Zoho Inventory is a free inventory management software designed for growing businesses with little to invest financially in a software. The free solution provides more than just inventory control by also offering stock management and order fulfillment features. About Sellbrite: Overselling is one of the biggest bottlenecks in selling business which can. There are a lot of inventory management software options available, each offering its own unique blend of item tracking, warehousing, production, supply chain, and order fulfillment features. That means the best inventory software for your business often depends on your business type and inventory needs.
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- Inventory Management Software
- Inventory Management Software Comparison
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Getting the right goods to the right place, at the right time, and in the right condition is a crucial prerequisite for running a successful business.
But how is it supposed to happen if you end up selling an item that wasn’t actually in stock?
Or the sold item gets misplaced?
This is why you must know where your inventory is, how much you have, and how to get where it needs to go. Even better if all this is possible without any extra effort from you.
Getting the best inventory management software for your business will make all of it a reality.
And if that isn’t enough, the software tool can also help you reduce operating costs, increase revenue, and most importantly, ensure greater customer satisfaction.
But how do you know which platform you should choose?
That’s where we come in.
Our team at has curated a list of the best inventory management solutions for different types of businesses below. Read on to find out the best match for your company.
The Top Five Options for the Best Inventory Management Software:
- Cin7 — Best for Enterprise Resource Planning
- QuickBooks Commerce — Best for Wholesale Business
- Upserve — Best for Restaurants
- Zoho Inventory — Best for Multi-Channel Retailers
- Ordoro — Best for eCommerce Websites
How to Choose the Best Inventory Management Software for You
An inventory management software is more than a solution – it’s a savior for your business.
You can systematically source, store, and sell inventory, for both raw materials and finished products. It also covers the entire supply chain, from production to retail and warehousing to shipping, plus any stock movement in between.
The good news is that the software is a one-time investment, but you need to make the right decision. To ensure this, keep the following factors in mind before making your final choice.
Business Type and Requirements
Although inventory management software is versatile, only a few cater to specific niche industry initiatives and business models.
Think about it: The inventory requirements of a wholesaler differ a lot from those of a physical retailer.
Moreover, every business has its unique needs, and your business is no different. You have to be aware of the kind of features you require in software for your inventory process’s smooth functioning.
Do you sell your offerings in-person or online? Is it through a website or online marketplaces–or a combination of the two?
A prospective software may offer several innovative features and support various sales channels, but if it doesn’t have the features you need or back the sales channel you currently use, buying it would be useless.
Possible Integrations
Many inventory management software tools can integrate with other platforms, which helps you save time and ensure smoother operations when it comes to inventory management.
Before choosing a tool, find out whether the prospective software plays well with the other solutions you already use and pay for.
Imagine you sell products on Amazon. Understandably, you’ll want to keep a record of your listed stocks in real-time. Make sure you cross-check that the solution you want to purchase can integrate with Amazon. If it can’t, move on and look for other options.
Process Automation
The rule here is simple: Choose a software that offers as many relevant automated features as possible. After all, the whole point of getting inventory management software is to make our lives easier.
Think through each step of your inventory management process to determine what could be automated and what has to be done manually.
For example, automatically reordering more units when you’re low on inventory. Or updating your inventory according to purchase orders and fulfillment. This, of course, will be done based on the settings you customize in the software you choose.
Customer Support
There’s no guarantee there won’t be any learning curve with the inventory management software you choose. Therefore, you may benefit from some expert advice from your software vendor in the beginning, after an upgrade, or when you face a glitch. Look for online resources, live chats, and other customer support tools they offer.
Make a point to choose a company that has a reputation for providing exemplary customer service. Don’t forget to read customer reviews and feedback before initiating a purchase.
The Different Types of Inventory Management Software
In addition to the above factors, you must also understand the different inventory management types to make the right choice.
From free and basic tool suites to ones that are more expensive and have super-accurate programs, inventory management software varies a lot. You can also categorize them according to their features, as some tools do nothing but list orders, while others facilitate sales departments to track and categorize orders, give dynamic product information, and carry out personalized branding.
But since it’s a software we’re discussing, we’ve listed the different inventory management software types depending on how the vendor deploys it.
There are three kinds of inventory management software based on deployment.
On-Premise Inventory Management Systems
These systems include software covered by a single license and hosted on the client’s local server. This is the most expensive category, as they require complex setups and even hardware installation in some instances.
Software-as-a-service (SaaS) Inventory Management Systems
These solutions have a monthly subscription and are hosted on the vendor’s server. The user isn’t responsible for any installation, updates, or maintenance.
