A QuickBooks scanner is an inventory scanner or barcode scanner that directly integrates with QuickBooks accounting software. Businesses reliant on QuickBooks financial solutions can use these scanners to future-proof their inventory management by automating busywork, updating stock levels in real-time, and reducing human errors.
Depending on the version of QuickBooks your business uses, an inventory scanner may come with different benefits and limitations. For inventory-intensive businesses in manufacturing, e-commerce, and more, these scanners present a vital opportunity to boost efficiency and profits.
Top-performing businesses switch to integrated solutions for inventory management that utilize tools like QuickBooks scanners. Consider these strategies and steps as guidelines for how to successfully adapt inventory management software into your workflow.
What a QuickBooks inventory scanner system can do for your business
The QuickBooks inventory scanner system works with QuickBooks Enterprise and QuickBooks Desktop accounts to give businesses access to warehouse and inventory management features. Whether you’re a warehouse manager or the owner of a manufacturing business, these are just some of the features you can expect.
1. Supply chain management
End-to-end supply chain management requires real-time visibility and adaptable problem-solving functions. Armed with a QuickBooks scanner, warehouse managers can view updated stock levels as soon as inventory is scanned in or out.
This allows them to find problems in the business’s supply chain, such as delays in its manufacturing route or inefficiencies in its warehouse storage system. Inventory management software uses advanced analytics to create reports based on inventory data. They help managers improve workflows based on the sales of individual items, storage times, overstock and understock reports, and more.
2. Barcode inventory system
Manufacturers with multiple variations of similar products know first-hand the difficulties of tracking them separately. By arranging products by unique barcodes, QuickBooks inventory scanners allow warehouse managers to easily distinguish and track different products with similar product codes.
With a QuickBooks scanner and a barcode generator, businesses can blast through tedious inventory tasks even if they’re still searching for a workflow management platform. As the barcode inventory system accumulates information on stock levels, businesses can downsize tedious manual inventory monitoring tasks.
3. Set automatic reorder points
As a manager or owner, you know the cost of stock outs in customer satisfaction as well as the cost of overstock in storage fees. Warehouse managers can use inventory management software to set automatic reorder points for any SKU to avoid both problems.
When a product falls below a certain level, QuickBooks software automatically generates and exports a purchase order to replenish that product. Automating reorder points for individual items reduces the need for expensive manual product counts as well as the possibility of error.
When automated by QuickBooks inventory software, these reorder points do not have to remain static. Managers can reassess them as often as needed to prevent costly inventory bottlenecks, such as during a seasonal demand shift. They can do so with a fraction of the effort required to perform manual recounts and reorders.
4. Perform audits
The same features that automate SKU scanning and reordering also make inventory audits easier. Inventory levels automatically update in the QuickBooks software whenever barcodes are scanned in or out.
In-person audits are a waste of manpower and warehouse uptime. Managers can keep tabs on their stock levels in real time from any supported device using QuickBooks inventory management. The results of the audit can be at their fingertips in a fraction of the time.
The benefits of using a QuickBooks barcode scanner
These features result in many benefits for warehouse managers and manufacturers. Businesses that adopt integrated inventory management strategies see boosts in profits, productivity, and customer satisfaction due to these factors:
Boosted warehouse efficiency
Barcode scanners boost warehouse efficiency by automating some labor-intensive tasks and outmoding others. While in-person inventory counts can still be helpful to hold systems accountable to real-world observation, barcode scanners still allow manual inventory checkers to work at expedited rates. The system will automatically update as soon as they manually scan the products.
Other tasks like manual reordering can be handled automatically, requiring none of the conventional labor of stock monitoring and reorder scheduling. This saves warehouse uptime for higher-order tasks, such as reassessing seasonal reorder points.
By providing more time for tasks that matter, barcode scanning makes warehouses more efficient while boosting profits.
Improved analytics
Analytics in warehousing have traditionally resulted from expensive and labor-intensive processes. Companies interested in keeping detailed stock levels, predictive inventory strategies, KPI analyses, and other metrics, traditionally hire expensive third-party consultants to collect and analyze data.
Often, by the time analytics have been evaluated, the window for forming useful management strategies based on those numbers has already passed.
QuickBooks inventory management software drastically improves the process of generating and analyzing data in the warehouse industry. The system collects data on real-time stock updates, performance metrics, reorder schedules, and more to deliver actionable reports that inform management decisions with updated KPIs.
Not only do warehouses pay less for analytics using barcode scanners, but the analytics also provide greater benefits to efficiency and performance.
Fewer errors
Manual inventory counts are prone to human error, as are paper reports, manual data entry, reorder schedules, and other conventional processes. Automating data entry frees labor for more significant tasks and frees warehouses from the costly consequences of inventory management errors.
Better business decisions
With better analytics and fewer errors, inventory management software results in better business decisions.
Consider an example of a clothing manufacturer that stocks an item that was popular in last year’s lineup but has fallen out of style. Resetting the reordering schedule based on updated market expectations is far easier when demand forecasting is automatically updated with new expectations and accurate inventory counts.
Easy inventory tracking across multiple locations
The above benefits compound for businesses with multiple inventory locations to track. While multiple warehouses make manual inventory counting exponentially more difficult, QuickBooks inventory management can be scaled to multiple locations.
For the manager of a manufacturing business, multi-location management is a familiar ROI headache that inventory management software can relieve.
How to use a barcode scanner for inventory in QuickBooks
QuickBooks inventory scanners offer a simple management method for warehouse inventory. However, some troubleshooting may be required at first to match your warehouse’s technology to the new workflow.
These simple steps can help you get started:
- First, you’ll need a physical barcode scanner compatible with QuickBooks inventory scanning software.
- Next, QuickBooks Desktop and Online users will need to generate barcodes for each of your business’s SKUs. Third-party solutions like Fishbowl can create unique barcodes based on a part number and description. QuickBooks Enterprise users also have access to an internal barcode generator with the “Advanced Inventory” features.
- Once you can generate barcodes, you’ll need to log your inventory items into your QuickBooks database by SKU, adding the barcode to its custom profile.
- After that, you can use your barcode scanner to scan the barcode as it enters or exits your inventory. QuickBooks will keep track of your product levels in real time and provide useful inventory analytics.
When properly deployed, a QuickBooks inventory scanner can offer impressive features to inventory-intensive businesses, especially those that plan to expand to more warehouse locations.
Set up your QuickBooks inventory scanner with Fishbowl for easy inventory management
Despite numerous benefits, QuickBooks inventory management software can struggle to integrate new processes on its own. There are many unknowns, such as the brand of the barcode scanner, the business’s unique workflow, and even the user’s account status since QuickBooks Online users lack the advanced inventory management features of other accounts.
An integrated approach to warehouse management with Fishbowl’s inventory management tools gives businesses a shortcut to the benefits of successful QuickBooks implementation.
Fishbowl focuses on centralization: inventory, warehousing, and manufacturing features on a single platform. QuickBooks can’t cover them all on its own, but it doesn’t have to with Fishbowl supporting its feature gaps in the background using its own performance management tools.
Ready to take your inventory management to the next level?
If your business could benefit from streamlined inventory management using barcode scanners, advanced analytics, and automatic reorder points, feel free to request a custom demo of Fishbowl and try Fellow to experience real-time data synchronization for all your most important business decisions. See why Fishbowl is the number one choice in inventory management software for QuickBooks users.