Attention IT & Admin Teams – Are you Wasting Budget On Unnecessary Expenses?
Question: What is the impact of lack of trackable access to necessary office supplies?
Answer: Dollars that could have been put in your pocket!
IT support teams are always trying to manage “Just-In-Time” inventory to ensure that the right supplies are available to the employees who need them. This helps them to operate on a lean budget without sacrificing productivity. However, there is seldom a situation where all employees use the resources fairly and equally. The result is unavailability of the necessary office supplies for those who are in desperate need.
Allowing such disproportionate consumption of supplies is avoidable with the help of iVendTech. Not doing so will encourage hoarding of resources or irresponsible usage. This can be expensive for the business and frustrating for those who are denied these supplies.
Tangible Costs: When Trackable Assets Turn into Liabilities.
An office environment that cannot provide sufficient supplies and prevent waste of resources faces measurable burdens on cost. They drag down profits and performance. In some cases, they can also have an impact on revenue. Let us explore how.
Cost of inventory
It is a no-brainer that overuse of supplies results in increased costs. It means businesses have to buy more, store more and, in the process, waste more. The cost of procurement increases and so does the cost of moving, holding and distributing inventory.
- Buy More: Consider a scenario where a policy change cascades on to the organization. It suddenly renders all the inventory obsolete or useless while forcing administrators to purchase additional inventory.
- Store More: If the benefits of volume, coupled with the perennial need to cut costs, result in stocking up on office envelopes, mouse pads and letter heads while the company changes its branding, it suddenly makes the stash useless. Not to mention the waste of additional overhead expenses (storage, disposal, mandatory compliances etc.).
- Waste More: For example, if the user mishandles computer mice or keyboards frequently, then the cost of warranty and replacement shoots up.
Cost of downtime
The cost of a computer peripheral may be a few dollars, but not being able to use the computer for a day can cost a few hundred dollars for the company. Now imagine an entire office full of professionals having limited or no access to necessary supplies on a given day. It can be a nightmare for floor managers. From the shopfloor to the top-floor, lack of timely availability of resources can be the spoke in the wheel that creates unscheduled downtime.
Cost of inefficiency
Unavailability of timely access to necessary supplies has an even bigger problem. Not having that whiteboard marker could make a big difference in presenting a compelling proposition. A faulty pointer in an online conference can bring down audience engagement and attention. A diligent employee without access to stationery can feel very frustrated. All of these are examples of how the often ignored or taken for granted supplies can have a very real impact on production and productivity. Inefficiencies in the office environment are a serious drag on revenue and profitability.
Intangible Costs – The Unknown Cost of Lost Opportunities:
Like Lord Kelvin would say, “That you cannot measure, you cannot improve”. That is precisely what makes the intangible costs of “resource unavailability” scary. Factors like employee dissatisfaction and frustration due to unplanned downtime can reduce motivation levels. This can also decrease the reputation of the employer resulting in poorer employer branding. IT support teams, administration teams and procurement teams face the brunt of this often.
All of the above add up to the scarier scenario – cost of lost opportunity. A situation wherein businesses do not realize what they may have lost and are not even in the position to ascertain the scale of these losses.
Eliminating Losses From the Cost of Inventory
Yes, eliminating losses is possible. How exactly, you ask?
- IDS is equipped with the technology and configurable product features that deliver secure office inventory management and control to organizations.
- IT and Admin teams are further equipped with real-time reporting about inventory consumption data that could help in terms of both qualitative (demand vs consumption, availability to productivity mapping) and quantitative parameters (time-to-replenish, etc.).
- Supplemented with a guaranteed delivery mechanism that closes the loop on each resource request.
All of the above gives complete visibility and control to the organization over inventory flow and quality of inventory utilization.
iVendTech equipped machines are an asset for inventory management in the modern office environment. It helps reduce shrink in the form of wastage or hoarding. It helps improve productivity and drive employee experience. If you would like to understand how we can help your business make significant cost savings on your inventory and enhanced employee experience, call us at 1-877-771-4446.
