With the currency market bouncing up and down, transportation costs rising and emerging technologies changing the supply chain management game.

Businesses need to adopt flexible strategies to ensure their inventory management systems are able to cope with the unpredictable nature of running of business in 2014.

While there are many things you can’t control (like currency markets and petrol costs) there are many things that you can control and one of the major hallmarks of any successful business is the ability to predict, adapt and react quickly to change. Here are a few, strategic changes that once implemented could improve your businesses flexibility and adaptability, resulting in significant long-term gains in productivity and profitability for your business.

Use real-time data

Using an operating system that works off real-time data is an essential element of inventory management. Analysing data off a complicated excel spreadsheet is fast becoming a thing of the past. Emerging technologies have enabled businesses to review supply and demand trends and stock numbers using real-time data, which means that you are seeing the real picture, in real time. Real-time data gives you a more accurate picture of what is going on in your supply chain, empowering you to react faster to potential issues and solve problems before or as they happen, resulting in real cost savings.

Utilise mobiles and tablets for business

If you’re using a smart phone in your personal life and an iPad when at home, then why aren’t you using them in your business too? The intuitive design, superior usability, and relatively low cost make these devices a great asset to any business, but particularly for the supply chain management sector. Whether it is a manager accessing cloud-based sales data from a mobile device when on the road or a warehouse supervisor checking stock numbers from the warehouse floor or a pick packer packing orders from a tablet, mobile devices and tablets enable staff and management to react quickly to changes as they happen.

Increase the frequency of your periodic reviews

It’s easy to get bogged down in day-to-day operations and forget about the importance of periodic reviews. With change occurring at a more rapid rate than any other period in history, it’s important to perform periodic reviews of your inventory management at a greater frequency than you have done in the past. During a review you may tweak your slotting, identify a new fast-moving item or recognise that you need to completely overhaul your supply chain management system. Unless you are continuously reviewing your inventory management processes, you’re not going to identify the very things that could save your business time and money.