Cloud computing is part of a new wave of information technology used by individuals, businesses, governments – you name it. It’s becoming increasingly popular, and with good reason: for the individual, it means you can store your important documents on Google Drive, or your music, pictures and contacts on iCloud, but for businesses, having using cloud-based software can have significant advantages, particularly cloud based inventory management. Put simply, the cloud means storing your data/files in the internet, rather than on your PC.
- You can work from anywhere, at any time. If you have access to the internet and the credentials to log in, you can administer and manage your inventory remotely. This can make life significantly easier and help increase efficiency. The result is your available stock, customers’ orders, transactions and shipping information seamlessly integrated, and available to you wherever you may be.
- Having a cloud based inventory management system can help reduce your company’s spending on its technology infrastructure because you don’t have to purchase and maintain expensive hardware. Traditional desktop based software often requires a lot in terms of finance – installation fees, licensing fees, add-ons… they can end up being pretty costly, but Cloud-based services are often available at much lower rates, and can be much more cost-efficient for your business.
- Following on from that, cloud based inventory management won’t require any in-house maintenance. Updates will happen automatically, so you won’t need your own staff to to install the latest updates of the software.
- You also don’t run the risk of over-purchasing capacity which may end up going to waste. If extra space is needed, it can be purchased “if and when”, not “just incase”, therefore reducing your spend even further.
- With cloud-based inventory management, you can synchronise your data across all of your devices – its not confined to one local hard drive. This means you can log onto a computer half-way across the world, and still have access to your inventory; use your phone to check your orders while you’re on the train; or switch from a Windows device to an Apple OS with no problems.
- Your data is backed up. An enormous amount of time and effort is put into updating and maintaining your inventory, so imagine how frustrating it would be if you lost your laptop, or your hard-drive was broken beyond compare, losing all your valuable information? That won’t happen with a cloud based inventory management system because all your data is stored online.