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Discover Unleashed Inventory Management

Discover Unleashed Inventory Management

Is Unleashed Inventory the right fit for you?  

As an entrepreneur, business owner or manufacturer, you have been focusing on delivering great products and services to your customers. When starting a business, every owner starts by looking for a market gap where they can excel and provide the community with a product or service.

Through hard work, dedication and time, your business becomes successful, and a new set of problems becomes apparent. Cashflow, Overstock, Stock delays and stock run out are some of these new issues that you will be introduced to as your company grows. That is when passion goes out of the window, and you find yourself in a rat race to meet the daily challenges of business ownership. Is this a feeling you are familiar with?  You might not be an inventory expert. Heck when you started your business, you might not have had any idea what inventory management is. Your motivation was to provide a product to fill a gap in the market. You are not alone. There are many entrepreneurs and start-ups who face these same problems.

 

How to fix this?

At this stage, you have a few options. You can hire someone to manage your stock. Or you can use spreadsheets or introduce new systems to counter the growing issues. In fact, you might have tried these options, and all is has brought you is even more problems to tackle. How do you choose the next best thing for your business? New Staff or New System?  Hiring staff to resolve your problems is not going to work if there is no tangible system in place for them to learn your business, understand the problems, and construct an effective resolution.

If it is a system you need, which one will suit you the most? We have worked with many businesses. The most common thing we see is that business owners are trying to find systems which are marketed specifically for their business or industry. Then, they sign on for a trial and become overwhelmed with what they see, inevitably ending up back where they were to begin with.

 

What now?

There are many software solutions on the market. Some new, some old. Unleashed has been on the market for over 10 years and was one of the 1st Xero Integrated software packages available. On top of that, it is now backed by the Access Group. It also has many excellent features that can assist you with your business decision making and stock control.

Some key benefits of using Unleashed as your inventory management system are,

  • Manufacturing, Assemblies, Disassemblies, and Kitting function
  • Easy-to-use interfaces with a self-explanatory menus
  • Great Support & Easy to use help documentation
  • Great onboarding team to self-implement the system
  • Quick video guides to train your inexperienced staff

Unleashed also has inventory management features and reporting and dashboarding capabilities to make your worries disappear. Its best aspect is the structure it adds to your business. Unleashed also has a self-service implementation package, letting you set it up for yourself, at a pace that works for your situation.

However, if you feel you need someone to guide you through the configuration process or need an extra hand training both yourself and your staff with the new system, give Business Continuum a call.

 

Why we Love Unleashed

When we evaluate a solution for a customer, we dig a little deeper into, why a certain solution would suit the customer. We do not just compare the features that are highlighted on a comparison tool.

Things we take for granted sometimes are the support material and the online help articles that Unleashed provides. We love how they have designed their “Get help for this page ” option available for every screen you work on, which takes you to the exact help article that you were looking for when you get stuck.

We love how they have invested in a great Business Intelligence platform that enables customers to dig into Customers, Suppliers, Products and Transactions and provide a visual representation of your data to understand trends and customer behaviours.

We also love how Unleashed sync all the invoice data instantaneously with Xero. So, you can still use your customised invoices, with payment options from Xero. Especially, when you want to pass credit card fees to your customers.

For more information on how Unleashed can benefit your business contact Business Continuum for a free consultation.

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5 Signs Your Business Needs an Inventory Management Makeover

5 Signs Your Business Needs an Inventory Management Makeover

You might already be using Xero as your accounting solution but your business may have outgrown it, hence you find yourself needing a more robust management solution. Below are 5 signs you need to upgrade your inventory management system.

 

1. Spending hours counting stock each week

You’re long overdue for an inventory system. If you’re spending hours physically counting products and regularly checking in your warehouse each week to monitor stock. An inventory system will keep track of your current stock, and automatically update data when you buy and sell products; this will save you from having to tally stock levels in a spreadsheet, and it will also help differentiate between what you have on hand and what you have available to sell.

 

2. You run out of stock before your new stock arrives

If you’re running out of stock then you’re losing sales, it’s as simple as that. Implementing an inventory system allows you to specify a minimum stock level and can also inform you when you’ve achieved that level so you can purchase more stock, avoiding both running out of stock and the costly mistake of overstocking.

 

3. You don’t know which products are your most profitable

Profitability isn’t only the difference between what you sell and what you pay your supplier; there are many other factors to consider, such as transportation, import duties, currency conversion, and how long you will hold the stock. An inventory solution will assist you in determining the right margins, allowing you to simply report on which goods are the most lucrative.

