You’ve finally decided to move on from your aging stock-management tools and are ready to upgrade. The question is, what should you replace your existing technology with?
Your decision will have a big impact on ROI and time to value investing in a new platform. It’s imperative that you make the right choice to get the most out of your new tools.
While there are many options out there, enterprise resource planning (ERP) software is the best solution for your business. Adopting ERP inventory software can alter the way you manage your stock. It will also give you the data you need to make decisions at the speed of business.
Let’s take a closer look at how to select the right software platform for your company. We’ll go over what features to look for when choosing an ERP inventory management system for your business. We’ll also touch on some of the challenges of using subpar software.
The Challenges of Subpar Inventory Management Software
Problems abound when your company relies on separate pieces of software to manage inventory. Here are some of the headaches you’ll encounter when using too many applications.
A Lack of Integrations
When your tech stack is old, it can be difficult to integrate your various software solutions. A lack of integrations leads to data silos.
The result is your data becomes trapped in one system and not available to other applications within your tech stack. These data silos create blind spots and impede decision-making.
If you want to increase productivity and improve your stock-tracking capabilities, tearing down these silos is priority number one. You need an integrated suite of apps that share data across the entire company.
Wasted Time
Another major issue of old software is wasted time. Older tech lacks modern automation tools, requiring your staff to perform time-consuming, manual data entry.
Every time your team enters data manually, there’s a risk of an error. While some of these errors may be minor, others can lead to stock-outs, excess inventory, and other costly issues.
ERP inventory software includes a robust set of automation tools you can use to save time and money. You can decrease the need for manual inputs, freeing your team up to work on more dynamic tasks.
A High Risk of Errors
Stock-management errors don’t just impact your fulfillment capabilities. Depending on the scope of an error, everyone involved in your operations could be impacted, including your accounting team and customers. Your vendors will likely feel the effects of any mistakes as well.
To maintain good customer and vendor relationships, you need to eliminate errors from your workflow. Automating tasks with the right inventory management platform will help you prevent the majority of avoidable mistakes and better serve your customers.
Poor Communication Between Departments and Vendors
No matter what vertical you operate in, your teams must be able to communicate effectively. They also need a way to share information. When they can’t speak clearly to each other, productivity and efficiency will suffer.
Disparate software creates communication barriers between departments. When each team uses a separate application, collaboration becomes difficult.
ERP inventory software provides your entire business with a single source of truth. From accounting to HR, everyone will be working within the same central platform.
The Answer: Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Software
Replacing your existing stock-management tools with another run-of-the-mill application will leave you facing many of the same problems. To solve your problems for good, you need ERP software.
ERP systems are designed to help you manage day-to-day operations more efficiently. It also supports long-term planning and growth. Top solutions feature applications for compliance, risk management, and more.
What to Look for in ERP Inventory Software
Implementing ERP inventory software is a huge task. This investment will pay huge dividends for your organization and support its long-term growth. However, you must choose the right ERP software if you want to maximize your ROI and condense your time to value.
When looking for the right solution, you will want to prioritize the following features and functions.
Scalability
The best ERP inventory software solutions use a cloud-based delivery model, making them highly scalable. They can evolve as your business continues to grow. Choosing a cloud-based option will maximize the lifespan of your new investment.
When assessing scalability, you’ll also want to verify that the developers regularly release software updates and improvements. Leading providers constantly work on new features so they can provide better value to their clients. By contrast, less involved developers rarely publish major updates.
User-Based Billing
There’s a common misconception that ERP inventory software is only for enterprise-grade companies. That is simply not true, as ERP platforms can be deployed for any size company.
The top ERP providers offer user- and consumption-based billing. In other words, your rate is based on the number of users you enroll, the number of applications you use, and how much computing power you consume.
If your business is on the smaller side, you’ll have fewer users and consume fewer resources, meaning your costs will also be lower.
Robust Industry-Specific Tools
Not every ERP has inventory-management capabilities. However, the best platforms have an entire module dedicated to these all-important functions. As such, they can better meet the needs of your company.
Choosing a platform that offers advanced inventory management will set your business up for success. You’ll be able to access powerful tools to increase inventory visibility and guide your decision-making processes.
Powerful Integrations
When searching for ERP software, you will want to look fo platforms that include a large selection of standard integrations.
While the best solutions will replace most of your disparate software, you may still want to use a few of your core business technologies. Picking a platform with a broad array of integrations allows you to do so without paying for costly custom development services.
Integrating your primary business applications with your ERP provides unparalleled data transparency. You can access insights from across your business and use this data to guide decision-making.
Reporting and Analytics Capabilities
Best-of-breed platforms have a variety of analytics and reporting capabilities. Nearly every ERP includes descriptive and diagnostic analytics. But the most robust platforms also provide AI-powered predictive and prescriptive analytics tools. Using your ERP to look ahead will give your business the edge it needs to thrive.
Choosing an option with reporting and analytics capabilities will also support your compliance needs. Staying compliant is crucial if you operate in a closely regulated niche.
Elevate Your Inventory Management with NetSuite ERP
While there are many solutions on the market, the NetSuite ERP platform is the ideal choice for companies that need to manage stock levels, support business processes, improve inventory control, view real-time inventory levels, and elevate customer service.
The platform checks all the boxes you need and will help your company overcome each challenge we covered. With NetSuite, you can consolidate all of your core business functions, including:
- Stock tracking
- Accounting
- HR
- Payroll
- Reporting
- Compliance
Replacing your disparate network of applications with NetSuite’s unified solution will give your business a definitive advantage. With NetSuite, you can improve supply chain transparency, achieve better lead times, improve order fulfillment, and access real-time stock data.
The question is, how do you deploy NetSuite? The answer is easy: partner with our team of implementation experts at Finlyte.
Finlyte provides comprehensive NetSuite implementation and deployment services. We work with clients in many verticals, including yours.
Want to learn more about our services and find out whether NetSuite is right for you? If so, schedule a complimentary consultation with our knowledgeable team today.
We would be happy to walk you through the process of determining whether NetSuite is the right ERP inventory software platform for your business.
