Blend your Inventory Management System with NetSuite

During our previous “Tech Talk,” blog, we addressed how service-based businesses could improve their overall management with NetSuite SRP (Services Resource Planning). But what about businesses that sell products rather than services? In this blog, we’ll tackle one of the most complicated processes faced by product-based companies: inventory management.

Why is inventory management such a big deal?

If your company is in the business of selling products, inventory is your livelihood. In fact, only well-managed inventories can ensure free-flowing business deals where customers get exactly what they need, fast. There is no better way to ensure a happy, growing, and continual client base. Of course, properly managing a large inventory is easier said than done.

What’s so hard about inventory management?

Precise inventory management can be difficult because salespeople typically don’t do business from their employer’s warehouse. What this means is that changes in inventory incurred through sales are not always adequately communicated, resulting in company-wide misinformation concerning leftover stock: a recipe for disaster! Nobody wants their staff to sell products that are no longer available. The only thing that can result from this is frustration among customers and sales personnel.

How can businesses adequately manage their inventory?

The best way businesses can manage their inventory is through online inventory management solutions platforms. Why? Because web-based inventory management systems solutions can produce real-time visibility. Think about it. With inventory-related data made available online, salespeople (even those working oceans away from warehouses) can always access their stock. In fact, they can do so without having to worry about differing time zones or communication barriers. And, because web-based inventory management systems tools are usually interactive, users working from warehouses can also record changes made to their inventory at the click of a button. With online inventory management tools, both ends of the warehouse-to-sales spectrum can be perfectly synchronized.

Why don’t more companies use online inventory management tools?

Because most online inventory management tools don’t produce sufficient returns. Having a synchronized warehouse and sales force is all well and good, but what about the other departments? Shouldn’t marketing, HR, and finance be made aware of the changes in inventory? The answer is Yes. When other departments know which products sell, they can better determine what to market, who to hire, and what to invest in! Despite this fact, most web-based inventory management systems online inventory management solutions cannot be integrated with an enterprise’s other resource planning procedures. Who wants to spend money on an underwhelming business solution? No one.

So are there any inventory management solutions that can be integrated?

Yes! NetSuite’s inventory management solution, NetSuite Advanced Inventory, offers visible, web-based features allowing sales and warehouse personnel to synchronize processes. So while warehouse employees are able to replenish stock as soon as a sale is made, salespeople can safeguard their clients’ ability to receive what they buy as quickly as possible. Additionally, because Advanced Inventory is part of NetSuite’s line of software solutions (which includes ERP, CRM, eCommerce, and HR systems), it can be fully integrated within business’ other management procedures, streamlining inventories’ core processes to all necessary departments automatically. This means NetSuite Advanced Inventory does more than inform companies’ overall processes. It also saves businesses the time and money they would have otherwise spent on manually integrating inventory information within their department’s’ systems.

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