{"id":18573,"date":"2023-03-28T14:14:27","date_gmt":"2023-03-28T12:14:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.digdash.com\/?p=18573"},"modified":"2023-04-25T14:46:32","modified_gmt":"2023-04-25T12:46:32","slug":"alternative-to-excel-for-stock-and-supply-management","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.digdash.com\/en\/news-articles\/tips-and-tricks\/alternative-to-excel-for-stock-and-supply-management\/","title":{"rendered":"What is the alternative to Excel for stock and supply management?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Supply management is crucial to the day-to-day running of a business. However, many companies still rely on unsuitable tools that quickly show their limitations. In this context, Business Intelligence is an excellent alternative to Excel for inventory management.<\/b><\/p>\n

Stock and supply management: what is it?<\/b><\/h2>\n

Inventory management <\/b>is a set of techniques for controlling the flow of goods in and out of the warehouse. For the company, the objective is to guarantee the immediate availability of any product in the event of an order, in order to meet demand. At the same time, it must limit storage costs as much as possible, while avoiding losses and waste.<\/span><\/p>\n

Depending on the company and the sector, stored goods can take different forms. <\/span>In retail<\/span><\/a>, they are finished products for sale. In industry, on the other hand, it may be raw materials or intermediate products.<\/span><\/p>\n

Supply management <\/b>involves the acquisition of new goods, whether they are raw materials for the manufacture of products, products for resale to the end customer or goods for storage. It is therefore an integral part of inventory management.<\/span><\/p>\n

The limits of stock management with Excel<\/b><\/h2>\n

Many companies use a spreadsheet program such as Excel, Numbers, or Google Sheets <\/b>to manage their supply chain. This type of software has the advantage of being versatile and flexible, as it is used by all functions of the company. It is also relatively inexpensive, if not completely free: this is the case with free alternatives such as LibreOffice Calc.<\/span><\/p>\n

With a spreadsheet, it is possible to sort and classify products according to predefined criteria, to make automatic calculations for inventory management, to generate graphical representations for analysis… All this with an unlimited volume of information and easily shareable files.<\/span><\/p>\n

However, <\/span>using Excel for stock management is not a miracle solution <\/b>and the spreadsheet has its limitations:<\/span><\/p>\n