Inventory management encompasses much more than simply keeping track of what you keep in your warehouse or retail storeroom. Inventory management also includes keeping track of what’s in your parts department, including individual parts and the combinations of those parts used to build other products and services. Inventory management also involves finding out what your supply partners or your best customers have in stock. For small to midsize businesses (SMBs), keeping track of all these items can get difficult quickly if you’re just using a spreadsheet to do so. Tying that inventory product information into all of the other data platforms your organization uses requires a dedicated software called inventory management software. Deciding on the right software package for your business can be difficult as you need to weigh required features against the best pricing. To help with this task, we have tested and compared nine inventory management software packages in this review roundup.

While “inventory management” sounds like it’s a simple tracking of what you have, inventory management software actually goes several levels deep. The software should integrate with at least one other back-end office system, namely, with either your accounting or enterprise resource planning (ERP) package. An inventory management system’s function is to track those warehouse items through acquisition, sales, or use processes; locate them across one or many warehouses, and price (cost) the inventory (sometimes in multiple currencies) so you know the value of items you have in inventory for accounting purposes.

In this way, inventory management software sometimes overlaps with typical asset management software. Core functionality definitely centers around your inventory levels, but this kind of software also tracks sales, purchase orders (POs), and deliveries. Aside from accounting, inventory management software is also often tied to point-of-sale (POS) software in many retail and storefront service operations. Very small operations can get away with fulfilling these functions with a simple spreadsheet. However, any business larger than that will want the asset identification, order tracking, and supply chain optimization capabilities that a good inventory management system delivers.