make managing your inventory and supply chain easier and more efficient. Let’s take a look at three tools that can help you manage your inventory more effectively. 

Point-of-Sale

You wouldn’t think a front-facing system would be effective at managing your inventory, but a point-of-sale (POS) system can work for retail and service industries and help the back-end of a business coordinate with the front-end. POS systems can be useful for inventory management by alerting staff when the stock gets low on a certain product. This simple change provides a level of intelligence that helps promote customer satisfaction.

Radio Frequency ID 

Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) systems tag packages with microchips. These sensors are automatically picked up by RFID readers and can help workers keep track of products and resources as they go in and out of a business. Every business is on one level of the supply chain, and RFID sensors can help keep your business’ inventory managed effectively by reporting exactly where a product or resource is at. Being able to track the comings, usages, and goings can not only improve your inventory management, it can improve your customer relationships as well. 

Inventory Management Software

When it comes to building a comprehensive inventory management strategy, the best tool that you can use is a dedicated inventory management system (IMS). This is an end-to-end solution that leverages some of today’s most innovative business technologies to create unparalleled efficiency. 

A business that deploys a cloud-based IMS brings in a lot of built-in tools, many of which are constantly upgraded as new solutions come along. Better yet, new IMS platforms are heavily customizable, so your business will get the tools it needs for its specific situation. Other features of a modern IMS include:

• Traceability - Today, people expect to get the products they order online fast and in good working order (or fresh, if perishable). Being able to successfully trace and track products allows for issues to be identified and improved upon. If you aren’t working on making your business better for your customers, you are going to be left behind.
• Automation - Today’s IMS is much more effective at building efficiency mainly because it has more integrated tools to promote automation. The most innovative IMS integrates AI and machine learning. This can effectively help you automate your automation through repetition and reporting.
• Scalability - Finally, one of the best parts of cloud-based software is the ability to scale your solutions to your business’ specific needs. The smarter your company is, the less wasteful it will be. 

At SCW, we realize just how important being able to manage your inventory can be to the success of your business and our dedicated IT professionals can help you procure, deploy, and support the technology needed to make that a reality. Call us today at (509) 534-1530 to learn how we can help you build a better, technology-driven business.