Depending on your industry, procedures and unique business needs, the answer to the question “What are the stock control methods that would work for my business?” will vary widely. However, there are a few key ways that all businesses could benefit from a software solution for stock management.
Scalability
Setting your business up for sustainable growth can sometimes mean moving away from the tools that have helped you grow so far. While stock control in Excel and spreadsheets could be working for your business, it will become more clunky and less functional as your business grows. To improve stock control it is important to set up your business with the tools you need not just today but into the future.
An effective stock control software should scale with your business, helping you to keep control over multiple locations as easily as one. No matter how many products you produce, resources you need, or locations you add to your business, a purpose built stock control software will make it easy to scale.
Make sure things are done right
It’s all too easy when you rely on manual processes to start cutting corners. Skipped or rushed stock takes and guesstimated numbers can quickly cause issues in your business. Keeping your stock up-to-date is essential to ensure smooth operations day-to-day. Given the importance, it does not pay to try to cut time or costs when performing inventory checks.
A stock control software will help to keep you on the straight and narrow and help your numbers stay up-to-date. For example, complete solutions like WorkGuru track stock as it is used on projects, making sure that you and your team have an up-to-date tally of what’s being used. This helps you to have a constant idea of your stock levels and needs.
Software solutions also make it easier for your staff to do things the right way. With well designed user interfaces, it takes less time for your team to mark as received in the system as soon as the stock shows up, cost the PO as soon as you get the supplier invoice and so on. If these admin tasks are less disruptive, your team is more likely to do them quickly and accurately.
Cloud-based flexibility
2020 taught many businesses to expect the unexpected. Change is an inevitable and exciting part of your business, but are your operations flexible enough to adapt? Changes can come in the form of challenges like the pandemic, or exciting growth such as acquiring a new location for your business.
Whatever is ahead, moving your stock control to the cloud means that your information is more available and flexible over multiple locations. Could this help your locations or teams to share resources where they would otherwise have ordered more? Might your sales team be able to close more deals if they could on-site with a customer let them know a product is in stock? No matter how you operate more flexibility in how and where you manage your stock can never be a bad thing.
Help integrate Stock Control into your everyday work
How to improve stock control without disrupting your day-to-day? The key is to make updating, controlling and using stock as seamless as possible. If your team can draw down from stock quickly and easily without disrupting their task, they are more likely to keep records up-to-date.
Having a software system that automatically updates as assets and stock are used is essential to help manage real-time information. This in turn can help you to reduce the stock you need on hand yet order new stock before you run out.
While this does not remove the need for regular physical stock checks, it can help to make sure that you have an up-to-date picture everyday, not just when you undertake a check. It helps to take the guesswork out of managing your inventory without disrupting the hard work of your team.
Implementing a third party inventory management solution means you don’t have to “reinvent the wheel” according to Forbes tips on improving your stock management.
If you want to update your stock control strategy in 2021, then WorkGuru.io can help. Get in touch with the team today to see if your business could benefit from a holistic stock and project management system.
We have compiled a list of things to look for as you search for your new solution, which you can read here.