Impact of Information Technology on Inventory Control
Mankind has gone through so many changes throughout our existence, even from the time of our oldest ancestors, the Australopithecus afarensis. The transitions in our human history, have not only been physical in nature—those seen in the building of great cities and societies but also in the nature of the technologies and resources that mankind has been able to enhance in order for him to answer his everyday needs.
Mankind has used his resources and made it into objects that are useful to him from time immemorial. From the basic stone and wooden tools of thousands of years ago, to the more complicated computers and electronics that we use today, mankind has shown his invaluable ingenuity and creativity in inventing objects to be utilized.
As the world societies grow larger and larger, the need of man has also been considerably altered as from his needs a thousand years ago. Because of this phenomenon, many new technologies are now obtainable to us in so many different channels that a person may even be capable of achieving a sort of diminishing marginal utility. So much knowledge has now been formulated by scholars and scientists alike that can now be readily available to us, whenever one may choose to attain it.
Our mere way of life is now so altered that even our daily transactions, in family, business and work is presented with so much information complementary to it that we may be getting an overload of information. We are now faced with a need to organize and reorganize these bodies of information constantly so as to be able to keep track of which are ones are actually useful and which ones are contrary[1].
Especially in the corporate setting—from simple small medium enterprises to big companies—information and transmission of these company-based pieces of information are important to any company. Information may be defined as the foundations of any company as it holds all and any important fundamentals which support the existence of the company. In this situation, information technology has gone through a new age which has now greatly revolutionized the fare retailers and consumers alike. Science and technology has now helped retailers or vendors with a new breed of software which enables retailers to take care of all their inventory information[2].
Inventory control is an important branch in company transactions especially for retailers or wholesale vendors. A company’s resources are invaluable to entrepreneurs especially because they need to keep track of all the comings and goings of the capital in order to economize their profits and capital. Inventory control with the help of information technology gives entrepreneurs an edge in accessing their file systems without having to mess up any kind of physical files. The hassle of physical documents makes it so much costly, not to mention troublesome, for entrepreneurs to control inventory.
Inventory control in simple terms is the system with which any company takes note of all the products they are handling and the transactions completed in trading their products to produce financial profits. Inventory control is needed to help customers in selecting the products of their choice and finalizing the transactions. Upon finalization, the system would automatically take note of the change in number of the stocks and also the information regarding the buyers. It also helps to ascertain which products would need refreshments in stock number and which products would need replacing in any case of goods that are easily spoiled[3].
The inventory control system is now able to provide for the information management needs of the company. Costs are mostly depleted; therefore it provides more savings for the capitalist in terms of labor costs in the need for employing more personnel for the job that can already be filled with one with the aid of the inventory control system. It can now help the inventory manager in easily and automatically ascertaining the costs of holding stocks and prepare to deal with any oncoming shortages in stocks. Costs in procuring more stocks for retailers are also depleted because now, a system can already connect with another producer company in placing orders for new stocks.
All in all, such advancements have truly helped in the retail industry from producers to retailers and the costumers themselves. Transactions are now made easily and more economically, therefore making life a little easier for everyone.
References
Axsäter, S. 2006, Inventory Control, Springer Science & Business Media, LLC, NY, USA
Ditsa, G 2003. Information management: support systems and multimedia technology, IRM Press, USA
Encyclopedia Britannica 2010, Inventory control system, Encyclopedia Britannica, Inc, Chicago, USA
[1] Ditsa, G 2003. Information management: support systems and multimedia technology, IRM Press, USA
[2] Axsäter, S. 2006, Inventory Control, Springer Science & Business Media, LLC, NY, USA
[3] Encyclopedia Britannica 2010, Inventory control system, Encyclopedia Britannica, Inc, Chicago, USA
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