34% of businesses have shipped an order late because they accidentally sold a product that was not in stock. (Source: Reliant Funding)
The above statistic highlights the significance of efficiently managing inventory to ensure business profitability. Unfortunately, some businesses fail to effectively manage their products or materials. A few businesses stock too little inventory, resulting in the loss of customers. On the other hand, some overstock items, causing cash flow issues. The remaining are aware that inventory management has entered Industry 4.0, the era of increased automation, informed data, and smart machines and factories.
The advanced technologies and their interrelations are changing the nature of inventory management with respect to data usability and visibility.
Integrating a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system into an inventory management system allows businesses to effectively track and manage their inventory and customer data in a single system rather than using separate systems for each function. It improves customer service and inventory tracking, enhances sales and marketing efforts, streamlines operations, and increases efficiency. This influences every essential business function including accounting, production, warehouse management, purchasing, sales, and customer service.
Must-Have Modules in CRM for your Inventory System
The modules in CRM that make up inventory management systems vary by provider and price. Allow us to help you integrate functionality into your inventory management through our leading Salesforce development company in India. The most common inventory management modules in CRM include:
E-commerce Modules
E-commerce inventory management is a crucial system that can help retailers grow their business in various aspects. This technology enables business owners to streamline their warehousing operations and make intelligent financial decisions. Every business has unique needs that require different strategies to monitor inventory. Based on that, there are different approaches available to fit a specific business model.
- ABC Management - Using this analysis enables businesses to sell various product lines that enable customized restocking strategies for each category type.
- Just-in-time Inventory - Just-in-time inventory method, or JIT, is a strategy implemented by businesses that only need to stock orders as they are purchased by customers.
- Dropshipping - Dropshipping is a circuitous inventory practice where the business owners are not involved. Instead, when a customer places an order, the business owner sends the request to the manufacturer who directly sends it to them.
- First In, First Out - First in, first out (FIFO) means that products are fulfilled based on the order they were received, making it ideal for retailers with goods that have expiration dates.
- Safety stock - Unlike JIT, Safety stock is a popular inventory management strategy where the retailers hold extra inventory in case demand increases unexpectedly.
Accounting Modules
Inventory management systems often contain accounting modules to help businesses maintain precise financial records related to their inventory. These modules keep track of inventory costs, calculate the value of goods sold, and provide insights into profitability and financial performance.
Data Administration Modules
These modules offer various functionalities such as data entry, data import and export, data cleansing, and data analysis to ensure that inventory data is accurate, consistent, and easily accessible.
Warehouse Management Modules
The warehouse management module is designed to optimize warehouse operations and inventory movements by providing features to manage storage locations, organize picking and packing processes, and coordinate inbound and outbound logistics. It also helps to optimize space utilization for efficient warehouse management.
Order Management Modules
The order management module is responsible for handling the entire order lifecycle, from order placement to fulfillment. It includes features such as order entry, validation, processing, and tracking to ensure timely order fulfillment.
Sales & Marketing Modules
The Sales & Marketing modules provide various features for managing customer orders and information. The Sales module offers quick links to different aspects of the system manager related to customer orders and information processing. The system manager also comes with a range of reports that you can utilize to gather, print out, and share information on sales trends, payments, and other aspects of your business.
Analytics & Reporting Modules
Monitoring the performance of your business is crucial for understanding how it works, how much it sells, and how much profit it makes. By collecting and analyzing data across different modules and departments, you can identify your weaknesses and adjust your strategy accordingly. The Analytics and Reporting Modules can help you create various inventory-related reports such as incoming stock reports, location reports, and inventory value reports. You can also keep track of your order and shipment status, monitor your suppliers, track production efficiency metrics, generate sales summaries, and much more.
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CRM Integration with Evon
Poorly integrated CRM systems, or ones that do not align with your business processes, can cause significant problems. We at Evon, not just manage your integration infrastructure but also leverage it to enhance the value of your CRM system. A good CRM system places the customer at the center of everything it does. Our aim is to ensure that your CRM investment is profitable by constructing a framework that is tailored to your specific needs, right from the moment it is launched. And if you are struggling with a system that is not working for you currently, we will assist you in transforming it into the ideal fit. Get in touch with us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.