Management information systems (MIS) provide businesses with the information they need to perform effectively. These systems use technology to organise and maintain the flow of information to business personnel in an effective and efficient manner. If you are wondering whether or not your small business needs a management information system, consider the following benefits:

Precision Manufacturing
With MIS, you have the ability to identify your suppliers’ strengths and weaknesses by comparing records of their product details and delivery times. If your company is international, your management system won’t limit your information by making you work with just one currency. In fact, you won’t be troubled by the usual obstacles that surround multiple delivery addresses or even split deliveries. An effective management system will even synthesise your sales forecasts with your stock levels, so you never fall behind on an order.

You’ll always know your stock inside and out with detailed records of type, price, supplier, and even height and weight. Analysing stock turn was never simpler with current stock levels displayed at a single click, and available figures ranging from stock allocation to sales orders. Economise your stock holding with these tools and effortlessly manage goods that have been despatched and received.

With a management information system, you can plan labour schedules and machinery loading around production schedules, and manage your sub-contractors and sub-assemblies. With built-in quality control testing, you can quickly identify any issues with stock and make re-orders without difficulty. Best of all, you have the ability to integrate quotas into your management system to recover your overheads and retain margins.

Excellent Service and Sales
Information management is the key to perfecting marketing communications for small businesses. Use sales activity to target customers, and then create emails and other useful marketing media to generate sales opportunities. Your management system does all the recording work for you by tracking campaign performance through conversion rates and displaying it all against your marketing history.

Once you’ve expanded your customer base, use your management system to centralise all your customers’ contact details into a sales pipeline. When it comes to making sales, generate quotes with your system’s versatile price calculators and even include discounts. Manage forecasts, orders and invoices and then create an analysis of your customers, their orders, and how much profit your products are bringing back.

A management information system is integral in negotiating effective customer service. In one centralised place, you can manage warranty upkeep, schedule when service calls are to take place and record them once they’ve happened. Take the opportunity to communicate with your service staff, assign service runs and ensure appropriate van stock. You can even manage your engineers’ schedules and include service and parts history to improve fix rates on the first visit.

Reporting
Perhaps the most integral aspect of information management is the reporting. As a small business, you want to know that your efforts are paying off. Management information systems allow businesses to receive updates and monitor everything from supplier performance, stock levels and sales statistics. Trend analysis is as straightforward as ever with conversion rates and campaign details at your fingertips. Use your MIS to create daily tasks and call lists to stay on top of open projects. On top of all this, you don’t need to suffer from information overload: every single report is completely customisable so that with a simple filter, only the information you find relevant is displayed.

If you think your business won’t benefit by having control and access to the most integral aspects of your marketing, manufacturing, sales and customer services – think again. Management information systems are the way to getting your business on top of the competition.

Author Bio: Paul Jacobs has a keen focus for business services and supplies a great deal of articles in this particular area. He is thought to be an specialist in all details relevant to business management. Please visit http://www.modusit.co.uk/management-software/ for more information on management software

Category: Business Management
Keywords: Management Information System,MIS,business management software,business information,software