The technology sector, which has grown in and of itself in the last decade at least, has had a massive impact on business and continues to shape the evolution of business in the near future. Here are the up and coming technological trends which will impact businesses.

Environmentally sustainable

Environmental sustainability seems to be the name of the game in most industries and if a company wishes to be successful and make a big impact, they have no choice but to get on board. Therefore, any technologies that have a low environmental impact themselves or enable production of better, more ‘green’ products, will likely be a huge hit in the market. Consumers, thanks to awareness and the internet, have a far superior understanding now more than ever about methods of production and how their choices impact their environment. When conducting business, it pays to cater to this trend.

Connect

The internet has changed everything for human connection over the last few years. Both professionally and personally, the internet enables connections between people that might ordinarily not have occurred, albeit facilitated by an LCD screen. ‘Cyber’ connections have become so frequent and popular that they have even become a precursor to a physical connection. For example, when applying for a job with a company, it is not unusual for the prospective employee’s personal Facebook page to be viewed and the hiring company may well ask for the link to a LinkedIn page. Therefore, one can even go as far as to say it is beneficial to buy into this trend and ensure social media is utilised effectively for optimal business opportunities.

Virtual Reality

Virtual reality is a massive area of development in the technological world and being used by a variety of companies for training and educating employees and customers. It allows realistic simulation of situations that may only happen on occasion in reality, thereby reaching a superior level of training and expertise. It also facilitates cost-savings and ease of use as experts are not required to be in many places at once, training users all over the world.

Drones

The use of drones is spilling over from the home hobbyists arena to the business world. Companies such as Villaway are using drones to do vacation home property tours with film companies making use of the size and accessibility of drones to capture hard-to-get camera shots and angles. Most recently, Amazon is investigating the use of drones to do home deliveries so they can reach a sub-30 minute delivery target. This has been dubbed ‘Prime Air’ and is still in investigative phases but is set to be very promising indeed.

Although the tools and technology that back the supply chain have constantly changed, the aim of supply chain planning has remained constant: to get the right product to customers in a timely manner, and to safeguard against stock outs and other inventory issues. Having picked the low hanging fruit over three decades of continuous improvement, inventory management leaders are now turning to automation to bring even greater efficiency and visibility to the supply chain. What does greater supply chain automation mean for your business?

Automation: A Primer

Individual aspects of the supply chain have been automated previously, such as procurement, inventory receipt, warehousing, stock taking and order fulfilment. Although automating these tasks, or parts of these tasks, generally reduces lead times, the time needed to link up each stage of the supply chain remains a liability. Additionally, where people working in different areas of the business fail to communicate well, any efficiency gains can be quickly lost.

Supply chain automation involves connecting automation at each stage of the supply chain, running the supply chain as one interdependent process. For example, an obvious approach to automation involves linking manufacturing with procurement; when a manufacturer creates an assembly in inventory management software, business rules can define whether the inventory management software should initiate a new order to replace the used inventory. If inventory is below a certain level of safety stock, the inventory management software may generate a purchase order and send it to the procurement manager for approval. In the past, stock may only have been ordered in response to a stock take.

Potential Gains from Increasing Automation

All too often, businesses are slow to respond to inventory management issues that need an urgent response. This is understandable – inventory managers are busy and often have to manage a number of competing priorities. Automation can relieve some of this pressure, making it possible to run a number of inventory control tasks in parallel. By automating core inventory management tasks, issues are spotted and dealt with immediately instead of waiting to be caught at the next scheduled stock take.

By linking the entire supply chain together, supply chain automation makes it easier to make strategic decisions that affect the entire supply chain. Modelling the impact of a given change to one aspect of the supply chain is much easier when data from each stage are linked up. For example, if your business is considering reducing order frequency to take advantage of off peak transport, a full suite of inventory management data would make it easier to understand the impact on production, sales and order fulfilment.

In the same vein, automation may soon be used to manage the impact of adverse inventory control events with minimal staff intervention. If a supplier runs out of inventory, a highly automated system may be able to identify which other suppliers have capacity and modify procurement plans to compensate. For many businesses, increasing automation may reduce supply chain vulnerability and improve their ability to respond to adverse events. This is likely to smooth out lead times and make it easier to adopt a lean approach to inventory management.

Whether or not your business has automated its inventory control, it is worth staying up to date with the latest trends. As more businesses move to managing multiple inventory tasks in a parallel process, small businesses will need to work hard to manage inventory efficiently and keep up.

Here are the key technological trends of 2017 to particularly take note of so businesses can quickly implement new tools and strategies for greater success, improved inventory management and improved customer interaction.

Companies that connect to the customer

As opposed to directly selling a product, we have seen a rise in companies looking to connect consumers with a service. Take for example, AirBnb and Uber. They have allowed the millennials cohort to live an asset-light life that is seen as a relatively affordable option.

