The warehouse industry is constantly evolving, so you’ve likely heard talk about mobile warehouse solutions. But despite the many positive things you may have heard about this technology, you might still feel hesitant to incorporate it into your warehouse.
For example, perhaps you feel that the current system you have works well. Or maybe you have doubts about your employees’ willingness to learn a new system. There’s also a common concern among doubters about the reliability of mobile technology.
We’ll share ten reasons why changing to mobile technology will help your warehouse work more efficiently and increase profits – and address the concerns you may have around the technology.
10 Reasons to Switch to Mobile Warehouse Solutions
There’s no better time than now to implement mobile technology with your warehouse operations. Tech experts are constantly making improvements, meaning that any drawbacks that your colleagues may have told you about may already be an issue of the past.
Without further ado, here are ten ways that incorporating mobile warehouse technology will improve your business and keep your employees happier.
1. Streamline Supply Chain Operations
Running a warehouse can feel like a juggling game. You have the responsibility of safely storing your customers’ goods, responding quickly to complex supply needs, managing your employees, and ensuring your customers make timely payments.
By incorporating mobile technology, you’ll be able to boost your warehouse’s efficiency because you and your employees will have access to data that will allow you to make quick, informed decisions. Furthermore, many tedious manual processes will become automated, saving everyone time.
For example, no matter where your employees are in your warehouse, they’ll be able to create labels automatically instead of walking to another location. With a click of a button, they can send those labels to a mobile printer and reduce the time they spend walking to get these supplies.
Furthermore, managers need far more access to information than their employees. You can set up your employees’ apps with current mobile technology in such a way so they don’t have to sort through unnecessary data. This will help streamline their work and address potential privacy concerns.
2. Improve Financial Reporting & Opportunities
Mobile technology allows managers to receive a quick financial overview of the warehouse and an in-depth analysis of your company’s cash flow. As a result, you’ll be able to adapt more quickly to changing business needs and trends in the warehouse market space.
Aside from measuring basic financial stats like accounts payable and receivable, incorporating mobile technology in your warehouse will measure data across all departments. As a result, you’ll find opportunities to monetize the data.
Examples of ways you can use mobile technology for analyzing and improving your warehouse’s finances include:
- Building live models
- Seeing data simultaneously from several data sets and sources
- Breaking up data into various metrics to help identify trends
- Getting quick data on outstanding invoices
3. Increased Interaction Between Managers and Employees
Managers can’t be everywhere at once, so having a mobile app allows your employees to quickly and easily contact them with questions or issues.
Similarly, the manager will have access to real-time data. If they notice that an order is running behind schedule or something is out of place, they can check in with their employees to offer assistance.
Another advantage is that your manager can proactively offer praise when they see an employee or the team going above and beyond. That’ll boost morale and can potentially reduce your employee turnover rate.
Furthermore, since mobile technology helps remove some of a manager’s more time-consuming tasks that automation can take care of, they’ll be able to spend more face-to-face time with their employees. As a result, they can learn about and help their team overcome work-related challenges.
4. Enter Data Quickly
Did you know that approximately 33% of employees leave their job because of boredom? Furthermore, 43% to 53% of people feel bored at their job at any given moment. I think we can all agree that manually entering data for warehouse items isn’t a very stimulating task.
Mobile devices for warehouses eliminate the need for your employees to spend their time doing such jobs. By using RFID scanners and barcodes, you’ll receive data automatically for processes such as:
- Packing orders
- Receiving new shipments
- Performing cycle counts
Furthermore, you’ll receive the data via a user-friendly mobile app. You’ll have greater control over tracking your warehouse items, and the app will help you more easily identify areas where you could potentially increase your profit.
5. Instant Information Via a Mobile App
In today’s modern world, people expect to get information fast. However, old-style warehouse operations involve paperwork and inserting computer data that isn’t an online cloud. As a result, you can limit who can see the data and when you have access to it.
Even when you don’t have an Internet connection, you can still choose to store data offline. Then once you reconnect, you’ll instantly be able to see up-to-date data about the activity at your warehouse.
Using mobile technology will allow you to fine tune your warehouse management, catching potential issues and identifying areas for team-wide celebrations as they happen.
6. Improve Resource Management
Mobile technology is necessary if your goal is to improve warehouse efficiency, since it’ll help you manage your company’s resources better.
One of the most significant advantages of mobile apps is the ability to improve human resources. For starters, digitizing repetitive tasks frees up time for your employees to do more challenging jobs that require critical thinking.
Data allows managers to identify when they have too many or too few employees dedicated to a certain task or department. With this information, they can reorganize accordingly.
Using warehouse technology also supports resource management, because it will give you an in-depth understanding of accounts payable and receivable. You may gain a better understanding of when and where your warehouse spends its money and if there are any gaps in the resources it needs.
7. Increase Customer Satisfaction
Positive customer service experiences are a cornerstone of running a successful warehouse. According to Microsoft, over half of Americans change the company they work with if they have a poor customer service experience.
Mobile warehouse technology can improve your customer service in several ways. Examples include:
- Getting items shipped to your clients faster
- More accurate deliveries
- Improved one-on-one customer service experiences
Regarding one-on-one customer experiences, it’s critical that your employees have access to customer data quickly if they contact you with a question or complaint. Your customer service team can instantly view your customers’ order histories and requests with a mobile app. As a result, the team will be able to address customers’ questions or complaints more efficiently and knowledgeably.
8. Monitor Activities in Real Time
We mentioned real-time monitoring earlier, but this topic deserves its own section because it offers many benefits to warehouses that adopt mobile technology.
No one enjoys micromanagement, but knowing what’s going on in a warehouse is critical for managers. Therefore, mobile apps allow you to track everything happening at your warehouse in real-time without employees feeling uncomfortable or believing you don’t trust them.
Other advantages of using real-time monitoring include:
- Identifying potential issues before they occur
- Offering instant support when a problem happens
- Knowing which employees are on shift
- Enhancing employee productivity
9. Durable Computers
Manufacturers understand that devices will undergo a lot of wear and tear in warehouses. Therefore, computers and tablets designed for warehouses often have a rugged design and hold up well against concrete floors and run-ins with walls.
In fact, it’s common for these devices to have military-grade certification. Furthermore, they have strong wireless network connections and long-lasting batteries. You won’t have to worry about investing lots of money into repairs and maintenance after making your initial investment into this technology. You may even find the technology more durable than classic paper and clipboards.
10. Reduce Double Entries
Concerns about reliability are a common theme for warehouse managers and owners when considering switching over to mobile warehouse solutions.
However, the technology is so advanced that using older warehouse management strategies often leads to more mistakes than embracing mobile technology.
Traditional warehouse systems usually involve keeping a handwritten inventory and transferring that data to a computer. As a result, it opens the opportunity for a greater number of double entries. In contrast, mobile technology automatically gathers data on inventory and gives you a real-time assessment of its statistics and location within your warehouse. There isn’t a chance for double entries to occur when automation is the default.
The Bottom Line
There’s no better time than the present to switch over to mobile warehouse solutions. Warehouses across the globe are adopting this technology, and it’s critical to keep up with digital changes to stay competitive.
At Blue Horseshoe, our cutting-edge warehouse management mobile app will give you a detailed understanding of your warehouse’s finances. Furthermore, it’ll help free up your employee’s time spent on repetitive tasks and support your employees with responding to customers more efficiently.
You should have generated some new ideas after reading this essay. More recommendations are available on this page: 3 Things to Look For When Selecting an Industrial Space
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