Why Investing in an Inventory Software is a Wise Decision?
by Josh Biggs in Software on 4th December 2019Optimum patient care has been the goal of every health facility for their patients. Although the healthcare workers play a major role in meeting that goal, medical supplies, tools and equipment also play an equally important role too.
However, oftentimes, managing inventory supplies would consume a lot of time and end up prioritized less. There are medical companies that would resort to manual inventory monitoring, relying only on a pen, paper, logbooks, or spreadsheet files to keep track of their inventory records. Not only this is proven to be time inefficient, but the manual recording is also prone to error, putting the credibility and accuracy of management decisions and most importantly the welfare of patients at major risk. Managing your inventory manually is a tricky process. In order to effectively handle the inventory records, it’s important to keep track of how much inventory you’re storing and who has access to what. When a company decides to invest in custom inventory management software, they are not only investing in the technology but also in their future success. With tracking and deliveries, there is proof that inventory is running smoothly.
The good news is, in this digital age, a digital solution to take care of inventories is already widely available. Health professionals such as nurses and even clerks need not worry about stock-outs of important medical supplies anymore. Every worker in the healthcare industry can now focus more on their functions and goals of giving optimum patient care with the help of an inventory management software.
Inventory Management Software 101
An inventory management software helps health care companies avoid inefficiency and outdated inventory tracking methods. It instead encourages health workers to keep in control of stocks; all it takes are a few clicks in desktop apps and taps in inventory apps.
These days where the web community has gotten exponentially larger, using an inventory management software that is cloud-based will help businesses take the edge over competition. Cloud-based means that all inventory records get to be stored in the cloud, a database on the web, such that the crucial inventory-related data will be always available and accessible to those with internet connection and authority to use it. With this, supplies tracking in terms of expiry, availability, and replenishment is now made a lot timelier and accurate.
Whether you own a large medical facility or you are a solo practitioner, you can downright benefit from using an inventory management tool as it will allow you to take the guesswork out of inventory management.
Here are how using an inventory management software can specifically benefit your business or career:
TIME-EFFICIENCY. Like other digital solutions, an inventory management software streamlines your business processes that are inventory related. Having it do the job will reduce the necessary operational efforts on your part as it provides a time efficient approach of monitoring your business’s supplies. Since a lot of inventory systems nowadays incorporate the fast and effective barcode and barcode scanning technology, your inventory team will no more need to do the tedious paper-filing and spreadsheet updating to reflect the inflows and outflows of stocks.
Also, since you are dealing with sick patients, the stakes of you consuming too much time in inventory monitoring is high and can cause critical consequences. This all the more justifies that need for a digital inventory management solution.
PAPERLESS MONITORING. With your inventory system, you can finally bid goodbye to the erroneous and tedious paperwork and focus instead on your real function without worrying about the accuracy and reliability of your inventory processes. This does not only please your patients but the environment too.
BETTER OPERATIONAL FOCUS. Once your supply tracking is automated, you can finally focus solely on treating your patients and providing better quality health care services knowing you have enough supplies of everything. You can even keep your access to the data even if you have other people maintaining the inventories for you since inventory systems are designed to handle multiple users too unlike in traditional approach where access to inventory records is often delegated to one to two persons only.
ACCURACY AND RELIABILITY OF RECORDS. When it comes to managing inventories manually, accuracy is never a part of the package. Errors can be easily committed and can mislead the management in making inventory-related decisions, jeopardizing the business at risk.
This makes all the time spent on updating the transactions not worth it.
Your inventory management software can definitely address these aspects. Inflows and outflows of stocks will be recorded conveniently through barcode scanning. Stock levels and expiration dates will be monitored too on your behalf.
REAL TIME INVENTORY DATA. Occasionally, all you need is a good presentation of data that can be checked anytime to aid in a better inventory-related decision making – an excellent inventory system can give that. With just a few clicks or taps, you’ll get to see photos as well as crucial details of your clinical equipment and also materials like the stock numbers, reordering points, and also various products’ proper handling.
Buying a clinical inventory management software implies you’ve spent to have an accurate sight of your inventory and the matching assurance that the possibility of medical supply shortages is eradicated. Denying your medical facility of it implies you’re likely to face problems in organizing your medical inventories and also you’ll have to go through manual sorting and doing parallel updates on spreadsheets every time there is a movement in inventory. Delays, mistake, as well as errors in updating are simply a few of its downsides that you will require to deal with.
INVESTMENT PROTECTION. An inventory monitoring software can help you manage your clinical stocks. Its integrated security measures and real time updates will also secure your organization and resources from thefts and waste of money brought by unmonitored expired medicines and unaccounted medical equipment.
Choosing a Medical Inventory Software
With the congested international market that we have, Google will surely suggest a great deal of inventory management software once you try to look for one but it is wise to note that these significantly vary from one another in terms of features, price, and other important factors like system support and usability. For instance, not all inventory software are compatible for medical use and it may take a toll on the users especially in terms of learning curve. Failing to take this into account may only lose the point of seeking a digital inventory solution in the first place, i.e. to streamline, fasten, and make inventory processes efficient and accurate.
For that reason, it is best to select one that is basic and also easy to use. It has to incorporate a barcode technology to accomplish an extra structured inventory process. Moreover, as your facility will be handling patients, pick the software application that features stock monitoring to let you visually check your inventory products information, e.g. amount, rate, status, and also location.