Cloud-Hosted Inventory Management Systems
Cloud-based solutions are quickly gaining popularity because of their high level of affordability and universal access. Also due to these reasons, this system category offers free basic plans. Additionally, the user doesn’t need to update the software or perform any maintenance.
You’ll also find software solutions that have a hybrid deployment. In this case, you’ll have the option to choose between being an on-premise client or use a cloud-based interface.
#1 Cin7 – Best for Enterprise Resource Planning
Cin7 can do more than inventory management–it’s a comprehensive cloud-based software that can integrate with other modules, including point-of-sale software, an e-commerce platform, and a warehouse management tool.
We feel this solution is best for enterprise resource planning (ERP) platforms because it features built-in modules for every aspect of your business that are a part of its subscription plans. It has a fully integrated point-of-sale (POS) system, along with plenty of B2B e-commerce features, manufacturing features, and a payment portal.
You also get inventory tracking, barcode scanning, and order fulfillment benefits that are standard with most inventory solutions.
Cin7 can integrate with more than 100 third-party applications, allowing you to run your business from a single platform, which is impressive. You can manage inventories across multiple markets and efficiently sell and distribute your products with minimal effort while your system remains up to date, thanks to its advanced demand forecasting and cross-channel syncing support.
Key Features
- Inventory management
- POS software support
- Order management
- Manufacturing and warehousing tools
- Branch transfers
Pricing
Cin7 offers three pricing tiers based on your business size:
- Starter
- Advanced
- Momentum
Prices start at $295 per month. You’ll have to contact the company for a more accurate quote for your business, though.
#2 QuickBooks Commerce – Best for Wholesale Business
This product’s name doesn’t ring a bell? We don’t blame you.
You may know QuickBooks Commerce by its former name, TradeGecko, and while the name might have changed, the software still offers everything you need for your wholesale business.
It allows you to easily monitor products as you sell, manufacture, and restock goods across all of your warehouses, sales channels, and locations. Plus, you can also set up a B2B e-commerce site, allowing all your clients to pay the agreed price.
Additionally, there’s a built-in payment processor that enables you to add a ‘Pay Now’ button in your invoices, making it easier for your clients to make a payment as soon as they receive an invoice.
QuickBooks Commerce can simplify your supply chain and order management. Not only does it have a mobile app to help you sell on the go, but its barcode scanning feature also makes it easier to update items or modify sales orders.
The software automates several repetitive ordering processes as well. This includes custom workflow creation for all types of orders, sending trigger emails, Slack notifications, and so on.
Key Features
- Inventory optimization
- Multi-channel management
- Reorder management
- Warehouse management
- Reporting/analytics
- Product identification
- Mobile access
Pricing
QuickBook Commerce has three plans payable monthly:
- Essentials: $40
- Plus: $21
- Advanced: $45
Disclaimer: The above screenshot was taken when the website was offering a 70% discount for the first three months of purchase. It may not be applicable at a later date.
#3 Upserve – Best for Restaurants
Restaurants have unique inventory needs, which is why they need more than a simple order management system–a challenge Upserve meets.
Upserve is a dynamic inventory management solution enabling users to track expiration dates and focus on specialty supply chain needs. It has been specially designed to fulfill the needs of a restaurant.
For instance, you can create recipes for the dishes on your menu and customize each recipe with an accurate reading of the ingredients (and the amounts) used on the software. Once a customer places an order for that dish, Upserve will automatically deduct those quantities from the inventory levels for the ingredients used.
This feature also helps you decide the right prices for your menu items and identify where there may be excessive food waste.
Upserve has a built-in POS system, but you can only use their unique proprietary POS hardware to run it. Nevertheless, this isn’t a deal-breaker when you consider its inventory management properties, especially for restaurants.
Key Features
- Real-time inventory tracking
- Recipe costing
- Multiple-location support
- Vendor management
- One-click ordering
- In-app barcode scanner
Pricing
Upserve offers three subscription plans to its users:
- Core: $59
- Pro: $199
- Pro Plus: $395
You also have the option to request a demo of the software.
#4 Zoho Inventory – Best for Multi-Channel Retailers
If you need advanced inventory management software for expanding business over multiple channels, Zoho Inventory is one of the best you can get.
It can streamline business operations, allow users to effectively manage inventory, purchase orders, sales orders, and shipments. It’s a GST-ready tool that saves your business GSTIN and auto-populates itself whenever there’s a purchase, sale, bill, or invoice.
The platform also offers integration with digital marketing sites like eBay, Amazon, Shopify, and Etsy. As a result, your sales team can manage online and off-line orders quickly and seamlessly.