 

4. You need to keep track of different prices for different customers

Maybe as your business has grown you started selling three different channels, rather than just selling online through your Shopify store; now you have wholesale customers, distributors, and they all have different prices perhaps, special deals, negotiated pricing,  or discounts you have arranged. Inventory software can help you manage multiple price tiers, ensuring that everyone in your company is aware of how much they should charge each customer.

 

5. You’re spending too long updating stock figures on your website

Perhaps updating stock levels every day and specifying which products are out of stock wasn’t a major concern in the early days of your online business, but as you develop and receive dozens or hundreds of orders each day, it’s no longer viable. Advanced inventory systems fortunately talk to all major online stores like Shopify and Woo-Commerce and will automatically update stock on a real-time basis, ensuring that your website is always up to date and that clients do not order goods that are no longer in stock.

 

We are here to help

At Business Continuum, we know that moving to an inventory solution can be very overwhelming, with our help we can not only architect the solution, but we help manage the change to a solution so that you can automate your buy cycle, to save time and money.

 

What Next?

We partner with a variety of software providers such as Xero, DEAR Systems, Unleashed and Cin7. Please contact us for a free consultation to see which inventory solution is right for you.

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Software Spotlight Series: Unleashed

Software Spotlight Series: Unleashed

Welcome to our blog series investigating the latest cloud software solutions for your business. Each blog will explore the software solution, sharing our expert take on its strengths, weaknesses and best user application outcomes.

With almost 30 inventory management cloud-based software options on the market, it can be difficult to know what’s best for your business. Each option promises to save time, increase efficiencies and boost profitability, but they differ in areas such as customer support, integration and industry-specific features. We share our experience working with each application and reveal its strengths and weaknesses, hopefully giving you a clearer understanding of the best options for you.

What is Unleashed?

Unleashed is an inventory management software company founded in New Zealand in 2009. It’s now one of the world’s leading SaaS (Software as a Service) providers of inventory management systems to businesses, with more than 6,000 subscribers in 84 countries.

Like all cloud-based inventory management systems, it gives you real-time visibility over your stock levels. But that’s like saying the iPhone is great at making phone calls. Just like the benefits of the iPhone go way beyond making calls, Unleashed offers a variety of measures to help you control your purchasing, sales orders and dispatch processes.

More than stock in, stock out

Unleashed offers a suite of features designed to help you take control of your stock levels. These include the ability to:

  • quickly identify and re-order stock that’s sold out or below pre-set minimums
  • back order and split orders so you can ship and invoice what you can
  • accurately cost products, factoring in landed cost into the unit cost of your products
  • turn stock data into financial reports including stock on hand value, cost of goods sold and profit margins
  • tailor stock reports according to your needs with flexible customisation options
  • use the iOS app to monitor your stock levels from your iPhone whilst on the road
  • monitor your stock across multiple locations and warehouses
  • integrate with other leading cloud-based software programs such as Xero, Quickbooks, Shopify, Magento and Vend, ensuring your business data is up-to-date and consistent across all.

Ultimately, Unleashed helps maximise the profitability of your business by helping you take control of your stock management. If you are losing sales because you’re out of stock, then Unleashed can help.

Things we love about Unleashed

Unleashed definitely helps speed up the sales process. By using features such as barcode scanning and attaching documents and images to products, it makes information easy to find.

For example, a beverage manufacturer might attach a product fact sheet, with information about the ingredients used in the product. Unleashed offers multiple tabs for attaching data to product files, including tabs for codes, dimensions, suppliers, cost pages, supplier prices, retail prices, warranties, care instructions labels and many others. Access to this product information can be restricted or freely available.

There are other great features of Unleashed worth mentioning that you won’t find on a feature checklist:

  • responsive customer support—its support ticket response times are very good
  • it can be easily customised for your business needs (by a developer)
  • the Unleashed forum is a community of users where you can connect with similar businesses to get ideas and troubleshoot problems

Why would you choose Unleashed?

Most other vendors don’t offer the iOS app, which shows your stock levels while you’re on the road—great for meetings with clients making real-time purchase orders.

Unleashed is suitable for a wide variety of industries and business sizes. In particular, it’s ideal for the food and beverage industry. These types of businesses will appreciate Unleashed’s ability to capture batch numbers, serial numbers and product numbers as well as creating different types of reports, such as costs of goods sold or sales by customer group.

What are the alternatives?

While Unleashed is suitable for many inventory-based businesses, it doesn’t handle variance in products well. So if you’re a fashion retailer (for example) you may find Unleashed isn’t suitable for tracking different garment sizes and colours across your inventory.

Other great cloud-based inventory management options to consider include DEAR, Cin7 and TradeGecko. As part of our Software Spotlight series, we’ll be looking at these solutions in the coming months.

What’s the pricing model?

Unleashed offers a subscription model with a variety of monthly payment plans depending on the size of your business and the number of users requiring access.

Like any investment in software, it’s about considering the returns—by committing to using the full suite of its features and functionality, you will find the investment pays for itself. If you put a high value on the time it will save your business, then your investment will undoubtedly be worthwhile.

Want to find out more?

Get in touch with us to find out if Unleashed is right for you. We can help arrange a free trial and make sure you get the most out of the trial period.

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Meet the Newest Members of the Business Continuum Team

Meet the Newest Members of the Business Continuum Team

Over recent months we have expanded the Business Continuum team, bringing more expertise and service capabilities to our clients. It’s time to introduce our newest team members.

Sianne Hussey, Client Manager

Sianne is our inventory management guru, working with clients to create inventory management systems to save time and improve efficiency for clients.

“Many clients are pleased to eliminate pain points they have been struggling with for years,” says Sianne. “I love to go further by finding problems they never knew they had, and create systems that improve their stock flow and productivity.”

Sianne starts by finding out as much as she can about the operations of the client’s business. “Even the smallest detail is interesting. Only then can I create the right solution for their needs,” she says.

Certified in many inventory management programs, Sianne recommends the solution that is the true best fit for her clients. “The idea is to find the right solution so that stock isn’t languishing on shelves, but moving quickly through the sales channel. With that sorted, the business can then find it easier to identify new sales opportunities.”

“Many clients have grown as a business and (are) using outdated systems that worked when they were smaller,” she says. “I recall one client who used a manual sticker system to control stock. Transferring the stock control to a cloud system created a huge saving in time, and increased profits.”

Born in South Korea, Sianne was adopted and raised in Warrnambool, Victoria. She started her career working in a caravan park whilst studying, where she wrote a how-to guide on the software they were using at the time. Shortly after this, she found herself working for that particular software company and thus was the beginning of her career in software consulting. Before joining Business Continuum, Sianne was the Director and Principal of The Rype Group – Melbourne. Prior to this, her role was Solutions Specialist for Unleashed Software (inventory management).

While not at work, Sianne enjoys cross stitching, hates cooking and likes online window shopping for all sorts of bits and bobs she doesn’t really need (but wants).

Ben Harrison, Client Manager

Ben says there’s no typical day at Business Continuum – and that’s just how he likes it. He often spends time on the road, travelling to clients to create a bespoke cloud solution, or deliver training to the team on using new software.

“We can create the best system in the world, but if the client’s staff aren’t using it, engaged with it or using it to its full capacity, it can be ineffective,” he says. “It’s essential that any cloud solution integrates fully with existing programs, and that staff are very comfortable and happy using it.

“After delivering our solution, we spend a lot of time making sure it’s working to its full capacity.”

When he’s not on the road, Ben is creating and designing WorkflowMax and Xero systems for his clients, who include accountants, architects, creative agencies, designers and engineers.

“Anyone who charges money for their time can benefit from our services,” he says.

Ben completed a degree in accounting and finance before moving into a bookkeeping role. He quickly identified the opportunities that Xero and WorkflowMax offered bookkeepers and moved to cloud solution roles with Realtime Business, which recently merged with Business Continuum.

Over his four years of working in the industry, Ben says that identifying new solutions for clients is always rewarding. “It’s great to be part of a team that helps clients grow their business, identify new revenue streams and increase profitability. We are employing more experts and diversifying our services, which helps us deliver even better results for our clients. It’s rewarding to be part of the Business Continuum growth cycle,” he says.

Ben is a long-suffering Richmond fan and enjoys overseas travel. When he’s home he prefers a quiet night on the couch with a book.

Connor Reich, Graduate Analyst

Connor is the go-to guy for any data input, configuration and administration support for the Business Continuum team. He’s getting stuck into Xero and WorkflowMax with gusto, quickly learning the ins and outs on the job.

