Self-Scan Inventory Part 2: Who are they and what benefits they offer?

Jewelry and silverware company, Tiffany & Co. uses self-scan service for its product inventory

This is the second part of this 3-part series on self-scan inventory:

• Self-Scan Inventory Part 1: What is it?
• Self-Scan Inventory Part 2: Who are they and what benefits they offer?
• Self-Scan Inventory Part 3: Is it really worth your money?

In my previous post, I mentioned about what essentially is a self-scan inventory. This post deals with the benefits of having self-scan inventory, why self-scan inventory is better in many ways than hiring the pros. Lastly, I will list some companies that offer self-scan service. I will also attempt to provide good reasons why retail owners should consider self-scan over hiring a professional inventory service.


Benefits of self-scan inventory

It is Cost-effective.
Self-scan inventory can save you an average of 20% inventory cost over hiring a pro. In fact, some retailers that use the self-scan service even boast up to 50% net savings over their stores' current inventory costs.  This average savings may include cost of equipment usage, manpower cost, etc.

System Compliance. 
Most self-scan systems are approved or at least complied with all major external auditing firms. These are the Deloitte & Touche, Ernst & Young, KPMG, or Price Waterhouse Coopers. These firms adhere to the basic requirement of Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, which states that it requires accuracy in the valuation of a retailer's inventory.

Result is relatively more accurate.
The logic behind it is that since you utilize your employees to count merchandise, they have better knowledge of YOUR merchandise and they  know WHERE your merchandise are located. Most importantly, employees have vested interest in the success of the inventory process.

Software designed for a specific requirement.
Each retail store has specific needs for inventory reports. Most of these providers can customize the result of your inventory and the data that you require unlike some pros that have rigid software specifications.

Complete control.
You will have a better control of your inventory, both with your employees, the inventory process, and how you like the outcome of the inventory. In hiring a pro, you have to comply with the rigid agreement, with their rules and procedures of inventory process. When you do it with your own, you will be the boss. When somebody do it for you, you are constrained with the rules of the inventory procedures by the pro. You can always delay, extend, or even suspend your inventory using self-scan because you control your time. When hiring a pro, the inventory manager is time driven. If the inventory extends, the pro loses time... and money.


Flexibility.
In self-scan, you can do how you want and when you want the inventory to be done. In hiring a pro, even if you wanted more time to validate data and double check physical merchandise, you won't be able to do it because you are tied with the time allowable for data verification and other constraints imposed by the inventory service. When the inventory is over, you won't be able to call them back and let them count free of charge for merchandise that have missed during the inventory. In self-scan, as long as you have the equipment, you can always perform any post-inventory changes.

Companies that offer self-scan inventory

The Bed Bath & Beyond company uses self-scan service to audit its retail stores

There are literally dozens of solutions providers of self-scan in the United States alone. Some of them simply offer the hardware without the inventory software that runs them. Others offer bundled software with limited support. Others offer complete line of products and services. Most equipment for rental ranges from barcode scanners, wired and wireless access points, terminals, interrogators, to readers with WiFi connectivity, complete with inventory management software and operating systems.

To know more about these companies, I am going to list some of them here:

• Rapid POS
• Barcoding
• Barcode Rental
• Label Data
• MSS-Software
• Rent Barcode Scanners
• Barcode Trader
• Legacy Global
• Unified Barcode  And the list goes on.

But there are at least 2 companies that I believe stood out from the rest. These two companies offer complete line of self-scan products and services which include the hardware, software customization, process, and customer service:

DataScan
www.datascanlp.com

• Been in the business for 35 years now.
• The only self-scan company with SAS 70 Type II Certification. 
• Uses the latest innovation in data collection such as IP data transmission, real-time reporting, etc.
• The company boasts as the nation's largest self-scan inventory with over 40,000 scanners in stock.
• 24/365 Help Desk service 
• DataScan provides self-scan inventory over 40,000 counts each year in over 15 countries worldwide. 

Hart Systems

www.HartSystems.com

• Over 40 years in the business
• Hart Systems are used United States, Canada and in 27 countries around the world.
• Offer 24/7 Help Desk and IT support, file processing, and data archiving.
• Hart Systems complies and are audited by all major accounting firms, Deloitte & Touche, Ernst & Young, KPMG, or Price Waterhouse Coopers.  These firms have given their approval for the use of Hart’s scanning system to take self-scanned physical inventories.
• On demand reporting

Now that you have some ideas about what is self-scan, what are the benefits, and which companies offer these services. In my last part of this series, I will examine the benefits as claimed by these companies and we compare them side by side against the benefits of hiring inventory providers. Then you will decide which group live up to what they wanted us to believe. And which one that really offers the best bang for your buck.

Cheers!


Inventory and POS systems: