9 Benefits of a Competitive Upgrade to Cloud Based Automation

Are you still using desktop applications like MS Access or Visual FoxPro to manage your inventory, track your financials, or serve your customers? Do you have trouble with multiple people doing the same task, making decisions based on outdated information, or handling too many errors?

Upgrading your software to a cloud-based automated inventory management system is much easier than you think. The benefits improve every area of your business.

Here are nine ways a competitive upgrade to cloud-based automation tightens your supply chain and expands your business:

You Can Access Your System Anywhere and Anytime

The biggest bottleneck of continuing with MS Access, Visual FoxPro, or any old desktop application is that you are chained to the office.

If you need information, it can only come from a specific machine and it’s only available if the person operating that machine is at their desk.

If you are responsible for the system, and something needs to get done, like an emergency report or the immediate need for some data, you could be called back to the office from home, lunch, or even a vacation.

A competitive upgrade to the cloud enables you to access this system from anywhere with an internet connection. You can see the numbers, run the report, and even procure new stock from a tablet, laptop, Smartphone, or any device that connects online.

When you are on your next vacation in Honolulu and your boss calls you for a report, why sweat? Open your phone, press a few buttons, and wish him a hearty aloha.

Automated Inventory Management Produces Cost Savings Across Your Business

With a cloud-based system, you can tie your inventory to accounting, automatically billing people, notifying them when payment is past due, and ordering stock when it reaches a certain level.

There are many other places you can save money by ditching the pen and pencil application:

1. Pay for only what you use. Cloud-based systems don’t sell you an entire server or a whole computer. You only pay for the storage and computing power you need.
2. As your business grows, you never have to replace your inventory management systems to accommodate. You can expand and contract the size of your software based on what you are working with at the current moment.
3. It costs much less to maintain and repair a system that is on a computer that Amazon or Microsoft is responsible for.
4. The advanced capabilities in collecting data, processing information, and making accurate forecasts can save you money in procurement and storage.
5. Less unpleasant surprises. Cloud platforms don’t shut down. You won’t have unexpected computer issues when your production or shipping operations need specific information to keep moving.
6. Integrating your systems throughout your business lets you improve how you do things everywhere. This translates into greater efficiencies and serious cost savings.

Tighter Security with Layers of Permissions

A desktop app can be compromised. Someone can break in, and the computer can break. The software can get damaged. You might be limited to a single backup. At the same time, unauthorized personnel can be using the system without your knowledge.

However, a cloud-based system has multiple backups. You can back up your entire system in various places so if your system goes down you have multiple backups that are all updated in real-time. Permissions are all managed by you. You decide who can read what's in your inventory system, who can update information, and who can’t. Logs give you a detailed list of who used the system, when, and what they did.

Cloud-Based Inventory Management Gives You Higher Availability

A pen and pencil or desktop software is available only during business hours when the person responsible for inventory management is at their desk. A cloud system is available 24/7 to anyone with an internet connection via desktop, laptop, tablet, or phone.

A salesperson can be about to close a deal over dinner Saturday night in Pittsburg. Before the dessert is served, he can access your cloud inventory software, see what’s in stock, and tell your future customer when his order will be fulfilled.

Better Accuracy with Automation

The risk that comes with a desktop application is overreliance on manual procedures. The more manual steps, the higher the risk of human error. Desktop systems also limit the scope of operations covered by the system. As a result, you could have people in accounting tracking inventory on their system and people in the warehouse tracking inventory in their system. What happens when their numbers don’t agree?

A cloud system takes a lot of the manual steps and automates them. This reduces human error. It also creates a single source of truth database that all departments use in their applications. Now, accounting and warehouse will perform their work based on inventory numbers from a single database. The numbers will agree, and they will speak to one another. If inventory levels get too low, procurement will be alerted to buy more stock. If finished goods gets shipped, accounting will be alerted to automatically issue the invoice.

Information that Represents the Current Moment

Desktop applications are updated when the worker responsible for the application fills out the latest data. This can be at the end of the day, at the end of the week, or at the end of the month since desktop applications are usually independent of one another. Updates rely on cross-department communications as reports go from one office to another and are updated. If there is disagreement on the reports, the process can be halted until the matter is resolved.

Old software systems often update too late, and salespeople will sell items that the system says are still in the warehouse but were shipped a few days ago. This can wreak havoc with procurement, order fulfillment, and customer service.

Tracking Inventory with Greater Precision

Did you know that your Cloud-based inventory management system can monitor your inventory so things don’t go missing? Our ERP Net is a custom inventory management system that starts with a screen of your storage facility’s floor plan. Enter an item, and the room, closet, or even the shelf where your item is located will flash green.

Automated inventory management works on a single database connected to all the applications in your business, so when data is updated, it’s updated in the database, and all applications connected to it will update. For example, if 300 goods are shipped out, inventory levels for the parts that make the goods will be reduced, sales totals will rise, and accounts receivable will be credited. Aggregate metrics like inventory turnover and weekly sales also update immediately.

Automatically Update to the Latest Version:

Cloud systems upgrade automatically. You aren’t asked if you want to use the new version; you are alerted that the new version was installed while you were sleeping. if you need more memory, your capacity is expanded at the press of a button.

Enjoy Effective Communication Throughout Your Supply Chain:

Up-to-date information is available to your manufacturers, suppliers, distributors, and sales team. This makes communication a pleasant experience as everyone sees the same data reflecting the current moment.

A cloud-based system is one where the system can place orders with the suppliers, and the suppliers can check the inventory status to know when such orders will be placed.

These are just some benefits of utilizing one of the most powerful technologies of the 21st century. The return on an investment in an automated inventory management system in terms of productivity, cost savings, and the ability to scale out will be felt throughout your entire business for years to come.

Saving your business time and money consistently with a Cloud-Based Automated Inventory Management System customized to your business is what we specialize in. I am happy to talk with you about it at your convenience, so give us a call.

Doron Farber?is the Founder and Senior Developer at?The Farber Consulting Group. Doron and his team develop database solutions from updating and migrating MS Access and Visual FoxPro databases to the web and the cloud to increasing database performance with database optimization.

If you want to modernize a poorly performing database or create a new one, Doron will be happy to talk to you! Contact him at 732-536-4765 or check our web site here.?