The last few years have taught us that unpredictable and unexpected events can have a devastating impact on businesses, economies, and the environment. When it comes to supply chains, the more prepared your business is, the quicker you can adjust to respond to these events. Keep reading for four ways Netstock and Dynamics 365 can build a recession-proof supply chain.
Customer demand turns on a dime. Two years ago, everyone stayed home with new appliances and furniture. Now they want luggage and cosmetics. Making the wrong decisions on what products to replenish or manufacture today could lead to shortages or overstocks and hurt your profit margins. How can you balance your supply chain and inventory planning? With two powerful tools: Netstock and Microsoft Dynamics 365. Netstock extracts and analyzes the data in your Microsoft Dynamics ERP, creating prescriptive recommendations to make smart supply chain planning decisions for your business.
Materials slowdowns due to unavoidable interruptions make it difficult to know what and how many products to order or manufacture to meet changing demand. Overorder, and you’ll tie up capital; underorder, and you’ll lose valuable customers. You may face reduced cash flow. And the reduced flow of goods may threaten your workforce. So how can Netstock and Dynamics 365 help you build a recession-proof supply chain? Here are four ways:
1. Dynamics 365 identifies high-velocity, profit-generating products
You need supplier performance visibility to know which stock items are moving and which are not. Netstock according to sales and velocity giving you visibility into your stock. Classify stock into A: highly profitable items, B: medium-range items, and C: less profitable items. You can quickly adjust to focus 20% of your attention on items that generate 80% of your sales.
Classifying products according to their sales velocity will guide your handling of excess products. If you have an excess of a fast-moving product, you just stop ordering until you are at your ideal stock level. But suppose you have an excess of slow-moving products. You’ll have to decide to sell those items at a reduced price through promotional campaigns or incur additional holding costs of carrying those products until needed. With the increase in inflation, selling off those excess products may be best.
2. Use supplier data to reduce risk
The more familiar you are with your suppliers and their performance, the better you can strategize. Missing out on sales can devastate your profits and the potential for repeat business. It’s more important than ever to evaluate your supplier network to ensure you have reliable suppliers who can support and improve target fill rates.
With Netstock software for Dynamics 365, you’ll have immediate visibility of supplier data. You can highlight which suppliers are consistently delivering on time and in full. Identify critical suppliers who may agree to re-negotiate better terms and conditions. Classify which suppliers you’d like to replace because of poor performance. Identify trends to see if you need alternative suppliers for your profit-generating products. Always follow and build strong relationships with your suppliers. Encourage two-way communication and choose suppliers with solid security processes in place to protect customer data. The more you know what’s going on with your suppliers, the better you will be able to adjust your planning where necessary to keep serving your customers.
3. Align supply and demand with S&OP
Whether circumstances beyond your control disrupt your business or you are introducing a new product line, your departments must work together. They need to use the same data to enhance forecasting, lower inventory costs and grow revenue through successful sales and marketing campaigns.
Netstock and Dynamics 365 for Supply Chain Management will improve your internal processes, leverage data across departments, and enable intelligent decision-making.
4. Ensure your planning solution equips your team for success
Management principles of aligning people, processes, and technology are crucial. A great team and effective strategies need the right technology to support your business goals. Excel spreadsheets limit your team’s ability to be agile and respond to change. The complexities of multi-departmental collaboration and the need for agility during rapid change call for robust supply-chain planning software.
Netstock will enhance data from your ERP with built-in best practices that automatically monitor demand and supply risk, track inventory levels to balance your investment and manage supplier data.
Netstock’s advanced supply chain solutions for Dynamics 365 will optimize your Microsoft Dynamics ERP data, providing predictive intelligence and visibility to confidently eliminate stock-outs, proactively plan for extended supplier lead times, and reduce excess stock.
Preparing your supply chain for a recession requires forethought. Take time to review your inventory planning processes. Investing in the right technology will also relieve traditional manual inventory processes, increasing your team’s productivity and ultimately increasing work satisfaction.
Integrating Netstock and Dynamics 365 will help you build a recession-proof supply chain. If you’d like to know more about what Netstock can do for your business, our experts at Netstock.
By Netstock,
