Custom Software Development For Supply Chain Management

The main problem of any modern business is the market’s volatility. The tastes and priorities of the customers change at an incredible rate; new trends emerge almost every day, which is why a full and qualitative market analysis became a very difficult task. In fact, a volumetric analysis requires monitoring the market around the clock, which is very difficult to make by the old ways, without the help of custom developed software.

Due to impossibility of continuous market monitoring and analysis, managing the logistics, which is a complex science by itself, becomes a very difficult task that requires the presence of a huge team of expensive specialists. The modern market requires not only providing the customers with products and services that meet their requirements in a timely manner but also anticipating the demand trends for some time to come. Customer requirements are changing so quickly, that the goods ordered may become irrelevant at the time of delivery.

As a result, to make it so that wares wouldn’t gather dust at storages and the business was successful, the enterprise owners have two options:

– Hiring teams of highly paid logistics and market analysis experts, which will monitor the market trends 24/7 and work out a complex logistics system based on the analysis results;

or

– Implementing the Supply Chain Management using custom developed software applications.

Supply Chain Management with the help of custom developed web and mobile applications

Supply Chain Management (SCM) is a logistics and supplies management automation system based on continuous analysis of demands with the help of custom software applications development. The objective of SCM is not simply the control of the warehouse stocks, but the automation of all the logistical processes, including procurements. Ideally, the complete implementation of SCM into the business automates not only the purchases and development of the product transport chains (as well as their node components oversight) but also a non-stop unmanned market analysis, not to mention the benefits given by custom developed mobile applications.

What are the benefits of implementing the SCM?

The first and most important advantage of logistics automation systems is a notable economy. The introduction of the SCM into the business eliminates the need for a staff of specialists and analysts, the wages of which can be very high. SCM also allows minimizing the needed amount of administrative staff: a minimum team can manage logistics with the help of SCM. Thus, the automation of logistics management processes helps to maintain a successful business, with huge savings on hired staff.

Automatic demand forecasting is another important SCM benefit. As mentioned earlier, the modern market is particularly flexible; therefore, predicting the demand for goods “by hand” using the old methods of analysis is becoming increasingly difficult. A bad forecast, as is known, not only leads to the negation of profits, but also to the actual waste of the goods. Any unclaimed wares, in addition, occupy the precious storage space. SCM provides continuous market analysis by tracking the number of purchases of a specific product (including competitors’ sites) and, thanks to the information received, to make an accurate forecast of future sales. In conjunction with the possibility of automatic adjustment of the procurement processes, SCM will make your business the most attractive for the customers, reducing to a minimum the loss of the goods and the costs of market analysis.

Where is the SCM, and particularly, custom built software application, most suitable?

There are three main areas of business, for which the logistics management automation systems such as custom developed web and mobile apps, are most relevant:

1. Sales. Implementation of the SCM provides ways for more efficient management and allows decreasing the staff requirements. Custom software development helps to reduce the amount of website support personnel.
2. Storage inventory control. When using traditional business techniques, a number of goods at the warehouse’s inventory should be consistently high. The automatic market analysis will help to keep the number of goods in warehouses at a level, corresponding to the projective sales amount, which, in turn, reduces costs for supplies and products purchase.
3. Marketing analysis. Application of SCM to analyze the market will not only help to make accurate predictions of the sales amount but also, through continuous market research, to foresee the wanted trends in products that will be popular in the future, in part by monitoring the competitors’ online sales with a help of custom developed web apps. Thus, it is possible not only to obtain more precise predictions compared to manual research but to be one step ahead of the competition.

Conclusion

The market is changing constantly; every week new technologies enter the lives of people. The business also needs to embrace and adopt the new technological environment. Every day the old ways of doing things are becoming less effective, and soon, the business maintained by the “hand” will cease to generate income. Timely implementation of new strategies, such as the SCM, will not only save funds but also help to stay “on the wave” in a rapidly changing business world.