Operative IQ: Mission Critical Inventory Management
In today’s challenging financial environment, private and government agencies need cost-effective, innovative and user-friendly solutions to manage their inventory, assets, purchasing and fleet maintenance. Budget cuts are an every day reality and first responders feel the strain as they balance the preparation side of the public safety business with their ability to respond to life and death situations. With fewer resources available to manage increasing demand, it becomes mission critical to have well-maintained equipment and medical supplies available to save lives.
Public safety agencies such as police, fire and EMS rely on having what they need when they need it—100% availability and 100% effectiveness when it comes to operational equipment and life-saving supplies. Today’s paper tracking leaves much to be desired, and tracking down expired or soon-to-expire products is a nightmare. Spreadsheets are a start in keeping track of expensive assets and medical equipment, but there has got to be a better way to know where these valuable items are and that they are properly maintained.
Diligent preparation is key in risk management and positive patient outcomes. What would it cost if a critical medication was not available at the time of patient care? What if a stretcher or monitor failed during use? How tough would it be to pull all items with a specific lot number out of circulation due to a product recall? These are things to consider as you prepare for your agency to respond effectively.
Imagine having all the tools you need in one place for the management of medical supplies, station inventory, company assets and vehicles. All of this information is in one system where you can see how much of a medication is on hand, when it expires, where it is, when it's time to order more—it even helps you pull your order together! Software as a Service (SaaS) models offered today, along with the right hardware and expertise, can help an agency break through the barriers toward effective inventory, asset, purchasing and fleet management.
Whether you operate one supply room servicing five ambulances or you manage a distribution center with 50 supply stations serving over 200 fire vehicles, the cost benefits, time savings and peace of mind are extremely valuable to your bottom line. Web-based inventory management tools—along with barcode scanning—can begin to automate some of the manual processes, increase the level of accountability and reduce the amount of data entry errors. These benefits, along with the ability to dig in and troubleshoot easily, can allow movement toward more accurate inventory counts and need-based ordering.
Maintaining assets and a fleet can be an important piece of any business, but an especially critical component for first responders. Today’s fleet maintenance systems are designed to support the management of vehicle maintenance schedules, ad-hoc repairs and tracking of operation and maintenance costs. They can be integrated with check sheets and inventory management capabilities to provide a complete vehicle tracking system. Tracking mileage, fuel costs, maintenance and repairs with reliable fleet management software can eliminate the redundant processes experienced by many departments today while providing a centralized place to manage all vehicle information.
Inventory, fleet and asset management may be a dreaded topic, but it’s an important factor in running a successful business. Web-based management tools can make these processes much less painful. A flexible and convenient solution can grant its users more freedom, better organization and increased accountability. Public safety agencies depend heavily on effective risk management, and it is essential that they utilize the best tools available. Efficiency for most companies means more money for advertising or more time for product development, but efficiency for heroes means more lives saved per day.
Contact us at www.operativeiq.com, or call 877/217-3707 Ext. 802 or Ext. 803.
