Do you have some products or services and are struggling to manage them? Are you embarrassed about your messy inventory and want a free inventory management system for your small business australia? Then this is the place for you!
Inventory management is a very important part of any business. You’ll have questions about how to do inventory monitoring for your business, and that’s where our expert article comes into play. We’ve consulted experts who have years of experience in the field of inventory management software australia, and they can give you all the information you need to find the right solution.
Wasp Inventory Cloud Control
Wasp InventoryCloud Warehouse Stock Management system is suitable for all small to medium size businesses, which manage inventory manually or on spread sheets. Implementing the Wasp warehouse inventory management system has a significant impact on these businesses in terms of productivity and efficiency. Being on cloud means that the inventory control system is available anytime, anywhere.
With Wasp InventoryCloud WMS system, you can manage multiple sites, locations and make inventory tracking very easy. The Mobile app allows warehouse personnel to easily perform their day to day tasks, using an android or ios mobile device.
TechnoSource Australia is the authorised business partner and Asia-Pacific distributor for WASP Barcode Technologies USA.
Benefits Of Using Warehouse Stock & Inventory Control Software System & Solution
An Inventory system is a very important part of any business which is managing stock. Whether you are a business owner, sales manager, sales team member or warehouse manager, you can always use an inventory tracking software in your favour.
Consolidate inventory across multiple sites
Ensure inventory numbers are accurate and up to date and you never run out of stock in any warehouse location.
Modernize pick order process:
Prepare pick orders for inventory items and ensure pickers pick the right order, right item and send it to the right customer every time.
Simplify order management process:
Unified platform allows organizations to manage all purchase and sales orders and view them across all sites.
Streamline Inventory Audits and cycle counts:
Periodic cycle count allows warehouse personnel to adjust inventory and reconcile it with up to date quantity. It also allows, the accounts department to view stock losses.
Trigger notifications for critical intelligence:
Wasp inventoryCloud warehouse management system allows users to receive pop-up alerts or email notifications for events such as low stock levels, expiring items, late orders, check-out items past due etc.
Customize for business terminology:
Each organization’s terminology or language use for a wms system is different and wasp allows an administrator to change the field names to their existing terminology so employees don’t have to interpret field names
Features Of Wasp Inventory Cloud Warehouse Management System
Following are some of the features of the stock control system.
Mobility:Android or ios app allows a warehouse picker-packer to use mobile PDA scanner with wifi or 4G connectivity or they can use the browser application on any tablet or notebook computer.
Multi-site multi locations:Wasp InventoryCloud allows users to create multiple sites (warehouse) and multiple locations (item location)
Label Printing:Users can customize their item and shelf labels, and print using label printer. They can print the standard barcodes as well as the QR codes.
Stock Audit:User can do audit of their inventory using mobile a PDA scanner in cycle count and then reconcile the quantity.
Alerts and Notifications:Warehouse managers and other relevant employees receive automated notifications and alerts about expiring items, minimum and maximum stock levels and others.
Scheduled & Customized reporting:User can customize reports and its design and also schedule the running of reports which can be sent to other users or external person via email.
Acumatica
Acumatica’s intuitive design, enterprise scalability, and flexible pricing model help make Acumatica an excellent choice for enterprise resource planning, general ledger accounting, and inventory management.
Designed as a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) application, Acumatica delivers an excellent option for those needing a scalable financial and enterprise resource planning (ERP) platform. Acumatica is a well-balanced app featuring a modular architecture that targets ERP, general ledger accounting, and inventory management. Its browser-based user experience (UX) is excellent, with a feature-rich environment accessible via an intuitive user interface (UI). Its pricing model may confuse some users, but that possibility isn’t enough to keep us from giving Acumatica our Editors’ Choice award across all three of the aforementioned product categories.
Acumatica’s unusual pricing structure is based on resources rather than per-seat numbers. Because it’s available as a cloud service from Acumatica, in a public or hybrid cloud configuration [like installing it on servers hosted by Amazon Web Services (AWS), for example], or as a straight on-premises installation, Acumatica’s pricing is based on the amount of app resources a company actually requires rather than a per-user fee. More details are listed below, but Acumatica states that a typical smaller company can expect to pay $1,000 per month regardless of the number of simultaneous users.
However, as with all of the vendors here working through a reseller/partner channel, that price doesn’t reflect the charges that the reseller will add. And that’s not optional since, rather than offering the product to customers directly, Acumatica is solely available through its partner channel.
I reviewed the Acumatica Cloud version. For on-premises installation or to run it on virtual servers hosted in someone else’s cloud, you will need infrastructure running Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 on up and a compatible database. Acumatica runs on several popular databases, including Amazon Aurora, Microsoft SQL Server, and MySQL.
As with Oracle NetSuite OneWorld, SAP Business One Professional, and others, Acumatica primarily relies on dashboards for navigation. Depending on a user’s assigned role, he or she will be shown the appropriate dashboard upon launching the app. It’s easy to define roles and permissions since this is done by checking or unchecking the appropriate entries in configuration boxes. This simplifies navigation because only the areas in which a particular user is allowed are shown.
The feel, function, and look of various dashboards can vary widely as well. For example, the Controller dashboard on my demo system consisted of key performance indicator (KPI) widgets, while the Financial dashboard was a process chart with available tasks laid out along accompanying icons. It’s also possible to create individualized dashboards for specific employees.
