Transform Inventory Management with Business Central
Efficient inventory management is essential for profitability and customer satisfaction. Therefore, investing in the right tools is critical for success. In today’s article, we explore how Microsoft’s leading ERP solution, Business Central can help transform inventory management and supply chain processes.
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At its core, inventory management is the process of overseeing and controlling a company’s inventory – its stock and materials. The main objective of inventory management is to ensure that a business has the right products, in the right quantity, at the right time. It involves balancing the supply chain and demand by monitoring stock levels and managing warehouse space. Effective inventory management is essential in today’s fast-paced business environment, helping companies meet customer demands and stay competitive.
Overstocking, stockouts and inaccurate demand forecasts can negatively affect a company’s bottom line and customer satisfaction. Ineffective inventory management can also cause internal problems, such as increased operational costs and repetitive manual processes. Therefore, businesses must invest in tools and strategies that strengthen and enhance these processes. Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central offers robust functionality to help simplify and optimise inventory management. Below we explore some of the key inventory management features in Business Central.
Real-Time Inventory Tracking
Accurate, real-time inventory tracking is essential for ensuring smooth operations across the supply chain. Business Central provides full visibility into stock levels across multiple warehouses and locations without the need for manual counts. Easily monitor stock movements, transactions and availability at all times, reducing risks of stockouts and overstocking.
Automated Stock Replenishment
Advanced forecasting tools in Business Central help users automate stock replenishment and order management processes. By analysing historical sales data and trends, the solution can send notifications for low stock levels, suggest optimal reorder times and quantities, and even create purchase orders automatically. This ensures you never run out of stock while minimising excess inventory.
Item Categories and Tracking
Business Central allows organisations to categorise inventory items effectively, making it easier to track, manage, and retrieve items based on their attributes. It also supports the use of serial and lot numbers, which is invaluable for industries requiring precise product tracking like manufacturing or food and beverage. This helps improve traceability, quality control and compliance.
Inventory Planning and Forecasting
Business Central harnesses data-driven insights to offer inventory forecasting that helps plan inventory effectively. By using predictive analysis, Business Central utilises historical sales, trends, seasonality, and customer demand patterns to help anticipate future inventory needs. This helps businesses take a proactive approach to inventory management by aligning inventory levels with actual customer demand. Microsoft's Copilot and other AI-driven functionality can help businesses streamline the process further.
Multi-Warehouse Management
For organisations managing inventory across multiple warehouses and distribution centres, Business Central helps centralise control. Businesses can easily oversee and manage inventory across multiple locations from a single solution. Easily transfer stock between warehouses, view real-time availability, optimise logistics and reduce shipping costs. There are also options to integrate POS systems or barcode scanning systems to enhance efficiency.
Inventory Costing Methods
Managing inventory costs effectively is critical to maintaining healthy profit margins. Business Central offers various inventory valuation and costing methods to accurately determine stock value based on different techniques and assess its impact on your overall financial performance. Costing methods include First-In-First-Out (FIFO), Last-In-First-Out (LIFO) and standard costing.
Advanced Reporting & Analytics
Business Central provides robust reporting and analytics functionality tools that can provide valuable insights into your inventory management processes. Integration with Power BI can create powerful customisable dashboards and visualisations that help with performance tracking, and forecasting accuracy and help organisations empower more strategic decision-making.
Leveraging the full potential of Dynamics 365 Business Central can revolutionise your inventory management and warehouse operations. Business Central also offers a range of integrations across the Microsoft eco-system and third-party add-ons to help strengthen your solution. At Storm, we have built a strong partner ecosystem that provides add-ons for advanced functionality for more complex operations. If you would like to learn more about how Business Central can help optimise your inventory management processes, watch our recent webinar 'Transforming Your Supply Chain: Mastering Inventory & Warehouse Efficiency' or get in touch to speak with one of our experts today.
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