Many companies don’t have all of the inventory management tools they need right now because they’re stuck in an old mindset. You need to break out of the past, start thinking about what you need right now to manage your business, and plan ahead for the challenges that are coming your way in the future. To do this, let’s talk about what inventory management features you used to need, which ones you currently need, and which ones you’ll soon need.
What Did You Need?
Many startups begin with no budget for an inventory management system, so they build ad-hoc Excel inventory templates and hope they’ll be able to transition to something better when the time comes. Unfortunately, bad habits are hard to break, and it can be challenging to get rid of this Excel inventory management mindset.
If you’re still using Excel spreadsheets even after you’ve grown into a viable company, it’s time make a change. Think about all the ways you’ve changed and what inventory needs you have now that you didn’t before. Is your inventory management system up to the task or do you need a better way to organize your data?
What Do You Need?
When you’re working with thousands of parts and products, you need some pretty advanced small business inventory software to help you keep track of everything. Take stock of all your inventory management needs. These might include:
- Automatic reorder points
- Barcoding
- Inventory tracking
- Multiple locations
- Picking, packing and shipping
- Receiving
- Supply chain management
Once you know all the things you need, compare your list to inventory software packages and see which ones are both powerful and in your price range. Another important thing to keep in mind is whether or not you can add more features to the software so you can keep using it for many years instead of having to switch again and again.
What Will You Need?
Anticipating what inventory features you’ll need in the future is easier said than done. In this case, you may want to talk to leaders of companies that are slightly larger than yours. See what challenges they face and how they’re dealing with them. Maybe they’re looking for a reliable point of sale (POS) solution, customer relationship management (CRM) or some other feature you haven’t considered using before.
If the inventory management software provider you choose can add these and other options, then you won’t have to learn a whole new system when the time comes. You can just pay for what you need right now and not have to break the bank to get these features later.
