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Inventory Software Buyer’s Guide

Your guide to help you choose an inventory management system

With so many different solutions, deciding which is the best type of inventory management software for your business is a challenge in and of itself. Download your free copy of our buyer’s guide to learn about the options available, how they function, and the pain points they solve.

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Inventory Software Buyer’s Guide

When a system claims they’re an all-in-one solution, they usually mean that they’re a Jack of all trades, master of none. How do you ensure you’re choosing the right software?

To cut through the noise, we’ve compiled this guide to help you understand what type of software your business needs and the benefits of adopting an IMS like Katana Cloud Inventory. 

About the guide

Don’t overwhelm yourself on your journey to implement software 

From understanding what type of software you might need to learning all about the major SaaS providers in the inventory management space — hit the ground running with all the information you need to make better purchasing decisions.

How to choose software  

Different software promises different results. You need to understand what you need from your software and if it’s the best one for the tasks you need to automate. That’s why we looked into the four best software choices for businesses that need to handle inventory, including advantages and disadvantages.  

Make a decision on implementing an inventory solution for your business based on how it functions  

Get buy-in from stakeholders

To adopt an inventory solution, you will likely need to get several others on board. That’s why we created our mini-guide to help you understand what others typically want when implementing a new system — from the C-suite to your accountant — making it easier to eliminate friction when investing in new software. 

Understand how to better pitch to others in your company when choosing a new inventory system 

When to get an ERP

For many SMBs handling physical inventory, it will likely come down to a choice between using a cloud-based IMS or an ERP system. To understand which one is best for you, this is the question that you’ll need to answer: Are you at the enterprise level where you need something this complicated to integrate?

Find out the main reasons and pain points why other businesses choose an IMS over an ERP 

Katana Cloud Inventory Software

Getting your products to customers faster

Katana supports your workflows no matter your industry with the features and seamless integrations you need to manage your business how you want.

Inventory management

Get real-time inventory insights of all your items and optimize your inventory levels based on demand.

  • Inventory management
  • Reorder points
  • End-to-end traceability
  • Multilocation support
  • Multichannel inventory
  • Product availability

Purchase management

Issue purchase orders for supplies and materials in Katana that are delivered directly to your warehouse or contract manufacturer.

  • Order management
  • Reorder points
  • Contract manufacturing
  • Flexible unit purchasing
  • Multicurrency
  • Purchasing insights

Sales order management

Consolidate all your online and offline sales channels and data into a single view for total omnichannel support. 

  • Kits and bundles
  • Traceability
  • Partial shipping and invoicing
  • Sales insights
  • Multicurrency
  • E-commerce integrations

Planning and forecasting

Make better data-driven decisions as Katana automates your inventory planning — using historical data to predict future demand.

  • Demand planning and forecasting
  • Flexible inventory control
  • Smart replenishment planning

Production management

Optimize your production and decrease lead times based on your bill of materials and operations data.

  • Real-time planning
  • Shop Floor App
  • Manufacturing costs
  • MTS and MTO workflows
  • BOM and subassemblies
  • Ingredient availability

Cloud accounting

Get your inventory and accounting data in sync to better understand your business’s finances.

  • Accounting integrations
  • Accurate costing
  • Sales order management
  • Katana Insights
  • Inventory management
  • Purchase order management

Warehouse management

Our Warehouse add-on provides all the tools and real-time insights to improve picking routes and manage receiving, mobile scanning, and printing — all from a mobile device. 

  • Bin locations
  • Traceability
  • Label printing
  • Barcode scanning
  • Stocktake
  • Warehouse app

Get visibility over your sales and stock

Wave goodbye to uncertainty by using Katana Cloud Inventory for total inventory control