One of the daily can’t-miss shows in American media is Marketplace. It’s an absolute staple for both macro and micro analysis of the current financial and business climate, thanks in part to its likeable host, Kai Ryssdal — who has a great name, by the way! Many of you are surely dedicated listeners as well.
An episode from last week opened with a segment that caught our ears because it called out our favorite hobbyhorse – spreadsheets.
The piece, from reporter Gigi Douban, discussed dwindling worker productivity in America. Decades ago, the workplace saw a productivity revolution from a variety of tools and tech that are now retrograde, and businesses are struggling to move beyond their dated tech solutions.
Douban reports, “Love it or hate it, the spreadsheet is one of those things that changed the way companies did business.”
But that important change happened in the 90s and 00s. Has the technology that runs Excel and other spreadsheet apps hit a ceiling?
In some critical applications, we at Netstock believe it has.
There are now inexpensive and purpose-specific tools available, often deployed in the cloud, and they represent the next generation of tools that can again boost productivity.
As you know, our area of specialty is what we like to call “Inventory Optimization.” We recently penned a series of blog posts detailing the many pitfalls of using a spreadsheet to manage Inventory Replenishment tasks in inventory-based businesses. We’ve also presented that argument in the form of a webinar multiple times.
It is quite clear to us that it’s nearly impossible to design a spreadsheet to aggregate all of the data required to properly forecast demand, assess risk factors to calculate safety stock, and produce optimal purchase orders. Only an application designed for that specific purpose will fit the bill , a true Inventory Management System.
And that is what we have dedicated our company to producing: a cloud-delivered SaaS application for the middle market firm that is a slave to their “masterxxxx.xls” inventory spreadsheet.
This is why we believe that when it comes to Inventory Optimization, it’s time to ditch the spreadsheets. Moving beyond the tools of a prior era will provide a competitive advantage to businesses willing to integrate newer tech solutions.
We think you’ll agree, and we suggest you take a moment to learn more about our inventory replenishment app.