“I’ve not considered myself a techie person but I do take pride in learning quickly,” Connor says. “As a millennial, people sometimes assume I know a lot about cloud integration, but I have learned plenty more in my three months at Business Continuum. There’s always a sense of achievement and a job completed. I appreciate the variety of working on different client projects and helping see them to completion.”

Connor holds a degree in history and international studies. When not working, he enjoys all kinds of horror movies, and honed this love while working in a video store as a teenager. Connor has attended many music festivals, including Falls Festival and his favourite, Splendour in the Grass.

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The Benefits of Cloud-Based Inventory Management

The Benefits of Cloud-Based Inventory Management

Imagine a world where automation and cloud technology didn’t exist – a world where everything had to be documented manually. Imagine how long it would take to communicate with colleagues and clients without email, or having to write down every single transaction by hand as a shop owner.

Without software to automate laborious tasks, everything would slow to a halt. Despite this, a significant number of businesses still fail to automate and fix outdated processes that, if they were to do so, would save valuable time and reduce the number of costly business errors caused by manual data entry.

Inventory Management is one example of this. If you’re a business that sells a tangible product, it’s vitally important you get your inventory management setup sorted so you’re capturing the right information, in the right way.

What are the benefits of cloud-based inventory management systems?

When it comes to Inventory Management, some businesses still start with a spreadsheet or even gut-feel to manage their stock levels. This might be adequate enough at the beginning, but as your business grows these manual processes won’t be able to scale with you, reducing productivity and increasing the likelihood of lost business through stock-outs and data entry mistakes.

Here are some of the benefits a cloud-based inventory system can offer.

Save time. Manually entering stock detail into a spreadsheet sucks up a lot of time and energy. Think about how much time you and your staff could save if key parts of the inventory management process were automated by software.

Minimise lost sales. Manual data entry leaves plenty of room for error, and means you’re less likely to be on top of your stock as a result. Cloud-based inventory software has the ability to display your stock levels in real time and allow you to set minimum stock level alerts, so you can anticipate demand and respond proactively rather than reactively when it comes to managing your inventory. The outcome? You’re less likely to lose sales due to unexpected stock-outs.

Powerful reporting capabilities. Access to insightful reporting is one of the big benefits of a cloud-based inventory management system. Apps such as TradeGecko, Cin7 and DEAR have powerful built-in reporting tools that can help you track sales and, in some cases, help you forecast stock levels based on previous sales periods and seasonal trends.

Integration (and automation). Many software platforms like the examples above integrate with other cloud-based apps – examples include Xero, Shopify and Magento as well as many others. Integrating inventory management with your accounting software removes the time-consuming need for double data entry. And with your inventory system and ecommerce store automatically working in sync, your online customers are less likely to be disappointed by a surprise stock-out.

Fit for purpose. One of the great advantages of inventory management software is that it’s built for purpose. POs and invoices capture necessary detail such as quantities, item size, item colour and units of measurement in a way that’s industry standard. Many inventory software platforms also include additional features such as B2B ordering platforms, 3PL integration, barcode scanning and the ability to categorise, track and order product by location.

Monitor stock levels wherever you are. The beauty of cloud-based software is that you can access it anywhere – in most instances, all you need is a laptop and internet connection. If your company has a mobile sales team, being able to check stock and raise orders on the run can save them valuable time.

Cost-effectiveness. Cloud-based inventory software tends to be sold by subscription, and many providers offer tiered packages so you can pick the right one for your business. Paying a subscription also ensures your software is automatically updated by the provider as and when updates are ready – gone are the days of having to purchase a CD and install new software (and with it, the potential for unexpected down-time).

Right, I’m sold! How do I get ready to migrate?

Most cloud inventory software companies offer free trials, and this is a great way to dip your toes in the water as a starting point. Test-drive a few options to see what works best for your business, and make the most of your trial period by getting your team involved and testing out the different features, reporting tools and templates on offer.

Once you’ve made the call to move to the cloud, the first thing to do is tidy up your stock list, customer and supplier information – working with clean data is key. A full stocktake will be required before converting your business over to a new inventory system, so it’s best to schedule all of this outside of your busy sales periods if possible.

It’s also important to consider whether you need to shift your accounting software to Xero at the same time, as this will add a few extra steps to the process to ensure everything integrates seamlessly.

If this all seems like a lot of work, there’s no need to feel daunted. As an experienced cloud integrator, Business Continuum can help guide you on the best way to transition your business across to cloud-based inventory management software. If you’re keen to find out more about how your business could benefit from cloud-based business software, feel free to contact us to discuss your specific requirements.

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