The Small business's guide to Inventory Management
Untrackable, manual, and outdated inventory control methods are a thing of the past.
Inventory Management should be about full visibility and control. Lose track, and you are one step away from losing your valuable customers to your competitors.
Small businesses often are satisfied with a manual method of inventory control which involves manual data entry, stock checking, stock ordering and dispatch.
"Going for an entire ERP solution at this point of time in my business will prove to be time-consuming and frankly, we would rather invest money elsewhere. Let sales pick up and we will think of investing in a software solution in the next quarter. " Says Akshay , CEO of a growing dermo-cosmetic startup based in Mumbai. But the next quarter never comes and Akshay does nothing about his increasing customer base and ways to meet their demands for free and fast service. The result? A massive loss of customers 1-2 years down the line.
Inventory management in SMEs can be done in the following ways :
1) Using industry-specific Inventory management tools: There are many benefits of using an automated inventory management system. While looking for such a system make sure it is both mobile/tab and web-based. The vendor should also have very fast and effective customer support so that they can clear bottlenecks if you have any issues. Never choose an ERP if there is a complicated User interface because the end-users will be your employees who would have to get used to the system.
Megaventory, O2vend, Shipping Easy are some of the inventory management software with good customer reviews. However, they are not a holistic solution and small businesses end up spending more to streamline other processes in addition to inventory management.
2) Using an industry-specific ERP integrated with an inventory management system: This is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED by industry experts because of the amount of control that one gets over their business. Distribution and manufacturing businesses with multiple locations use ERP to scale. Cloud ERPs are in high demand, especially in retail. Survey shows that cloud users on average spend 21% less on IT as a percentage of revenue and 16% less on IT on a per-user basis than other organizations in their sectors.
If you go for the latter , look for a Digital ERP for small businesses with a good inventory mangement system integrated . Check for the following functionalities :
1) Real time valuation : Inventory valuation using LIFO , FIFO or WAC methods should be integrated in the system.
2) Serial Based Inventory Tracking : Contains consolidated standalone reports for movement of every piece of valuable stock. Some ERPs have IMEI number trackirijng.
3) Category Based price list : Manage multiple sales and purchase price list.
4) Track using multiple units for the same item : Use item specific conversion factor to track every item in two units. For example : Packs/kg or bags/kg
5) Minimum Re-order level manager : Put a threshold number in the system and set alerts for when stocks reach that threshold. This way you are never out of stock.
6) Inter-location movement : Every movement of your stock right at your fngertips at any point of time within your unit or outside with distributors.
7) SAC/HSN classifications : Tax ustomation to simplify your GST. This helps you cut down costs of having a hired tax consultant / expert in your team.
8) Track Profitability - Item wise : This is very important when it comes to increasing ROI for your business.
9) Manage vendor barcodes or generate your own : Seamless mapping of your product is enabled if an ERP has this feature.
You can get more information about Frequently asked questions on Inventory Management Software here : See FAQs
Still thinking ? If you have a growing business and want to scale up read the link below to find more about the benefits of getting a Real-time , on-cloud, inventory management software for your business. Check out case studies and see how businesses have benefitted using automation.
Comment to share what type of business you have and lets discuss how to eliminate those bottlenecks !
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Vasco da Gama: The Founder of Barbarity and Colonial Terrorism in the Garb of Discovery
Vasco da Gama is often presented in the pages of history as a great adventurer and conqueror of the seas, but the reality is quite the opposite because his arrival was no less than a human disaster for the Indian subcontinent that changed the destiny of the region. He was actually a fanatical religious plunderer and colonialist whose heart was filled with the ancient hatred of the Crusades for Muslims and immense colonial arrogance for Indians. When he left Lisbon in 1497 on the orders of King Manuel I of Portugal, the red cross symbols on his ships reflected his intentions that this journey was not just for trade but to end the dominance of Christianity and the maritime trade monopoly of Muslims by force. He left traces of his brutality in the coastal cities of Mombasa and Malindi in Africa. After leaving, when he reached Calicut in May 1498, his behavior towards the local ruler, Raja Zamorin, was contrary to any diplomatic etiquette. His most shocking incident occurred during his second voyage in October 1502, when he stopped the ship 'Miri' in the Arabian Sea, which was returning from the Hajj pilgrimage from Mecca, with more than four hundred innocent passengers on board. In addition to respectable merchants, these passengers also included women and innocent children. When the Portuguese ships surrounded them, the captain and passengers of the ship handed over twenty-two thousand gold coins and valuable goods to Gama in exchange for their lives, but this savage man refused to spare their lives even after looting all the property and belongings. British historian R.S. Whiteway writes in his book "The Rise of Portuguese Power in India" that Gama ordered the ship's ammunition depot to be set on fire, during which The scenes were heartbreaking because mothers were holding their little children in their arms and showing them to the Portuguese soldiers that perhaps they would take pity on these innocents and save them. But Gama strictly ordered his gunners to shoot and kill any passenger who jumped into the sea. In this way, the ship continued to burn in the middle of the sea for four days, including the suffering people, until all 400 people were burned alive. Gama's brutality was not limited to Muslims, but he adopted inhumane tactics to intimidate the Hindu Raja of Calicut. When Raja Zamoran sent a respected and elderly Brahmin priest as an ambassador to Gama for negotiations, the brutal Portuguese arrested the old priest and cut off his lips and ears. Then he slaughtered a dog and sewed its ears on the priest's head and returned it with an insulting letter. Sent to the Raja, this incident is mentioned with pride by the Portuguese historian Gaspar Correa himself in his work "Lendas da Índia" which exposes the Portuguese mentality of that time. During the same voyage, Gama captured about eight hundred unarmed fishermen and small local traders on the coast of Calicut and cut off their hands, noses and ears and loaded them into a large boat and put dry leaves on top of it and set it on fire and pushed this burning boat towards the shore so that the people of the city would be terrified to see the severed limbs of their loved ones. He sent a message to the Raja to cook curry for himself from these severed human limbs. These are the gruesome historical facts that the Western narrative has always hidden in the beautiful words of "transition of civilization". Gama introduced a forced permit system called "Cartaz" for the first time in the peaceful trade of the Indian Ocean using cannons and guns, under which every ship was required to be given to the Portuguese. They had to pay extortion, otherwise they would be declared pirates and drowned. In this way, he strangled the independent economy of the subcontinent and laid the foundation for centuries of colonial plunder here. Renowned modern historians like Sanjay Subramaniam make it clear in his book "The Career and Legend of Vasco da Gama" that Gama was not just an adventurer but a violent person to the point of a psychopath who enjoyed playing Holi with the blood of innocents. The stories of his atrocities are also found in the writings of French historian Geneviève Bouchon and Indian researcher K.M. Panicker, which prove that Vasco da Gama's discovery actually brought a message of slavery, religious prejudice and economic destruction to South Asia. 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