Organizations – no matter small or big – across all industries build strong databases to manage and keep track of their inventory items. It’s important for them to keep a note of both slow-moving and high demand items so they can adjust inventory levels accordingly. To accomplish this task, they use dedicated database systems. These systems are profoundly known as inventory management software.
Before you team up with an expert inventory management software development company to build a custom solution for your warehouse management tasks, here are a few things you should know:
What is Inventory Management Management Software?
In simplest terms, a warehouse inventory management software allows companies to keep track of items moving in/out of their warehouses. It manages the entire product inventory lifecycle – from production, warehousing to product delivery. It is among the key shipping logistics software that you can you for tracking the movement of every key item part of your inventory.
How does it work?
Inventory management software is used as standalone software or as part of the business ERP system to manage complex inventory tasks. It is used alongside RFID tags and barcode scanners to capture order item details and store them inside the system. By using such systems, warehouse staff easily locate order items and update inventory tally accordingly. The real-time item tracking ability makes this system shine in the real-world.
In short, inventory management software solutions automate and streamline your warehouse tasks. This helps you save extra time, energy and valuable resources required for supply chain operations.
Inventory Management Software Market: Trends and Statistics
- According to GMInsights, the value of the global inventory software market will reach 5 billion by 2025, which is almost double the market value in 2019 (around 3 billion).
- As per estimates, the global warehouse inventory management software market will generate 394 million USD in revenue by the end of 2020.
- 36% of supply chain professionals believe optimizing inventory through software is a must for driving business profits and growth.
- 25% increase in productivity observed by companies while using IMS,
- 30% improvement in stock the efficiency with IMS usage experienced by supply chain firms.
These statistics clearly show that businesses today are investing heavily in inventory management software as it helps them eliminate their supply chain bottlenecks because of centralized and well-organized processes. With the presence of Inventory management tools, boosting sales productivity and order frequency becomes much easier for supply chain companies.
Types of Inventory Management Software Solutions
Human-driven systems
These systems rely on human inputs for performing complex calculations. It is best suited for small businesses with small inventory size and operations. Chances of error or inaccuracy increase with such systems.
Barcode scanning
According to data, 45% of US businesses use barcode scanning systems. It allows them to process a large number of items by fetching data directly from POS and cash registers. These are persistent systems that update inventory automatically every item an item is scanned.
Advanced RFID systems
Big firms use these systems for scanning thousands of inventory items faster with more accuracy. Items moving in/out of inventory and their details are captured by RFID reader with the help of RFID tags to update stock levels. RFID systems are better than barcodes as they scan out-of-sight items too in real-time with data modification functionality.
Essential Features of Inventory Management Software
List Items
This feature is used to capture and store stock details like availability, cost, price, and so on. Employees can arrange items systematically with this function.
Track Items
Products inside inventory or warehouse are tracked using this feature via barcode, serial number, or RFID tags.
Reorder Items
Inventory items required urgently for pick, pick, and dispatch can be tracked easily using this feature while updating the stock lists.
Logistics Management
This feature allows data syncing with third-party logistics and transportation management software for better transparency in SCM.
Track Raw Materials
This feature lets inventory staff track the availability of new material for production.
Reports and Analytics
Using this feature offers a holistic view of inventory with details like stock levels, profitability, sales trends, and more.
Integrations
This feature allows IMS integration with other useful business tools like CRM, ERP, HCM, and more. It ensures seamless data exchange for accurate inventory operations.
Cloud-storage
Cloud-based apps or software ensures robust data security and on-the-go accessibility for inventory management.
Manage Vendors
This feature lets users add, update, and delete vendors from the database. Companies can avoid costly errors with updated databases.
Low-stock alerts
This feature allows inventory staff when an item quantity goes behind the preset threshold level via system alert, notification, or email.
Stock refilling
This feature passes automatic refilling instructions when an inventory item is near its minimum level.
Barcode Scan
Inventory staff scan items using barcodes when this feature is enabled.
Multi-location Support
When companies have warehouses operational at multiple places, this feature is enabled for accurate stock tracking and management.
Serial Number tracking
Inventory staff uses item serial numbers for inventory update with this feature.
Inventory forecasting
To avoid out-of-stock and overstock circumstances, this feature is activated to predict the future demand of items using Artificial Intelligence, predictive analytics, and more.
Advantages of Inventory Management Software
Reduce Inventory Costs
Cloud-based software lets you track, update, and access inventory data in real-time across multiple devices which cut down administrative costs related to inventory management.