Drone technology

Drones have become the must-have toy throughout the world. However, businesses are starting to leverage the technology for enhanced customer experiences. Take for example Uber Eats, who haves started to implement food service delivery in parts of the US via drones.

Creating a personal brand

New and emerging digital platforms allow businesses and individuals to distinguish themselves from competitors by building a personal brand, which consumers are very receptive towards.

This personal brand is how businesses are gaining individuality when marketing themselves to an audience. Social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and Pinterest, allow audiences to feel connected to businesses while learning about the brand values and vision. Having this platform allows customers to follow a brand they feel they can resonate with.

Artificial intelligence

In 2017, we have seen the rise of machines that can learn and complete tasks that would normally require human intelligence. For example, we have already caught a glimpse of machines that can problem-solve on their own, like self-driving cars from Google. In the next year, we will be exposed to more machines that can adapt and learn skills only we as humans have possessed thus far. You can already even request a fully autonomous Uber in some parts of the world. Inventory management automation is another way to make your business more competitive.

Remote employees

Some businesses suggest that there is a shortage of skilled labour, however as the digital space allows employees to complete work assignments from just about anywhere, more employees are seeking a flexible schedule and the comfort of working from home.

Remote employees allow an employer to have access to talent all over the world. Communication tools such as Google Hangouts, FaceTime, and Skype allow employers to have face-to-face meetings with employees who are not physically present. If the right processes are implemented then this is more than possible to achieve and fill the gap of skilled labour in the technological sector.

…that does away with ledgers, physical records and even Excel sheets. The inventory management software we are talking about affords freedom and peace-of-mind to the end user who is no longer attached to a clipboard and relegated to the depths of the warehouse come stocktake time.

Inventory management software incorporates a range of attributes which that are designed to optimise transparency, accessibility, accuracy in an all in one easy-to-grasp package. Read on to learn more about some of the common features good inventory management systems possess.

Keeping track of inventory

Inventory management denotes the practice of ensuring inventory stock is always in balance with goods receipted in and product being sold. This is, of course, to minimise storage and holding costs and maximise sales and profits. Therefore, in a balanced system, it is imperative to know exactly where inventory stock is in the supply chain so that decisions can be made around the replenishment of stock through ordering or prediction of sales for budgeting purposes. But how is this achieved? Most commonly, this accurate level of tracking is achieved by using barcodes and barcode scanners. This enables each item to be ‘named’ and tracked with a unique identifier. Now, this can also be done through the use of RFIDs (radio-frequency identification tags), batch or lot control and kitting to name a few. The sole purpose across all methods remains to accurately track the inventory stock through the supply chain and manufacturing process.

Security

As soon as commercial or personal data is uploaded to the internet, it is of enormous importance to protect it and ensure its integrity remains intact. Therefore, inventory management software must have security at the fore of its focus. It must protect and uphold customer data always from increasing global cyber threats. In tandem with this is the provision of daily backups which are essential to have especially in times when the system fails and information is needed to be retrieved. Ensure security and backups are a feature provided by the provider offering its services.

Grows with you

A good inventory management software package should have built-in scalability that allows it to grow with the business. By putting in the hard yards with research at the start, it is a lot easier and cheaper to upgrade a dynamic system to suit the company’s needs rather than a completely new package being required.

Learns to share

An inventory management system needs to be good at communicating (integrating) with other systems to prove its worthiness and effectiveness. Data often needs to flow from inventory management software to the CRM, ERP, accounting and other management systems. If all this sharing happens automatically with few errors, then the system starts to become optimised and the need for manual corrections and control is kept to a minimum. Unleashed Software integrates with other best of breed softwares to give you a holistic business solution.

Automatic ordering

With the newly developed software systems incorporating multi-channel stock management technology, it is possible for the software to generate a purchase order based on inventory stock levels. This saves time for the user who would otherwise be required to take stock of the warehouse and bill for product they may require.

Reporting

Often, the inventory management data of a company is used to increase efficiency and identify gaps in the process so to create a smooth workflow. This reporting ability is also beneficial to shine a light on the buying practices of the customer-base so that their choices regarding product purchase can be somewhat pre-empted. Some of the reports software systems should provide include the following: inventory summaries and totals, transaction reports and order history. Of course, it is also essential that any report generated can be understood and acted upon if need be. The software system can generate a lot of data based on the inventory stock, however it is the manipulation and report generation of the data which translates it into something practical from which staff can make informed decisions regarding ordering and stock control to optimise storage and sales.

Check out this Unleashed Academy video to find out what a great inventory management software should offer you.

By implementing online inventory management, managers and business owners are able to monitor stock levels in Bristol while on holiday in Brussels.

Cloud has become the new normal, particularly in Europe; 2016 estimates suggest that almost 70% of UK and Irish businesses use at least one cloud service on a regular basis. For businesses, the benefits of the cloud are clear – reliability, ease of access, lower service costs and innovative products.

