It seems like managing inventory in your business should be a straightforward process, right? Count the items in your warehouse, track their movements, and reorder them when they get low. The reality is anything but simple, as Sunshine Coast founder and CEO of Strucket, Kelly Lavery, found out when her business started to expand rapidly.
Challenge
“In the early days of Strucket, we would do everything manually. There was often a lot of scrambling and trying to work out exactly where we were at and hoping we had the numbers right”, Lavery said.
“We started with one pallet of stock in a tiny room and it just grew and grew and grew and we discovered that if you don’t have your systems in place to grow, that’s going to be your biggest problem.”
The business, originally named Buderim Bucket Company, started small back in 2018, but as they grew more successfully with social media, the company grew rapidly and it became obvious that the business needed a better way to take control of stock and their ordering process.
“We realized quite quickly as we were going through that something had to change…We were moving so fast and we didn’t want to slip up and make mistakes, so we needed excellent systems put in place and luckily, through local community we found Fishbowl and that was the problem solved.”
Solution
“We have a lot of clients with a very similar story to this,” said Fishbowl APAC Managing Director, Simon Jupe, “Managing inventory involves numerous tasks and components that all need to work in harmony on a continuing basis to produce the desired results. Most businesses start small and with very manual processes, but to take your business to the next level, you really need to have the right tools and the right automation to help you scale appropriately.”
Allowing Fishbowl to automate the details
Fishbowl is an inventory management solution that provides features and functionality for small to enterprise-sized warehousing and manufacturing businesses. Fishbowl performs inventory management tasks such as barcoding, serial numbers, batch tracking, advanced bill of materials, and work orders. The solution provides seamless accounting integrations with Intuit QuickBooks Online, Xero, and Reckon Accounts.
“Our software solution provides our clients with granular visibility into their operations, efficiency to streamline and grow, and flexibility to customize today and in the future, all at a fraction of the cost of other ERP systems on the market.” – Simon Jupe, Managing Director
There’s a lot more than just functionality to consider when deciding to take on an inventory management system to improve the way your business operates. Implementation and onboarding are crucial elements in the process too. How the system is set up and how staff perceive the need for the solution play important roles in the system succeeding.
Result
When speaking about the setup and service provided by Fishbowl, Lavery said, “It was great to get help from a real person. It was refreshing to be able to resolve issues in a timely and efficient manner and at the same time be heard and respected as a customer. It’s hard to get that kind of service these days.
Using Fishbowl’s automation to focus on more strategic work that drives business results
“While there were quite a few things to figure out when we first implemented Fishbowl, I just love it now because it allows me to take care of the operational side of the business. I can access reports and always know where my stock is. And what that does is it gives me the ability to focus on what I’m good at, and that is the product development for Strucket and the sales and marketing so that we can continue to sell Strucket worldwide.”
Strucket continues to rely on Fishbowl to streamline their operational processes into efficient workflows so they can be at their best for their customers.
