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Scalability in network inventory management: Preparing for growth

Inventory management is one of the core processes any business needs to master if they want to be efficient, competitive, and grow. Whether you are keeping track of products to sell, organising the physical assets you have in the office, or optimising your network inventory, effective inventory management systems are pivotal. As your business grows – your team expands, you add new products to your lineup, or you upgrade your IT assets – your inventory management system must evolve.

Let us delve deeper into some of the steps you can take to scale inventory management effectively.

Scaling your inventory management system for growth

At first glance, scaling your inventory management system can seem intimidating. However, planning with a few simple steps can help you be agile and scale your inventory management operations as your business grows.

Here are five things you can do to ensure scalable inventory and network management:

Assess your current system

One of the first things you need to do when thinking about scalable inventory management is to assess the current system you are using to evaluate its performance, functionality, capacity, and integration. Once you have insights into these, you can identify any bottlenecks, areas of improvement, or enhancements your system would need and embrace innovation to scale your inventory management system.

Define your goals and requirements

The next step is to define your goals and requirements, which will guide your roadmap for scaling inventory management. You will need to align these goals with business strategy and objectives, available budget and other resources, and expected timeline to have a clear picture of your inventory management needs and the steps you must take to achieve them.

Choose the right tools

With a clear roadmap in hand, the next step in building a scalable network inventory system is choosing the right technology, tools, and solutions that can help you achieve your scalability goals. The factors you need to consider in this step include:

• Smooth integration with your existing systems
• Reliability and utility of the tools
• Affordability of the technology

Try to identify the repetitive processes you can automate to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of your inventory management as your business grows. Cloud-based solutions can offer you scalability, security, and accessibility within a single application to ensure data visibility and transparency with a single source of truth. Technologies like data analytics, AI, or machine learning can help you harness data for effective inventory optimisation and forecasting. Choosing the right technology can help you eliminate silos prevalent in inventory tracking and increase your capabilities as you scale inventory management.

Train your team

Training and empowering your team to use the tools you have chosen effectively is essential for scaling your inventory management. This ensures they have the right skills and knowledge to use the system efficiently. Additionally, delegating tasks according to their strengths, recognising achievements, and encouraging constructive feedback can foster a culture of collaboration, communication, innovation, and continuous improvement.

Monitor, measure, and improve

The final step is to monitor and measure the performance of your inventory management system. This includes assessing the impact and outcomes of your inventory management operations and comparing them to not only your goals but to the industry standards as well. Metrics like turnover ratio, carrying cost, accuracy rate, and fill rate can help you monitor the results. Regularly monitoring and measuring performance can help you identify any performance gaps and challenges that can help you improve the system. Moreover, feedback from your team can also give you insights into steps you can take to innovate and scale your inventory management as you grow.

Benefits of scalable inventory management solutions

Ensuring a scalable network and inventory management system is in place is not easy. But if you overcome this hurdle, you are sure to have a system that can support growth. Some of the major benefits a scalable network management system can offer you include:

• Enhanced stakeholder experience
• Optimal inventory control
• Real-time end-to-end visibility
• Regulatory compliance and traceability
• Cost reduction
• Improved forecasting
• Enhanced productivity and business efficiency

How can Infosys BPM help?

With the Infosys BPM network inventory system, you are sure to get greater agility, end-to-end visibility, and centralised data – to eliminate silos – as your business grows and you need to scale inventory management. Solutions encompassing performance management, workforce, CRM, and ERP, you get real-time inventory insights, complete and accurate records of inventory data, and continuous improvements to help you achieve scalable network management.