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If you’re a small business owner, it’s possible that you’re still not sold on to the idea of automated inventory management. There is a certain allure to manual inventory logging. This is especially the case when it comes to a small business that you’re passionate about. It is a kind of satisfying ritual to look over a hand-crafted spreadsheet and see how much your business has grown.
However, if your business is growing rapidly, manual logging can get out of hand quickly. Let’s take a look at seven reasons to consider inventory management software.
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1. Order Processing
The most important part of any business is getting the product to the customer. These days, the competition is two-day or even same-day shipping. Therefore, it’s absolutely necessary to cut time in order processing wherever possible. Inventory management software makes order processing instant, reducing restock time that can lead customers to choose the competition.
2. Real-Time Checking
Spreadsheets are great for reviewing last month’s sales. However, they aren’t very useful in real time. Often, with manual logging, you won’t know when it’s time to restock until it’s too late. On the other hand, inventory management software can keep you posted with the most up-to-date inventory, preventing costly back orders.
3. Error Reduction
Humans are great at a lot of things, but nobody is perfect. Therefore, manual logging always comes with the risk of human error. This is arguably the most important aspect of inventory management. Software automation brings plenty of quality-of-life improvements. However, error reduction is a true necessity. That’s because mistakes can get costly, fast.
But when your order is received through specially designed software, such as that designed by Scout inventory management, it’s automatically checked for discrepancies.
4. Time-Saving
Small errors can end up costing a lot of time. After your order is checked and filed away, inventory management software can even automate barcode printing.
Time is money, but it can be a lot of other things, too. For instance, running a small business can have you working overtime and weekends. So there’s no reason not to automate the most tedious and time-consuming parts of running a business. Take back your weekends!
5. Money-Saving
And speaking of costly errors, those errors can end up costing a quite a bit of money. And that’s over and above the employee hours you’re already paying for.
However, it might not be immediately obvious that purchasing inventory management software can save you money. Labor savings are immediately obvious, though. You save money when you don’t pay employees to spend hours manually counting and logging inventory. On the other hand, a less obvious benefit of automated management software is warehouse space.
Running out of stock is bad, and often the only way to avoid it is by always keeping extra stock. Unfortunately, this means paying for a larger space to store that inventory. Inventory management software allows you to keep exactly as much inventory as you need and nothing more. This saves you from renting extra space.
6. Dashboard
A key benefit of inventory management software is the dashboard. With mobile integration, you can have insights at your fingertips. The ability to check your inventory instantly, anywhere, at any time can give you a big advantage, not to mention peace of mind.
7. Scalability
Whatever the size of your business, chances are you have a vision to grow in the future. One of the greatest benefits of inventory management software is scalability. When it comes time to upscale, it’s not always as easy as just multiplying your orders. Upscaling is a careful science. Moreover, here again, human errors can be costly. Automating the process takes out the stress factor so you can spend more time celebrating those milestones.
Automated Inventory Management Will Improve Your Business—and Your Life
If you’re still paying employees to manually log inventory—or worse, logging it yourself—then it’s time to see how far automation can take your business.
