What We’ll Unpack in this Article (TL;DR)
When looking for the right supply chain management software, the best tools do three things:
- Accurately forecast demand to prevent overstocking and shortages
- Improve supplier collaboration for more reliable fulfillment
- Optimize inventory across every location
In this article, we’ll share a practical feature checklist to help you evaluate solutions and find the system that fits your business.
Supply chain management is growing increasingly digital, with organizations moving away from legacy spreadsheets and basic ERPs to more advanced tools. This shift is not only being driven by rapid technological advancements, but also by the state of the supply chain itself. Between fluctuating demand, whiplash tariffs, supplier disruptions, and sky-high consumer expectations, organizations need a smarter, more proactive approach to their operations. That’s where software tools for supply chain management come into play.
This tech is powerful: it can anticipate supply chain issues before they happen, accurately predict consumer demand, and provide visibility across the entire network. But there are many tools out there, each with different specialties and strengths. Some focus heavily on warehouse operations, while some emphasize support and procurement. Other tools tout claims about artificial intelligence (AI) in inventory management, machine learning, and advanced data analytics.
How can you tell which tools is right for your organization, team, and tech infrastructure? This article breaks down key features and capabilities to look for in high-performing supply chain software, so you can choose a system that helps your organization thrive.
What Core Capabilities Should Supply Chain Management Software Support?
Supply chain management is about far more than moving inventory from Point A to Point B. It’s about aligning your entire organization around demand, supply, and cost realities to fuel growth and profitability. The best software tools for supply chain management excel at a few core capabilities that directly impact resilience and profitability.
1. Forecasting & planning
Accurate demand forecasts are vital for a healthy, profitable supply chain business. Without them, leaders can struggle to strike the right balance between excessive stock and costly shortages. Reported by Forbes, research from IHL Group shows that inventory distortion ( overstocking and understocking) costs retailers $1.7 trillion annually. Advanced supply chain management tools help prevent that by using sophisticated models, AI, and external inputs (for example, weather events and market conditions) to generate forecasts that are as accurate as possible.
2. Supplier management
Even the best forecast is essentially worthless without reliable, cost-effective suppliers to fulfill it. That’s why supplier performance management is a cornerstone capability in new management tools. Supplier collaboration is a growing concern across the supply chain: according to data from Gartner, it has “skyrocketed in priority” in recent months. Modern tools provide you with vendor scorecards, track lead times, and highlight risks, to help guide you through supplier decision-making and collaboration.
3. Inventory analysis
Inventory is where forecasting, planning, and supplier performance management come together. The right software tools for supply chain management provide you with features that help you classify products, determine service levels, balance inventory across locations, and calculate safety stock. These features ensure you’re not just stocking the right products – but that you’re also carrying them in the right quantities at the right time. More importantly, they help prevent costly mistakes, such as overstocking slow-moving items or running out of your biggest revenue drivers.
When these three capabilities are addressed in one platform, supply chain decision-makers gain valuable visibility and control – allowing them to weather uncertainty while meeting customer demand.
Feature Checklist: What Key Features Should You Look For?
A quick Google search will show you just how many software tools for supply chain management are out there. To choose your perfect-fit solution and avoid costly missteps, root your decision in features that actually move the needle for your business
Here are the must-have features your solution should have:
Demand Forecasting & Planning
Demand forecasting and planning is congruent to the beating heart of supply chain management – constantly monitoring, adjusting, and aligning resources to market reality. The right software tools for supply chain management should provide you with the insights and clarity you need to confidently plan your inventory.
Here’s what to look for:
- Statistical forecast models: Tools that analyze historical sales, seasonality, and variability to create accurate demand forecasts.
- AI-driven forecasting enhancements: Leverages artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies to improve predictions. AI-powered forecasts might be able to incorporate external data like weather, holidays, social media trends, and market signals. These tools can flag unusual sales or outlier events, offering the option to exclude them from a forecast.
- No demand & zero demand module: Identifies SKUs with no forecasted or historical usage, to prevent overbuying obsolete or end-of-life items.
- Customer-level forecasts: The ability to view projected sales by customer, which can be useful if finance wants inflow projections.
Supplier & Procurement Management
Your approach to suppliers and procurement should be just as data-informed as the rest of your strategy. The right supply chain software gives you visibility into vendor performance, cost impact, and risk factors, so you can make smarter sourcing decisions and maintain reliable supply. Data from McKinsey shows that, while customers still prioritize speedy deliveries, they’re starting to care more about reliability, and are looking for assurance their packages will arrive on time. Maintaining this level of service requires precise supplier management.
Here’s what to look for:
- Supplier scorecards: Track metrics, such as on-time deliveries, lead time trends, fill rates, and responsiveness to evaluate supplier performance.
- Supplier engagement tools: These features help improve the way you actually interact with suppliers, and might help you do things like generate daily order schedules.
- Real-time alerts: When Purchase Orders are late, you don’t want to be the last to know. Your software should give you live updates on late or waiting orders, so you can avoid empty shelves.
Inventory Optimization
Inventory is always a balancing act: carrying too much ties up cash and increases carrying costs, while too little risks lost sales and unhappy customers. But the right software tools for supply chain management empower you to optimize inventory across your entire network.
Here’s what to look for:
- ABC & XYZ stratification: ABC analysis and XYZ stratification classify products by value and forecastability to set the right stocking policies for each SKU.
- Service level management: Define and manage service goals by category, ensuring your most critical products are always available, while avoiding over-investing in low-value items.
- Safety stock calculations: Calculate safety stock recommendations based on data from demand forecasts, and other inventory replenishment data (like minimum order quantity) to help you keep a buffer in place that’s not excessive.
- Multi-location balancing: Monitor inventory across sites to suggest movement to reduce excess and avoid stockouts.
- Slow-moving & obsolete stock alerts: identify items with little or no demand so you can make smart proactive decisions.
The right software can be transformative for your supply chain, and your business as a whole. By knowing which features to look for, you can choose a solution that improves visibility, makes your business more profitable, and ensures you’re able to successfully approach supply and demand planning – both today, and in the future.
StockIQ: Your Essential Tool for Supply Chain Management
When it’s done right, your supply chain software becomes more than just another tool in your tech stack: it becomes essential to your outcomes and competitive advantage. If you’re ready to overhaul your supply chain management practices with accurate demand forecasts, transparent supplier collaboration, and improved inventory optimization, let’s talk.
We’re StockIQ, a supply chain planning suite built for businesses like yours that uses advanced technologies to help improve the way you approach supply chain management.
Our user-friendly system enables you to control inventory, simplify ordering, and enhance forecasting with AI-powered tools and sophisticated machine-learning algorithms.
Are you interested in learning how StockIQs supply chain planning suite can help your organization? Contact us today or request a StockIQ demo.