Navigation is just a matter of clicking the task choices in a dashboard. There is also a double set of ribbon bars at the top of the screen. The top bar shows broad areas of system configuration such as Distribution, Finance, and Organization, while the second layer shows tasks available under that top menu option. For example, under Finance there is Accounts Payable (AP), Accounts Receivable (AR), Cash Management, General Ledger, and more. Choosing one of these opens the available tasks in a vertical pane on the left-hand side of the screen.
Finally, you can get to a specific task by typing it into the Search box at the top of the vertical pane. For example, typing in “Trial” will bring up all of the tasks that start with “Trial,” and you can launch the one you want by clicking it.
SysproSyspro is a strong contender for the enterprise resource planning (ERP) needs of small, midsize, and large businesses. The system is extremely flexible, comprehensive, and easy to use, offering a plethora of reports and easily scaling from one to several hundred users.
PROSExcellent capabilities for production, distribution, warehousing, and retail businesses.Uses Syspro’s own Point of Sale and Demand/Forecasting engines.Comprehensive but very easy to use.Extensive number of available modules.
CONSNo payroll or human resources (HR) modules.May appear overwhelming for some smaller businesses.
AccountMateAccountMate is a solid entry in small to midsize business (SMB) financials, inventory management, and enterprise resource planning (ERP). Though it’s missing some sophisticated features that other products have, it’s still very usable and configurable.
PROSMany report export options.Great transaction drilldown.Extensive online training and help functionality.Solid audit trail report capability
CONS.No HR or POS modules for ERP implementations.Limited graphics and charting.Task shortcuts need to be configured.No true dashboards.No process flowchart navigation.
Cougar Mountain Denali SummitCougar Mountain Denali Summit is aimed squarely at midsized businesses and it sports a wide variety of expansion modules. Its design can be a little lackluster in places, but for most businesses it provides a serviceable financial platform.
PROSEasy navigation.Two of the three bundles include Crystal Reports.Available as a single purchase or per-month payments.Can be purchased directly or through a reseller channel.Fund Accounting edition available.
CONSCrystal Reports costs $495 extra, even for the most basic bundle.Report filters and data entry screens are not particularly intuitive.Not much charting or graphics capability within most modules.
Open Systems TraverseWhile Open Systems Traverse is one of the oldest players in the space, it actually shows its age in areas like UI design. Still it’s a solidly capable mid-tier financial platform that’s well worth a look.
PROSDeep dashboard drilldown.Full suite of ERP creation modules.Good documentation and Help screens.Available in-house or hosted.Includes Working Trial Balance report.Screen, forms, and reports customization.Easy hosted mobile access.
CONSNo Flowchart/Process navigation.Setting up data entry and reports is somewhat complex.
Sage
Avoiding the pitfalls of poor stock management
Good inventory management is a balancing act. You want to make sure you have enough stock to meet customer demand, but not so much that you can’t shift it. Without an effective inventory control system, loss of sales and spiraling costs could make a major dent in your bottom line.
If a customer wants to buy something you haven’t got in stock, you could find yourself paying extra for a last-minute express order, or losing the customer, if they decide to go with a competitor who has the product readily available. Either way, you’re out of pocket – and you might have wasted time on additional ordering.
On the flipside, if you have more stock than you can sell, you could face significant additional costs for things like warehouse space, insurance, depreciation and asset tax. These expenses can quickly add up to sizable amounts, and managing unsold inventory takes valuable time away from running your business.
So how can you make sure your stock management is up to scratch?
Consider just-in-time inventory management
A JIT strategy involves only ordering products as and when they’re needed for sale, in the exact amounts required. If you are confident that you can forecast demand accurately and have reliable suppliers, a JIT strategy will help you minimise unsold inventory and avoid waste due to storage damage and depreciation. It will also reduce your storage and maintenance costs.
A good inventory tracker and stock management system can help facilitate a JIT strategy, but it’s not going to be the right approach for all businesses.
Improving your inventory management
You need to have a firm handle on your warehouse operations as well as your stock to improve your inventory management. We’ve outlined four actions you can take to start the journey towards a more effective and money-saving inventory control system:
1. Look at how you manage inventory control now
Start by carefully reviewing your current stock management practices, including any inventory software you’re using. Speak to relevant colleagues to get their thoughts on what’s working and won’t not. You’ll need to understand each step of the inventory control process to identify where there is room for improvement.
2. Check your physical inventory regularly
An inventory tracker that keeps tabs on what you’ve bought and what you’ve sold won’t necessarily account for goods that are lost, stolen or damaged in the warehouse. You need to know exactly how much of each item you have in order to establish an efficient stock management system. That means physically checking your inventory and comparing it with your records on a regular basis.
3. Use an inventory management system to keep stocks replenished
If you’re not taking a JIT approach, a stock management system that prompts you to place orders when your inventory reaches set levels will help make sure you never run out of stock completely. This is especially important during busy periods. By automating this process, you’ll reduce the risk of any product shortages between placing an order and the shipment arriving.
4. Understand and adapt to customer behaviour
Understanding customer behaviours and being able to forecast demand meaningfully is a powerful tool – not just for businesses with a JIT strategy. Having effective inventory management software in place will help you track which items are selling well (or not), specific periods when customers are ordering more or less, as well as any seasonal changes and outside influences affecting your product flow. You can then use these insights to shape and adapt your stock management strategy, maintaining the right inventory balance at all times.
Conclusion:
For most small to medium enterprise businesses in Australia, the way they organize their stock is the way they always have. This typically means that they are quite disorganized with boxes of plastic bags, tattered paper inventories and binders full of paper forms. Although many of these businesses know that there is a better way to manage their stock, they are either too busy or too skeptical to try out new things. They think that it might be too complicated to use or will take them a long time to set up and learn how to navigate through their new software.