What We’ve Learned from Customers
Across industries, businesses face complex inventory challenges that impact their operations. Two sectors where these challenges are particularly pronounced are manufacturing and retail.
Manufacturing Industry: Navigating Supply Chain Disruptions
In manufacturing, companies are contending with global supply chain disruptions. The ongoing trade tensions, raw material shortages, and rising energy costs make it difficult to maintain efficient inventory levels. Striking the right balance—avoiding both overstocking and stockouts—remains a persistent struggle.
Additionally, sustainability goals are often compromised due to reactive measures. For example, one-off air shipments to meet sudden demand spikes may address short-term needs but undermine long-term operational efficiency. These factors collectively contribute to a prolonged bullwhip effect, creating ripple disruptions across the supply chain.
A major challenge we’ve observed is limited inventory visibility—whether for raw materials, sub-assemblies, or finished goods. Without real-time insights, manufacturers struggle to proactively adjust inventory levels and mitigate supply chain risks.
Retail Industry: Meeting Rising Consumer Expectations
Retailers face a different but equally pressing set of challenges. The consolidation of ocean freight carriers and tightening logistics capacities have created bottlenecks in supply chains. At the same time, consumers are increasingly rejecting long delivery times, putting brand loyalty at risk.
The expectation for fast delivery—often within two days—has become a new industry benchmark, pushing retailers to optimize inventory management and fulfillment operations. However, many businesses in this sector also suffer from limited visibility into their distributed inventory networks, making it difficult to adapt dynamically to demand fluctuations.
A Composable Solution for Inventory Management
Given these challenges, businesses need an integrated and flexible approach to inventory management—one that works with existing systems and consolidates data across multiple channels.
This is where Inventory Visibility Service comes in.
How Inventory Visibility Service Helps
Inventory Visibility Service provides a highly composable solution that acts as a middleware layer, enabling seamless inventory data management across multiple systems.
Here’s how it works:
- Seamless Integration with Omni-Channel Systems
- The service consolidates and aggregates inventory updates from various systems, creating a unified, real-time view of inventory.
- It ensures smooth data synchronization across channels, helping businesses scale best practices.
- Automated Inventory Updates in D365 Finance & Operations
- Inventory updates are automatically posted in the Inventory Adjustment Journal, ensuring real-time synchronization between external systems and D365 Finance & Operations.
- This eliminates manual interventions, reducing errors and improving efficiency.
- Enhanced Resilience & Flexibility
- The composable architecture allows businesses to manage inventory processes with greater autonomy.
- Companies can adapt and evolve their inventory strategies without disrupting existing operations.
Final Thoughts
With supply chain volatility becoming the norm, businesses must prioritize real-time inventory visibility and agility. By leveraging Inventory Visibility Service, companies can overcome operational blind spots, streamline inventory updates, and enhance fulfillment efficiency—ultimately staying ahead in an increasingly dynamic market.