One of the biggest dangers a business will face won’t come from its competitors. It won’t come from the economy. It will come from inside, and that’s the danger of doing things the way they’ve always been done. Your organization may have progressed from an all paper operation to a few desktop computers to laptops, but if you’re not keeping track of day-to-day operations at the speed of business, you’re only causing yourself harm. If your systems have not kept pace with the growth of your business, you could be losing both business and money.

Inventory management is a hot topic in business, with everything from the internet of things (IoT) to the prevalence of online sales and multiple cart options. That’s because inventory management is significantly farther reaching than just how many widgets are in your warehouse. Stock levels can affect everything from purchasing to restocking to sales and even customer experience and loyalty.

So, what’s the quickest way to get inventory management under control?

Barcode Technology

Familiar zebra-stripe barcodes are ubiquitous in the retail world, letting stores know how many of what they’ve sold so they can see what’s selling, what’s not, and yes, how much inventory they have versus how much more they need.

Barcodes can work for businesses in much the same way. Manual entry of inventory transactions can limit your ability to achieve the rewards of tighter inventory control. Adding barcode data capture can dramatically increase efficiency; in fact, barcode technology is already a proven solution for an endless array of manufacturing and distribution applications. These solutions give near real-time views of inventory, shipments, serial numbers, lot tracking, and more. Connect your barcode technology with your ERP system, and the efficiencies only continue to increase.

More Benefits of Barcoding

By efficiently managing inventory and streamlining your operation, your new barcode system will already prove a solid return on investment. Without barcodes, the warehouse staff would need to manually record item details for each transaction, which are then separately entered into the accounting system. And, if an employee grabs the wrong item by accident, manually recording doesn’t flag the mistake the way a barcode system would.

Manual entry errors can eventually add up to inventory information that is completely out of sync with the actual stock in the warehouse. By using bar codes to scan the items for each transaction, you are ensuring that the correct information is recorded, preventing mistakes in both shipping and data entry and providing a better customer experience.

By streamlining your inventory management operation with barcode systems now, you will be able to stay competitive, position yourself for future growth, and better endure fluctuations in the economy.

Curious how barcode technology can integrate with your ERP? PositiveVision has more than 15 years of experience connecting the right solutions for businesses of all sizes and capabilities. Contact us today to find out how we can help you leverage barcode technology into your ERP and inventory management.

For more tips on setting up successful inventory management, enjoy a complimentary download of our whitepaper, Investing in Inventory Management.