There has never been a year like 2020. With unprecedented restrictions placed on businesses and individuals, we’ve experienced major declines in production, consumption, and travel. As a result, it’s been hard on just about everyone’s mental health and wallet.
What will 2021 be like? Will we see a dramatic recovery like none we’ve ever experienced, or will we continue to slide down or even see an economic or stock market crash? Hard to say. But you can be prepared for either a positive or negative eventuality by using inventory management software to make your business processes as efficient as possible.
We will discuss how manufacturers, ecommerce businesses, wholesalers, and retailers can get ready for the New Year by implementing inventory management software.
Manufacturing
Multilevel work orders enable manufacturers to organize complex manufacturing jobs into production stages. In addition, you can assign workers to specific jobs and schedule tasks so that you don’t overtax your personnel or equipment. You can even add labor costs to work orders as a line item, which helps with calculating total costs.
Ecommerce
If you sell items online, integrating inventory management software with your ecommerce platforms will help you ship goods to customers faster, keep your quantities constantly up to date, and eliminate double data entry by also integrating it with your accounting software. This will help you improve your operations and save money.
Wholesale Distribution
If you are a wholesaler/distributor, you can use inventory management software to optimize your warehouse setup by grouping similar-selling products together and making picking paths as smooth as possible. In addition, warehouse workers can perform batch picks and implement other time-saving order fulfillment practices, and they can use barcode scanners to reduce the risk of data-entry errors.
Retail
If you run a brick-and-mortar store, you can create automatic reorder points to avoid running out of items your customers are looking for, analyze detailed reports to spot seasonal trends and avoid unnecessary carrying costs, and work closely with vendors to ensure speedy delivery of goods at competitive prices.
Be Prepared
We might be about to enter an even more painful time, or we might be on the cusp of an economic recovery. Be prepared to hunker down or move forward by using inventory management software to make your business as flexible and lean as possible. Sign up for an online demo of Fishbowl, the #1 inventory management software for QuickBooks, to see how it can help you be prepared for whatever the future holds.