That said, the cloud is a relatively new innovation and the market for cloud services is still transforming rapidly. Industry leaders agree that the cloud market is entering a ‘second wave’, with cloud services expected to undergo a further round of disruptive transformation. Here are several trends to be prepared for.

Private Cloud is on the Way Out

Private cloud services describes cloud computing that is implemented on a corporate intranet or behind a corporate firewall. A private cloud is intended to offer the same functionality as systems hosted in the cloud at large, while mitigating concerns about data ownership and control, security and regulatory compliance. Private cloud services offer a good compromise between cloud functionality and traditional market or regulatory requirements. But as understanding and expectations of cloud providers evolve, consumers and regulators are increasingly comfortable with hybrid or public cloud infrastructure.

Private cloud is likely to have a place going forward, but only in the most security sensitive applications such as government or corporate wealth. Although functions such as inventory management are still sensitive, cloud providers are capable of delivering a high security standard (which, for many customers, is likely to exceed the protection provided by traditional firewalls and antivirus software). Online inventory management products will be almost exclusively delivered on public clouds.

Flexibility as a Driver of Cloud Adoption

Many cloud providers cite cost savings as a key reason to migrate to the cloud; cloud services are often cheaper and can create useful tax savings, such as being able to treat software expenses as operating rather than capital expenditure. However, as the cloud market matures, cloud operators are now placing more of an emphasis on flexibility and business agility than on aggressively reducing prices. For example, online inventory management solutions are already significantly cheaper than enterprise licensed inventory software was several years ago. In practice, businesses should expect slightly less price competition between cloud solutions as providers seek to compete on agility and function.

Increasing Difficulty with Traditional Software

Most businesses still rely on traditional on-premises software, including downloaded inventory software. As the market for cloud software expands, traditional software vendors are likely to struggle to keep up. Some developers are likely to go out of business, while many others will refocus on the cloud. If your business still relies on traditional software, consider a plan to migrate to cloud solutions, particularly if that software is in a vulnerable industry such as accounting, customer relationship management or inventory management software.

IoT Solutions Will Expand

For many years, the ‘internet of things’ has largely been limited to hypothetical and test solutions. IoT solutions are increasingly finding their way into everyday business and offer opportunities to increase efficiency and reduce waste. In inventory management, for example, the increasing adoption of RFID tags creates opportunities for physical inventory to synchronise with the cloud, effectively managing itself.

Increasing Integration

Cloud applications are increasingly differentiating themselves based on their ability to integrate various aspects of your business’ workflow. An online inventory management offering, for example, may integrate with your point of sale, ecommerce, shipping and accounting products, all of which may be in the cloud.

In general, it is used to improve efficiency for companies.

Why is this important? Numerous industry reports suggest that B2B eCommerce sales will top 1 trillion by 2020. This is because a growing number of retailers now expect the process of buying from a supplier to be as easy as making a business to consumer purchase. This trend, along with the rise of B2B marketspaces such as Amazon business has acted as a catalyst for the adoption of B2B wholesale eCommerce technology among manufacturers and distributors. This has made it easier than ever to facilitate B2B market transactions.

1. eCommerce is cost effective

There are few costs to setting up and getting online. Apart from the initial investment in software and the associated technology for this, getting online is more cost effective than you think. It’s another marketing platform, where the cost is not what is important here, it’s about how much money you will save and moreover, how much you could potentially be making with this hugely effective channel.

2. Print catalogues are obsolete

With technological advances, it’s no doubt that digital is becoming the preference for all things word related, and wholesale catalogues fall into that category. This is because with the use of smart phones and tablets, information is more easily accessible to the consumer – it’s literally at their fingertips. This move to digital actually makes it easier to show off your products. Moving online allows you to update your virtual catalogue with just a few clicks and the bonus is that you don’t have to deal with stacks of catalogues and obsolete print.

3. Retailer adoption

Once you are online, it’s time to get retailers on board. The best strategy to adopt will be determined by your client base. Smaller businesses will likely find it more productive to rely on direct phone outreach and in-person meetings, whereas larger businesses may tend towards email campaigns and direct mail.

4. Data driven

Analytics and data are important from the perspectives of both client acquisition and retention. A real understanding of certain key metrics and key performance indicators, such as the number of visitors, engagement, and ROI on marketing investment compared to other methods, will enable you to improve your online portal usability and conversion rates over time.

This area is a good example of where IT, sales and marketing departments need to overlap for the data to be converted into actionable insights. There are huge opportunities for segmented targeting, demographic profiling and more. You can also incorporate feedback mechanisms, such as surveys, directly into the buying process. There is a wealth of information at your fingertips that is too precious to ignore!

B2B eCommerce for wholesalers is shaping the world we do business in. It is important to know these facets that are driving this platform. If you aren’t already online you are missing out on a huge opportunity that is here to stay. So, get online a grow your B2B eCommerce wholesaling business now.