What’s more, the tool comes equipped with an end-to-end tracking system that allows you to track the movement of every item from your warehouse to the sales point. Receiving real-time shipping rates and in-transit details is another advantage.
You can think of Zoho Inventory as an AI-powered system with several powerful features that can be customized to suit your business needs.
Key Features
- Inventory optimization
- Multi-channel management
- Reorder management
- Product identification
- Reporting/Analytics
- Mobile access
- Retail inventory management
Pricing
Zoho Inventory has different plans to suit the needs of diverse multi-channel businesses. Currently, you can choose from four options payable per organization, per month:
- Free Plan: $0
- Basic: $39
- Standard: $79
- Professional: $199
The above are annual rates. If you choose to pay monthly, the prices will increase slightly.
#5 Ordoro – Best for eCommerce Websites
Ordoro is an all-in-one solution for inventory management and shipping for your e-commerce business.
You can integrate all of your online sales channels, assign barcodes to SKUs, manage purchase orders, and automatically update quantities on fulfillment of orders through the software. It’s designed to handle inventory updates for returned merchandise authorization (RMAs) as well.
It’s an excellent choice for sites that require vendor management features, thanks to its dropshipping capabilities.
Ordoro allows you to manage–both manually and automatically–all dropship requests to vendors without your involvement. It has a vendor portal that enables suppliers to fulfill orders directly within the platform.
Implementing a non-traditional inventory management strategy is also possible with this software. There’s an option to strategically oversell your goods or limit the number of in-stock items visible to your customers to create an illusion of scarcity, encouraging people to place their orders sooner.
Key Features
- Barcode scanning feature
- Built-in advanced analytics
- Automatic inventory syncing
- Multi-channel support
- Inventory alerts/notifications
- Kitting
Pricing
Ordoro has three feature-rich plants, including :
- Express: Starting at $59 per month
- Pro: Starting at $499 per month
- Enterprise: Request a quote
You have the option to schedule a free demo from the company as well.
Conclusion
Choosing the best inventory management solution for your business shouldn’t be taken lightly. Along with the pricing, feature availability, and benefits, you must also consider the people who will be using the software and their needs.
Luckily, inventory management software is available in all different shapes and offer different functionalities to make it suitable for various businesses and industry niches. Just don’t forget to use our guide and recommendations to find inventory management software that works best for your business.
Need help finding IT Assets Management Software? Search Now Find IT Assets Management Software Now
Visibility, transparency, awareness, clarity, and forecasting. These are the key characteristics of IT administrators who successfully manage their IT estate by employing the discipline of IT asset management (ITAM).
Only a few years ago, the process of asset management was essentially a side task for most IT departments. But, nowadays, it’s become an essential part of IT service management. In fact, ITAM has been ranked as the fifth most adopted aspect of ITSM.
In addition, the management of IT assets has a direct impact on the top four ITSM processes; incidents, knowledge, change and problems.
This article will cover numerous practices and tips for improving the management of IT assets, such as:
ITAM in the modern business environment
The IAITAM (International Association of Information Technology Asset Managers) describes IT Asset Management as a set of business practices that incorporates IT assets across business units within an organisation. Its purpose is to join the financial, inventory, contractual, and risk management responsibilities to manage the overall life cycle of assets.
Organisational practices and industry trends from the past decade have increased the need for better asset management. Those include:
- The rise of Shadow IT, where non-IT executives adopt new solutions without going through the formal process
- The continual need to transform IT platforms, cloud migrations, and virtualisation
- Uncertainty around software license costs caused by virtualisation and migration to the cloud
- Increasing pressure to reduce costs while maintaining performance
- The increase in number of software audits
Even back in 2011, clients who successfully executed ITAM as a discipline have typically achieved a 30 per cent cost saving in the first year. As well as five per cent in the subsequent five years.
On the other hand, organisations who have not adopted ITAM or who have adopted it poorly are reported to spend 20 per cent of their total cost on software licensing and hardware maintenance for assets which are no longer used.
IT asset management typically differentiates between software asset management (SAM) and hardware asset management (HAM). SAM and HAM are two sides of the same coin. They need to be managed slightly differently as each one has specific requirements, but they are nonetheless interlinked.
In the early days, HAM came first and SAM second, as there had to be a physical infrastructure for software to reside on.
Inventory Management Programs
However, Hardware Asset Management is expensive and hard to maintain, which makes large investments in IT physical infrastructure for smaller businesses difficult to achieve.
Nowadays, large enterprises such as SAP, IBM, and Microsoft are bearing hardware infrastructure investment and operational costs. Offering the computing power and storage to their customers as services.
Serverless development takes this a step further, allowing one computer with an internet connection to seamlessly run complex functions.
