4 drawbacks of Excel as an Inventory Management Tool

September 23, 2016 by  
Filed under Featured Articles, Front Page

 

4 drawbacks of Excel as an Inventory Management Tool

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Microsoft Excel has always been one of the most widely used tools to manage tabular and columnar data. It has also been useful in creating charts and graphs and make calculations. Above all, Excel is inexpensive and easily accessible. These features make Excel an ideal tool for small businesses with limited operations. Since it has been around for a long time, most users are familiar with it and no special training is required.
However, for large companies that need to manage huge databases, Excel is simply not enough and despite having a similar row and column look and certain features like performing calculations similar to order fulfillment and inventory management softwares.
Among others, here are 4 important drawbacks of Excel:
Very Manual and prone to errors
Since data is manually entered, any mistyping in entering stock quantity or formulas can have a huge fallout. Ditto for entering data in a wrong column or row. When there are columns and columns of data, detecting and rectifying these errors would be a time-consuming nightmare. Besides, manual updates are always slower than real-time updates.
Difficulty in sharing large Excel files
Another minus is the huge size of a data heavy Excel file. When a lot of data is fed into an Excel spreadsheet, it becomes too large in size to be sent via e-mail and can frequently crash a company’s network.
Prone to frauds and reduced accountability
Data security is compromised greatly as virtually anyone having access to an Excel file and a mala fide intent can make difficult to detect alterations and save the file. Thefts and intentional stock damage are thus difficult to detect.
The spreadsheet lacks an audit trail for data since information is merely updated and no history of the same is available. Though a ‘last modified date’ is available, it is impossible to pinpoint who exactly worked on the modification.
No concurrent collaboration possible
Multiple users cannot simultaneously work on an Excel file. This means that only one user can make changes to the file at a time. If subsequent users need to update the inventory in the file, they would need to wait, resulting in the loss of time.

Although Excel can be a good reporting tool on business statistics, only specialized software can eliminate errors, provide real-time updates and support and track multiple users.

Increase Your Business Efficiency With Liquor Store Management Software

Ever wish your business “ran itself?” Most people do. From the everyday tasks to monthly obligations, it all can be very overwhelming. Especially, if you have other priorities.Fortunately, liquor and wine store software can solve everything nowadays. It can store your data, track growth, process sales, and even drive sales. What a blessing! Yet, many liquor and wine retailers don’t take advantage of its benefits.

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Why? Many business owners assume liquor store management software is too expensive. They’ve run their business just fine for years and believe they don’t have the time or extra money to invest in something they deem unnecessary. This is anything but the truth. mPower Beverage liquor and wine store software is actually very cost-effective and can help your business reach the heights you’ve always dreamed of without compromising more of your precious time and energy.

What is Liquor Store Management Software?

mPower Beverage software is software designed to manage all aspects of a liquor and wine business. Equipped with vital industry tools and state-of-the-art business management technology, the software completes tedious tasks quickly and accurately. For example, mPower Beverage liquor store management software can place orders, track product trends, generate sales reports, organize your store, and refine your check-out process. It also serves as great inventory management software. From the very first day it is installed, mPower Beverage software begins organizing your existing store data. From there it monitors all new store activity (sales transactions and product orders) and automatically updates your existing data, creating a new, error-free database that is accessible from anywhere. This feature is crucial for store owners that manage multiple locations and multiple inventories.

Why It’s Affordable

Common store owner belief: “My business runs great with the technology I have now. Why should I spend money on more? The answer lies in how you define your business running “great.” If you’re constantly struggling to find time to get everything done and in return find it either doesn’t get done or is done incorrectly, what will happen when things beyond your control cause you to have even less time to devote to your business?

This is where mPower Beverage liquor store POS software will become invaluable to you.  By tracking every product, every sale, and every order automatically, you can rest assured that your inventory is up to date, your sales reports are always accurate, and your store’s data is organized and easily accessible. Imagine the time you’d save if you never had to physically check inventory or manually input new products ever again.  Who doesn’t need more free time? If investing in liquor store management software still alarms you, keep in mind mPower Beverage software is much more affordable than other liquor store management software that promises to deliver the same results. It does more than competitors, runs much smoother, and is easy to learn for liquor store POS software newbies. Plus, it’s much more efficient than hiring a full time employee to take over all of these tasks.

Increased Efficiency Will Help Your Business Flourish

Once mPower Beverage liquor store POS software is installed in your store(s), you will notice the transformation instantly. Your processes will be streamlined and tasks that were once dreaded or even ignored will be taken care of automatically. The days of disorganization, last minute scrambling, bookkeeping errors, lost sleep, and high stress will be a thing of the past. As a result, you can finally start focusing on aspects of your business that you never had time for before.  Whether it is marketing, store expansion, or customer appreciation programs, the extra time and decrease in stress levels will allow you to improve what you need to do to take your business to the next level