Where do you start when you know you want to improve efficiencies, and you have heard about barcode and inventory management software, but there are so many choices on the market and the prices range all over the board? Read on for more insight to selecting the right inventory management software for your business environment.



Well, we have tested many of these and have some answers for you. Many businesses work with small inventories or just need to manage a tool crib or a supply room. For businesses like this we suggest very simple and inexpensive inventory management software that can run on a standalone PC or on a network. Tool cribs either manage a check-in check-out process or they manage inventory reorder points and levels of consumables. For the consumable type tool cribs, we suggest the RedBeam Inventory Management Software.

This product is great for many of the following applications:

oTool Cribs

oSupply Rooms

oLaw Offices - Document Management

oLaboratories

oSmall to Medium Distributors

oAnd many more situations.

The Redbeam inventory management software will provide the user with Reporting that includes Reorder Points and forecasting, as well as quantities on hand and reports on usage by individual. RedBeam Inventory Tracking allows you to streamline the tracking of inventory levels and item movements in your warehouse, distribution center, stock room or store.

The RedBeam inventory tracking application comes in two versions, standard and mobile. The standard editions of the software allow for data collection using cabled barcode scanners attached to PC workstations. The mobile editions allow for data collection using cabled barcode scanners attached to PC workstations as well as the ability to collect data on scanner-enabled mobile computers. RedBeam Inventory Tracking supports Windows XP, Server 2003 and Vista.

The drawbacks to this program are that it is not customizable. The program stands on its own, using a Sequel Database. There can be custom programs written to make this program interface with a flat file upload. But other than that, you get what is in the package here. This is a great program at a great price.

If your applications require a more robust solution, our recommendation is the Intelitrack Inventory Management software that can meet many needs and can be customized to your personal needs. IntelliTrack provides affordable, easy to use inventory management software packages. Depending upon the size and complexity of your business, IntelliTrack has software that's the right fit. Intellitrack offers tailored modules such as WMS (Warehouse Management System) software and ISRP (Inventory, Shipping Receiving and Picking) software both with a standard application interface for easy integration with accounting software, or enterprise resource planning systems (ERP).

IntelliTrack will also custom make modules that will work within your system. The inventory management software is built on an open source platform and can be easily customized with extensions and modifications.

The drawback on this package is that it can be expensive to have the custom modifications performed. The overall cost here is still much less then a complete custom application build though. A complete custom project requires a dedicated programmer to dive into the code of your current system and then figure out matching code to develop from scratch a inventory management program that must be beta tested, de-bugged and then launched into production. Imaging the cost and time in this project.

Both of the off the shelf inventory management software programs can be downloaded in demo mode for testing, so give them a ride and see for yourself before making the purchase. It is well worth the effort.