As such, we’re starting to see a different distribution between hardware and software from organisation to organisation. Smaller businesses need less investment in hardware, while large organisations who provide Infrastructure as a Service, need to deploy more resources to meet demand.
Here we need to remember that most businesses have already made investments in IT infrastructure and are only expanding their IT capabilities by adopting a cloud solution. This is where complexity becomes an issue and asset management becomes crucial.
Almost 70 per cent of companies who have virtualised their software assets have failed vendor audits and ended up being charged large bills. Software audits are a heavy burden on IT resources, with ITAM teams having to spend 50 to 70 per cent of their time on dealing with audits.
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Cost reduction is the main driver and the most obvious reason for adopting ITAM. But, there are many more benefits besides cost reduction:
- Increase procurement efficiency
- Improve compliance
- Increase asset and intellectual property security
- Reduce financial, contractual, and reputation risk
- Better position to negotiate new contracts
What to look for in IT Asset Management Tools
Fortunately, alongside the increasingly complex IT and networking systems, we’ve also developed tools that can help us optimise and improve an organisations’ asset collection.
The core capabilities of an IT Asset Management Tool are: Avid xtore studioraid ste 5tb hard drive array for mac.
- Easy Data Import capabilities
- Repository to manage software and hardware assets
- Clearly defined relationship between IT Assets, Users, and usage information
- Integration with adjacent IT and business systems
The following functions for IT Asset Management tools can also be very useful:
- Audit Management
- Compliance Tracking
- Configuration Management
- Contract/License Management
- Cost Tracking
- Inventory Management
- Maintenance Management
- Procurement Management
- Requisition Management
- Supplier Management
What about using spreadsheets for ITAM?
While they might seem rudimentary and receive less marketing budget compared to dedicated ITAM tools, spreadsheets have plenty of functionality. This makes them suitable for small to medium IT estates.
In order to make the most of spreadsheet software, consider using the following functionalities:
Conditional formatting
This can be used to highlight assets going out of support, updates or the like.Reporting
Using Microsoft Excel graphs or Pivot tables can produce complex reports.Macros
Automate data processing and connect to external sources.Data exporting and importing
Connect to SQL databases to feed or pull information.
Inventory Management Software
Also Read: Why Good Spreadsheets Make Bad IT Asset Management Strategies »
In addition, most spreadsheet software is free and most IT systems already have a version of Microsoft Excel. So, there is no need for additional investment.
Best practices for managing hardware assets
Hardware is an umbrella term which includes most items that can be found in an IT environment. Examples include desktops, laptops, monitors, routers, switches, hubs, and phones.
The information stored against each hardware asset must at least ensure that the asset can be uniquely identified.
In order to optimize hardware assets, IT administrators need to keep additional information in regards to warranty, support contracts, maintenance, and other variables. Hardware asset management also needs to include data to support SAM.
Here is some core information for hardware:
- Asset name to create a unique identifier using information such as make, model, location
- Asset vendor
- Device types such as laptop, router, or mobile phone
- Serial number
- Asset statuses such as Deployed, In Storage, Retired and Disposed
- Asset roles such as Production, Standby, and Test
- The organisational entity that owns each asset
- Device location
- Configuration Information
- Software installed on the asset
- Purchase Date
- Go-Live Date
- Warranty / Contractual support Expiry Date
When populating an ITAM tool’s database or a spreadsheet, IT administrators also need to add information about current IT assets. As well as setting up a process for adding new assets as they get acquired in the future.
How to add existing IT asset register data into a tool’s database
Below are described three ways in which IT administrators can populate a tool’s database with information about their current IT systems.
Import any existing trackers into the tool
If you have grown your business and a simple spreadsheet was enough to keep track of your hardware, you can use your spreadsheet to feed all the information into the HAM tool.Discover your network for connected devices
There are plenty of discovery tools that are able to scan the entirety of your network and return plenty of information about your hardware assets.Use supplier’s order information
Order details issued by the suppliers will give you information about all the assets in your estate.
Set up an IT asset tracking process for new items
Upon adding new IT assets in their estate, organisations go through a specific hardware lifecycle. The lifecycle outlines the steps through which the device progresses throughout its life.
Typically, a hardware lifecycle entails the following:
- Architecture and Network Design
- Request for asset
- Approval and Procurement
- Deployment
- Usage, maintenance, and upgrades
- Decommissioning
In a lifecycle such as the one described above, the asset tracking process starts as early as step number one. After performing analysis and putting forward a purchase order or business case for purchasing more assets, the IT department should already have a clear picture of which device will go where and what software it will need to run.
In step number four the asset management process can be consolidated when all data is available.
