Choosing an Inventory System

Inventory system software are numerous in this day and age, which is a testament to their importance in everyday business. Operating a product based sales model without an inventory system is business suicide, and most small businesses start with very simple inventory management, be it a paper-based system, spreadsheets or even a home built database system.

Owners of Small Business startups can seldom afford to pay for even a simple inventory system, and even a very basic spreadsheet package can cost several hundreds of pounds or dollars to have developed, or, if you are creating it yourself, the time involved doing so is valuable time that should be spent working on building the business.

Too many small businesses will try to make do without adequate inventory management but all too often this can create unforeseen problems further down the business life cycle, like losing track of product inventory, problems locating inventory and even being taken advantage of by unscrupulous customers returning re-labled goods that may not even have been an original sale, a not uncommon scenario, as several of our Inventory System clients have encountered, though, happily, our software caught these discrepancies.

Another factor that puts off too many small business owners in purchasing business software tools is the question of suitability to their organisation.
Does it do everything you need it to do?
Is there ability to upgrade if and when you expand your business?
Is there integration across the organisation's departments?

Not every Inventory System will do what you require, but many will be developed with an end user market in mind, so it's a matter of finding the right system for your industry needs. When you have several inventory systems to compare, you can utilize the 80/20 rule if you wish to conserve costs, that being if a business tool performs at least 80% of the functions you require and costs 20% of one which does 110% of what you need (the 10% being extra bells and whistles), then a reasonable choice would be the less expensive system.

That being said, starting with the right foot first can be the best attitude to business tool selection, and those small business owners who are willing to invest in an inventory management system that meets every one of their requirements at a reasonable cost can alleviate their inventory worries from the outset, freeing up time and manpower resources.

Upgradeablity for expansion of the business is also a major concern with many small business owners who think ahead and plan for tomorrow through action today, so every business owner must bear in mind that an Inventory System that meets their requirements today might not be suitable in a year or two year's time. Switching inventory management systems can be huge organisational nightmare and if the system you pick for today's climate is not expandable for tomorrow, then the process of searching and comparing will only add to the burden of business process changes.

In order for an integrated system to perform adequately across an organisation, each department must be able to access the relevant information they require to operate, with real time, live updating across all departments so the organisation operates as a unified whole. An integrated Inventory System must be able to provide more than just inventory control, but other business management features should be incorporated, like sales order and invoice generation, goods inwards and goods outwards and other features like contact management and accounting or integration with your chosen accounting package.

Choose an inventory system to suit your business.