Inventory can be your best friend or worst enemy, depending on how well it’s managed. If your business is experiencing issues managing its inventory, it’s time to take charge of your inventory management process. And prevent it from becoming an ongoing headache.
In this post, we look at the importance and benefits of inventory visibility and how to make inventory more accessible.
Inventory visibility – One of the most frustrating aspects of running any business is tracking inventory levels so you know when it’s time to restock. Or, when products need to be sold off before they go bad.
This applies to finished goods and the raw materials used to make them, work-in-progress items (WIP). And anything used in maintenance, and repairs or operations (MRO).
Good inventory visibility means your inventory can be managed with as little hassle. When you can monitor what products are available and what quantity is in stock, you’re better equipped to make decisions that will help you manage your finances effectively.
It also goes a long way to reducing costs and offering a better customer experience. Proper inventory visibility makes it easy to track products and raw materials anywhere in the supply chain. Better visibility of your inventory leads to better visibility of your orders. From production to shipping and delivery.
For most companies, inventory management is best left to dedicated solutions, like Microsoft Dynamics 365. Inventory systems like D365 help manage critical items like location, availability, status, cost, and stock levels.
Common practices to increase inventory visibility can include things like:
With enhanced inventory visibility, businesses can pinpoint any issues’ root cause faster than ever. Full visibility of your inventory means you’re in a perfect position to solve any problems. Without proper inventory visibility, it can be exceedingly difficult to generate accurate reports about your stock levels and costs or be able to manage orders. Or track items across different sites.
Some additional benefits of good inventory visibility include:
Figure 1:Benefits of Good Inventory Visibility
Inventory visibility can indeed be challenging, especially without a dedicated system. Today, omnichannel marketplaces offering a growing list of new fulfillment options like Buy online pickup-in-store (BOPIS), drop shipments. And more means there is an increasing list of issues that can arise.
Some common challenges with achieving inventory visibility include:
These are all issues that can be harmful to a business. And leading to loss of revenue, damage to your reputation, a poor customer experience, or worse.
Many retailers struggle with visibility into their inventory – not only can it be time-consuming and costly. But, it can also lead to out-of-stock items or delayed shipments.
Microsoft Dynamics 365 offers many features that can help you improve inventory visibility, including creating multiple levels of item locations and reconciling inventory automatically and manually.
Some of the ways D365 helps improve the visibility of your inventory can include the following:
Figure 2:Improve Inventory Visibility with Microsoft Dynamics 365
While challenging, inventory visibility has become more important than ever before, continuing to prove itself as one of the best ways to streamline your company’s operations.
However Improving inventory management doesn’t have to be difficult, especially in today’s rapidly changing marketplace. Once you understand your specific requirements, the best way to start on the right path is to work with a partner who understands your industry’s ins and outs. And can help implement a solution that’s perfect for you.
Schedule a call today to discover how we can help optimize your inventory visibility.
References: Inventory Visibility Add-in overview
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