How to optimise IT assets using Hardware Asset Management
The benefits of using a hardware asset management tool stretch beyond simply storing device information. Modern tools allow you to configure your dashboard and access valuable information such as:
Generate reports
See the availability, usage, items not currently installed, devices to be decommissioned.Use IT Network Monitoring to raise alarms
Raise issues when the software is going out of warranty or reaching its end of life.Automate deployment workflows
Create configuration templates for devices depending on their functions.Manage software and security updates
Schedule dedicated time slots for updates to minimize downtime.
Best practices for managing software assets
Managing software assets has become a necessity after the widespread implementation of cloud computing and the silent inclusion of Shadow IT.
Software asset management provides three benefits:
Governance
Ensuring that only approved applications are introduced into the local computing environment and the software licenses are fully and appropriately utilised.Management
SAM provides multiple functions for scheduling updates, forecasting costs, adding new assets and decommissioning old ones.Enterprise agility
The availability of information dramatically speeds up the change process in large organisations.
Licensing is arguably the most important dimension in regards to software asset management as poor handling of licenses can cost organisations in the millions.
There are many types of licenses, each with different contractual agreements and requirements. Some of those are:
Identity-locked
A license is assigned to a specific user and is non-commutable (e.g. Microsoft Windows).Node-locked
A license which can only be used by one user at a time, but multiple users can use at subsequent times.Floating
A license which is available to a large number of users. Upon login, a licensing system assigned the requesting user a license which is claimed back at the end of the session.Site License
Unlimited usage on the site of the license installation.Open Source
Unlimited usage within the licensing agreement.Timed
License is only available for a set period of time.Physically Restricted
Licenses attached to hardware.
Choosing a SAM tool
Software asset management tools are designed to offer IT personnel as much control and visibility over their IT estate. While each tool is different, most of them include functionalities such as:
- Software license management
- Software configuration
- Inventory management
- Software utilization
- Contract and purchasing
- Compliance ad governance
- Software lifecycle management
- Software deployment
- Reporting
When assessing the critical capabilities of software asset management tools, we recommend looking for characteristics which reconcile software entitlement and consumption data to reduce compliance risk, optimize costs and improve business performance. We recommend Infrastructure and operations leaders to look for the following:
- Software Entitlements Manual Entry
- Software Entitlements Automation
- Endpoint Software Consumption
- Data Center Software Consumption
- Cloud Consumption
- Speciality Software Consumption
- Reconcile External Information
- Optimize Entitlements/Consumption
- Share Information
How to manage software assets when employees join, leave, or move within the company
Whenever there is an organisational change, the employee in question will need to have an updated set of IT assets.
A workflow needs to be set up which should cover the following: assignment of existing assets, procurement of new assets, recovery of assets upon leaving the company, and also setting up a process for lost or stolen assets.
Inventory Management Software
This IT workflow would need to work closely with the HR system, communicating between the information about the user and levels of permission.
Inventory Management Software Comparison
How to manage software assets to prevent audits
Vendor audits are processes for investigating an organisation’ compliance for using the software within the contractual terms.
Poor visibility and management of available licenses can lead to an organisation being uncompliant, making it an easy target for vendors to up-sell their product and charge them large bills.
Large software vendors such as Microsoft, Adobe, IBM, SAP and Oracle have gained a reputation for aggressive software audits which disrupt an organisation’s IT operations.
Also Read: How to Prevent Software Licensing Audits »
By adopting a software asset management tool, the risk of becoming uncompliant is drastically reduced as IT administrators have an overarching view of all the available licenses, how they are distributed, who is using them, and when they are due to expire.
Keeping on top of license renewals, acquiring additional assets when demand increases and removing licenses in instances in which they are not used will help organisations not only protect themselves against being audited but also optimize their IT estate to produce most values.
Managing software assets when migrating to the cloud
Cloud migration is a complex and long project that can leave many holes in the IT systems if done incorrectly. Software asset management plays a huge role in ensuring that all users have access to the same services as before and there are no discrepancies between the system pre and post-migration.
Each vendor has slightly different systems, so there is a difference between SAP’s Hana Enterprise Cloud, IBM Cloud and even Adobe Experience Cloud.
Microsoft recommends IT leaders to consider SAM solutions that aid with the following:
- Helping determine whether on-premises, cloud, or hybrid is the best structure for the business.
- Mitigating risks associated with moving data centre assets for consolidation, cloud, and virtualization projects.
- Delivering a long-term cloud migration road map that helps define migration goals.
- Assessing whether migrating to the cloud will make it easier to manage software assets.
- Having an in-depth understanding of software licensing for both cloud and on-premises deployments.