Inventory management software monitors manages and organizes product sales, material purchases, and other production processes. There are different kinds of inventory management – varying not only in their costs but also in terms of their features and deployment methods. The three core deployment methods are on premise inventory management systems, Software-as-a-service (SaaS) inventory management systems, and cloud-hosted inventory management systems
How Inventory Management Software Enhances Your Business Strategies
Companies, whether big or small, have inventory that includes supplies, assets, raw materials, products in process, as well as finished goods. Automating the entire inventory process can reduce the possibilities of spillage and unwanted storage costs.
Imagine this situation. Your customers order products from you. To meet their demands, you order raw materials from your suppliers. Without proper coordination of all the people involved, issues may arise. The lack of inventory could result in chain inefficiencies. This is where the inventory management tool comes in to help.
The best open-source inventory management software helps companies meet the inventory requirements of their clients. This application lets you track all your products, items, and assets; manage your finished products; clearly define vacant storage areas for a more organized warehouse, and identify future demands based on previous data.
Here are some of the best open-source inventory management tools in the market today. Go ahead and check out the following solutions that can help you make more profitable business decisions.
inFlow Inventory
inFlow Inventory caters to businesses of all sizes. This software saves you time on paperwork, satisfies customer needs precisely and frees up cash held in excess inventory. Its free version is on-premise, meaning it is installed on the company’s local servers instead of the cloud. It allows you to handle up to 100 products and customers. Its features include barcoding, cost management, sales orders, purchase orders, and count sheet functionalities. What’s more, it tracks payments, providing you with real-time details of all pending and completed transactions.
Users have the option to upgrade to two paid plans, Regular and Premium. These top-tier plans include extra features such as separate user logins, bills of materials (BOM), work orders, and product serial numbers management.
Sortly Pro
Unlike inFlow, Sortly Pro is an open-source inventory management software that is based on the cloud. It is ideal for any size of an organization, with its free plan supporting one user and letting you manage up to a hundred transaction entries per month.
If you want to add functionalities, you can bump your subscription to Pro. It’ll give you product tagging and cataloging features that let users craft product catalogs with up to eight photos for each item.
Meanwhile, upgrading to Advanced or Ultra plans allows you to manage 100 entries per month. It also offers QR code tagging and scanning, user activity, document management, and customized branding.
Odoo
Odoo is a suite of business applications that are open-source. It covers your company needs, whether CRM, eCommerce, accounting, project management, inventory, and more. While this is mostly an enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution, users can download and access its inventory module, using it as a standalone inventory management solution. Odoo is free if you only use the inventory management module but getting other apps like CRM and project management will require you to pay some fee.
ITarian
ITarian’s Inventory Management makes the procurement process and inventory management simple for you and your clients. It enables you to identify what products belong to which clients, as well as arrange purchase orders, set pricing, and maintain accurate inventory. ITarian provides features like automated quote and billing, inventory checking and reservation for the fulfillment, sales order generation, full purchasing and receiving capabilities, as well as inventory change tracking.
Conclusion
Inventory affects every aspect of your business processes. That said, ineffective handling of inventory may result in missed productivity, lost sales, and significant financial issues. Using open-source inventory management tool will give you a more informed understanding of your supply and demand, which could be your edge over your competitors. To simplify your inventory management, contact ITarian today.
