Two thirds of companies consider Excel a supply chain management system. That was one finding from a survey commissioned by BluJay Solutions. It seems to work fine for small stores with a limited number of SKU’s (Stock Keeping Units). But it is much more complicated for large brands or stores with a number of branches and complex size chart. Companies also see more opportunities through automation and innovation. So is Excel fit for modern times? We give you three reasons why we think replenishment in Excel has no future.
Reliability of inventory management in Excel
Excel is excellent software for storing and managing data. Are you using this software as a supply chain management system? Then you must ask yourself how reliable it is. Data is manually entered, often by several people: buyers, logistic managers and supply chain managers. Hundreds of columns and rows of information make this system naturally prone to errors and therefore very vulnerable.
Complexity of optimizing inventory
In order to grow as a company it’s important to optimize inventory within your supply chain management. And in order to optimize, you need to extensively analyze data. That gives you insight into the relationships between data and helps you uncover new opportunities. Maybe you have enough women’s sweaters in your store inventory. But what happens when one specific item becomes a popular seller – and there’s almost no more in stock? Can you quickly see this in your Excel sheet? You also have to be able to anticipate changes in the market. Excel is very limited if you want to do complex data analysis. Your personnel have to spend a lot of valuable time to do this.
Focus on automated and innovation in supply chain management
Automation is a good solution for the problems described above. Smart software eliminates the error sensitivity of work carried out by different people and is designed to carry out complex analyses much faster and more accurately. In addition, automation and innovation are currently ‘hot topics’ in supply chain management. Retail organizations are always looking for ways to reduce costs and stay ahead of their competition. At the same time, good customer service is becoming an ever more important pillar for many companies. With smart inventory optimization software you free up more time for your customers. Interested in what inventory optimization software can do for your company? Request a demo or get in touch with us!