Better Inventory Planning
IMS helps inventory managers in mapping better planning strategies by smoothly recording and managing inventory items.
Higher Staff Productivity
With organized data and better tracking options, your staff productivity feels motivated to perform core operational tasks without any administrative burden related to inventory control.
Improved Forecasting
With accurate stock tracking, IMS assists you to plan for the future. It uses multiple data analytics tools for identifying market trends and opportunities for various products and services.
Increased Sales and Profitability
IMS records and updates stock levels accurately, thereby reducing the chances of inaccurate product tracking. This improves product delivery timelines, leading to happier customers and boosted sales.
Robust Data Security
With Cloud-based inventory management system software, all your inventory data gets stored securely in the cloud. Chances of any technology security loopholes or data breach reduce greatly with such practice.
Cost of Building Inventory Management Software
The overall cost to build an inventory management system software ranges between $20,000 to $40000 with basic functionality. If you need an advanced IMS with complex features, the cost might boost up to anything between $40000 to $80000. The final software cost would depend upon various aspects like software functionality, technical complexity, developer location, experience, total development hours, etc.
Do note that the final software cost varies significantly depending on your dedicated development team’s geographical locations. For example, USA developer’s cost starts from $200/hr which is very high compared to the Asian developer’s, starting $40/hr.
Inventory Management Software Development Process
Building a custom inventory management system is not an easy task. It is a crucial part of your overall logistics and supply chain activities. Any small error can cause major disruption in your overall warehouse activities. Hence, you should work with an expert dedicated software development team with a proven history of building quality enterprise solutions for logistics businesses. The development of robust, reliable and sturdy software for your logistics operations requires proper planning, budget allocation and coordination between your development team.
Here are the typical development activities that are followed by dedicated developers during inventory management software development:
Conceptualization: In this phase, you need to identify what exact features you want in the software. You should have an overall summary ready for how your end-product would look like. This also helps you explain your product requirements to your development partner clearly.
Requirement Gathering & Analysis: The development partner collects and analyzes your software requirements to test its market feasibility and overall risk.
Wireframing & Design: Multiple wireframes and mockups of your software are prepared with critical features in this phase by your development partner for you to confirming the final design and architecture of the product.
Development/Implementation Here the actual coding is performed by the dedicated developers of your project. The overall functionality of the software is integrated into the system.
Rigorous Testing: After development, the QA and testing team performs rigorous testing to identify functionality, usability, and performance issues in the software. Testing is performed throughout the project after the completion of every major activity to ensure quality development.
Deployment/Maintenance: The developed software is deployed in the cloud or on-premise environment with regular updates and support as per the initial agreement.
Inventory Management Software: Build Vs. Buy Decision
Your choice among build vs buy software should be ideally based upon your business requirements, long-term goals, inventory challenges, and internal processes. Overlooking any of the given aspects can lead you to build IMS software unfit for your business. Building IMS software from scratch is often recommended as it gives you more flexibility and suits your business needs perfectly.
Reasons to use Custom Inventory Software
Flexibility: It gives you the option to build software that perfectly fits into your inventory workflow.
Scalability: It has the potential for further enhancements as your business grows. Start small with MVP and later on add more features.
Better Control: It allows you to control every part/element of your tool – from UI/UX to third-party integrations and more.
Cost-effective: You don’t need to pay monthly subscription fees and licensing fees with custom IMS software.
Data Security: Best encryption and data security practices are applied by outsourcing vendor to protect your business information
Ready to Integrate Inventory Management Software in Your Business?
Hope the above guide has clarified all your doubts about inventory management system software. If you are looking for reliable and quality custom inventory management software with bullet-grade security features, connect with us here at A3logics.
We are a leading product engineering services company with 10+ years of experience in inventory management software development for diverse industries with a 99% client satisfaction rate.
Drop us a line to share your IMS project idea and we’d be more than happy to help!
FAQs: Inventory Management Software
How much does an inventory management system cost?
The total cost to build an inventory management software falls between $20000 to $40000 with basic features. For complex IMS, the cost boost up to $80000 based on system complexity.
How to build inventory management software?
Consider the following development aspects carefully- project conceptualization, requirement analysis, wireframing & design, development, testing, deployment, and maintenance while building a tailored IMS solution. Partner with an experienced Inventory management enterprise software development company for the best results.
Which is the best software for inventory management?
Popular inventory management software includes Zoho inventory, ecomdash, EZOfficeInventory, etc. For better control and flexibility in inventory operations, build custom software.
