Free ebooks on inventory management system

Discover how moving to the Cloud for manufacturing empowers you to automate and manage your production, inventory, sales orders, shipping, finances, logistics and more from a single dashboard. Want to peek inside the daily tactics, hopes, fears, and decisions of other businesses? We did too, so we invested in a massive study of product-based SMBs.

Download the results here. All rights reserved. Terms and conditions, features, support, pricing, and service options subject to change without notice. By accessing and using this page you agree to the Terms and Conditions.

Privacy Statement. Product Multichannel Sales Sell across different sales channels with ease. Automation Optimize your order and shipping workflows. Mobile Sales App Manage your products, customers and orders on the go. Browse our library of free eBooks, covering everything from getting started to mastering commerce. Read now. The SMB's Guide to Purchase Order Management This eBook covers the essentials of purchase order management — including how to streamline your PO management strategy to make life easier and drive operational excellence.

Fashion eCommerce and retailing It is the opportunity for small business owners to disrupt fashion eCommerce. Growth stages. All Getting started Advanced growth. Let us know what we should cover in our next eBook. All eBooks. The disruptive power of B2C technology in B2B eCommerce More wholesalers and distributors adopting new technology to augment their B2B shopping experience.

With tools, features, and formulas to make spreadsheets more dynamic and interactive, Excel and Google Sheets are capable of handling basic inventory management for small businesses.

Who is it suitable for? Unlike inventory management spreadsheets or systems that sit on a local computer, Cloud-based inventory management software is hosted on the internet, with all data stored on third-party servers. Cloud-based inventory management eliminates the delays, errors, and frustrations common to using spreadsheets — which explains why Cloud-based platforms are seeing a sharp increase in adoption worldwide.

While spreadsheets are designed to carry out general mathematical functions, Cloud-based inventory management systems are specifically created to handle the requirements of a growing business in relation to production, stock, warehousing, ordering, fulfillment, and more.

For growing businesses, Cloud inventory management provides the level of sophistication needed to maintain effective supply chain management while scaling up sustainably. ERP inventory management, short for enterprise resource planning inventory management, refers to an integrated approach to business planning and operations. With an ERP inventory management system, businesses can manage all their finances, logistics, operations, and inventory in one place.

Typically, ERP systems are built for businesses with extremely complex inventory and sales order processes, which usually apply to larger companies. This includes multinational corporations and companies that operate across multiple sales channels. Just getting started with inventory management or thinking about upgrading? Here are some of the key questions to ask yourself before making a decision. Some key features to consider include:. You should be able to easily handle online transactions through your inventory management system, whether that be by syncing orders from your eCommerce store or selling directly through a provided store interface.

If you sell retail and wholesale, also make sure that the system is equipped to handle both B2C and B2B eCommerce. If you sell on the go, choose a system with a mobile app so you can easily check stock and create orders from anywhere, at any time.

Remove barriers to payment by choosing a system that has a built-in payment gateway or integrates with your existing payment gateway. Most but not all Cloud-based inventory management systems offer some level of integration capabilities. Look for a system that can easily integrate with your critical software, including:. Cut down on manual labor and improve efficiency by choosing a system that automates repetitive tasks such as:.

To be a successful business, you need to be able to track your performance and plan ahead. Sophisticated inventory management systems have tools like sales reports and demand forecasting features to help you make strategic decisions about your business. A tech vendor supplies a product or service to businesses, such as a software package or a piece of technology. A tech partner, on the other hand, not only provides a product or service, but also becomes an extension of your business.

In other words, a partner goes above and beyond the services of a standard vendor to help you develop your business by offering expertise, support, and resources along the way. Like any positive business partnership, a tech partner should be willing to help you achieve your goals and celebrate in your successes. Here are some of the key qualities to look for when engaging a tech provider for your business. Like any good marriage, picking the right technology partner is key to the long-term success of your business and the happiness of your customers.

QuickBooks Commerce equips businesses with the tools they need to manage their business online, from anywhere, at any time. The platform combines enterprise-level tools including inventory management operations, essential business applications, and online commerce solutions — enabling eCommerce businesses to work smarter, streamline operations, and ultimately, be more profitable.

These features and more are designed to support new and growing eCommerce businesses in their entrepreneurial journey by helping them grow and scale up online. All rights reserved. Terms and conditions, features, support, pricing, and service options subject to change without notice. Often, the owner-manager of a firm also has to be the personnel manager.

In such a case it is necessary to have an overview of current trends and practices in personnel management. All small businesses must staff their operations. This involves bringing new people into the business and making sure they are productive additions to the enterprise. Effective human resource management matches and develops the abilities of job candidates and employees with the needs of the firm.

A responsive personnel system will assist you in this process and is a key ingredient for growth. Human resource management is a balancing act.

At one extreme, you hire only qualified people who are well suited to the firm's needs. At the other extreme, you train and develop employees to meet the firm's needs. Most expanding small businesses fall between the two extremes i. One function of personnel management deals with how to hire and train the right people and addresses the characteristics of an effective personnel system, such as: Assessing personnel needs.

Recruiting personnel. Screening personnel. Selecting and hiring personnel. Orienting new employees to the business. Deciding compensation issues. Another function addresses the training and development side of human resource management. A third function deals with how the personnel system and the training and development functions come together to build employee trust and productivity.

These three functions stress the importance of a good human resource management climate and provide specific guidelines for creating such a climate. Human Resource Management Audit Questionnaire Does the business have a plan for forecasting long-term personnel needs? Are there guidelines for hiring personnel, or are employees hired based on gut feelings? Are there job descriptions for all positions?

What do employees like about their jobs? What do employees dislike about their jobs? Why do employees leave the organization? Is there an active training program? Is it based on an assessment of where the firm is now or where it should be in the future? Are a variety of training programs available? How is morale in the firm? Do employees really believe what you have to say?