Can mobility data collection software help reduce the costs of your company’s data entry errors in inventory management? Well, in order to know for sure, your company would have to quantify the cost of errors resulting from your manual processes. Next, you would have to itemize those costs in order to better define their severity and frequency. Unfortunately, this exercise is both time-consuming and extremely difficult. However, even contemplating that you should track the severity of these errors is evidence enough that your company must adopt more progressive inventory management practices. After all, if you know there’s a problem, then there’s a problem! Mobility data collection software can link your entire enterprise mobility network into one succinct unit. This not only reduces data entry errors and their costs, but it will also increase the speed of your business and empower your company to better respond to an ever-changing market.
When thinking of the costs of data entry errors, you’ll probably question how often these errors occur and what they cost your company. If you had the time, you could trace these errors to their root causes, but is this really necessary? After all, manual inventory management practices are prone to error. It doesn’t matter if those errors come from inaccurate data entry or poor counting methods. Just one simple mistake can mean the difference between entering units in inventory as 10, 100, 1,000 or 10,000. Each of these numbers are but one “0” away from skewing the entire inventory and forcing your company to purchase too much or not enough. It’s the difference between having high carrying costs for too much inventory, or having lost sales due to a lack of inventory. Now, are you really willing to play a numbers game with manual inventory processes? Of course not! Therefore, it’s obvious these errors must be eliminated, but how can smart device software help?
The right data collection software can incorporate bar-coding inventory as a means to do away with the high costs of manual processes. Bar-coding not only tracks inventory to its smallest amount, but it also allows companies to link purchase orders and invoices to the company’s incoming shipments. Procurement places an order for a given quantity and that quantity is registered by warehouse employees with hand held mobile computers once the shipment arrives. Any deviation from the ordered quantity versus what was received is immediately flagged, thereby empowering the company to take action. There are no mistakes to be made and no errors to backtrack. It’s an immediate update via a live system that does away with data entry errors.
Barcode scanners are easy-to-use, have low maintenance costs and do away entirely with the issue of manual processes. While most business professionals view barcode scanners from a POS (point of sale) consumer perspective, the fact is that barcode scanners can be used to register inventory levels and track production work orders in manufacturing. A bar code system tracks the usage of raw materials and delivery of finished goods with an accuracy unsurpassed by manual processes.
Your company’s enterprise mobility network can link your field service technicians, traveling salespeople, production and warehouse personal and customer service department into one united team, all benefiting from the same live information. Regardless of where your team members are, the information they get on inventory counts, available ship quantities and product availability is not only accurate, it’s immediate! Just think of the competitive advantage that gives your sales team when meeting with customers. Think of how quickly they can provide information, information that leads to closing more business. Let’s face it, customers want answers. They don’t want to wait aimlessly for someone at some point to get back to them. Your company can anticipate customer needs and take a more proactive approach to managing business with a data collection software that is live and always accurate.
It would be wrong to assume that mobility data collection software only benefited a company’s inventory and supply chain. No, in this case, the benefits extend far beyond the company’s warehouse. The strength of your enterprise mobility solutions will be felt throughout your entire organization and will ultimately improve how you service and sell to your customer base. Most companies assume that the sole purpose of upgrading their service capabilities is to improve their operations. However, the main goal of any upgrade must be to improve how the company services and sells to its customers. If those changes don’t help how your company services its market, and don’t make life better for your customers, then there’s little to no benefit in making those changes. However, this is one change that will reduce operating expenses and improve your company’s customer response time.