As a small business owner, it is probably about time your enterprise update its approach to warehouse management, approaches that rely upon enterprise mobility solutions that not only increase your customer response times, but also help to lower the costs of data entry errors? One where manual inventory counting methods are done away with entirely, and ultimately one where reconciling monthly inventory costs, levels and stock counts aren not predicated on problematic excel spreadsheets and inaccurate graphs and tables? Most importantly, your customers certainly deserve a vendor who is on the ball, ready to provide the answers they so desperately need!
If you agree, then it’s about time you investigate the full range of benefits afforded by today’s enterprise mobility hardware upgrades. Your enterprise may be small, but your aspirations aren’t. Your growth objectives won’t be achieved by manual inventory processes. Your excel sheets can’t move at the speed of today’s businesses, but the right enterprise mobility solution can! An enterprise mobility solution predicated on linking your internal and external resources, will not only improve how your company manages its supply chain, but how it manages its customer base. So, what immediate benefits can your small business count on with mobility enterprise solutions?
Increase the speed of your business
Most small business owners assume that mobility software solutions simply mean moving towards a more accurate method of inventory management. While this is a plus, the overall benefit is the ability to increase the speed of your transactions, or more importantly, to match the speed of your customers’ business needs.
Upgrading to mobility management solutions will not only improve how you manage inventory, but it will ultimately improve how your entire company operates. You’ll be able to provide your customers with more accurate information on order fulfillment, stock levels, product availability and advance warning of any potential material shortages. In essence, you’ll provide the information your customers need, when they need it!
Reduce inventory costs
Most supply chain professionals point to two cost drivers that are immediately lowered when upgrading to enterprise mobility hardware. One is the high costs of losing sales due to material and part shortages, and the other is the financing costs associated with retaining inventory for too long a period. Miss sales because inventory wasn’t available, and you’ve lost gross profit and a possible customer. Hold inventory for too long, or purchase more than you need because of inaccurate manual counting methods, and your enterprise will be saddled with high financing costs.
The right mobility software solutions can help reduce these costs across the board. You can lower your financing costs on inventory, and improve sales forecasting, with a mobility management solution that links your field service technicians and salespeople to your customer service and shipping departments.
Capture market share by distinguishing your product offering
One of the more important aspects of increasing market share includes the ability to distinguish your company’s products and services within your market. When your salespeople and service technicians have handheld mobile computers, they are inexorably linked to what’s going on back at the office. If they need an urgent spare part, update on delivery or status on open orders, they can simply check all of this and more via their mobile devices.
Imagine how impressed your customers will be when they see that your sales and service personnel can give them an immediate update, without them having to wait for confirmation. Imagine how that capability can help position your small business as the market’s primary source. Imagine how it will help distinguish your company versus your competition. Finally, think of how impressed your customers will be when they realize your enterprise has the exact same capabilities as your largest competitors. Your excel sheets can’t do that, but an upgrade to a solid enterprise mobility platform can!
Success in today’s business environment isn’t predicated on appealing to the lowest common denominator. It involves meeting the needs and expectations of a customer base that demands immediate answers. Managing a warehouse via an excel sheet is no way to answer the critical questions your customers want answered. It’s not merely about improving your response times, but ultimately about improving how your company capitalizes on the opportunities in your market.