Whether you run a manufacturing or retail business, what would you say is the “secret sauce” to greater productivity and profitability?
According to an article in Industry Week, it’s understanding data, and being able to effectively use that data as a management tool especially when it comes to establishing inventory strategies.
“The way data is gathered, analyzed, and understood can have a significant impact on the decisions made, inventory strategies that are established, and ultimately a firm’s profitability.”
Clearly, inventory directly affects your bottom line. Not having enough stocked inventory to meet the needs of customers, or having too much inventory taking up costly storage space, are common problems. But, if you can “tap into the numbers to get closer to that sweet spot where inventory levels hover right where they should” then you have achieved data management efficiency and “when inventory is under control, the positive impact on profitability is unmistakable.”
To reach that balance, someone needs to understand the data. They can’t miss the mark when interpreting the numbers because mismanagement of data will definitely impact profitability.
But understanding data is not easy and, for some businesses, if there’s too much overwhelming data to figure out, it can lead to “analysis paralysis.”
“Once a company reaches a certain volume of information, evaluating findings, making observations, or picking up on patterns simply isn’t as easily approachable.”
When it comes to interpreting data to attain inventory solutions, one strategy to relieve the pressure on employees and productivity is to outsource to a solid inventory management service like Blue Chip. A trained team will provide accurate inventory counts as well as expert data analysis of inventory reports, making it a lot easier to determine that delicate, and profitable, inventory balance.