Why do we constantly have discrepancies between what's "on paper" and what's actually in the warehouse?

[Elena Steiner]

We have a medium-sized warehouse operation, working with both retail and wholesale orders. We keep records in two different programs and enter everything, but here's the problem: once a month we do inventory checks, and the numbers almost never match. Sometimes there's less product physically than what's shown in the system, and sometimes it's the opposite, where something was supposedly written off but is still on the books. And it's not just inconvenient for us. We sometimes promise customers products that aren't actually in stock, or, on the contrary, something is considered a shortage item when we actually have plenty of it in the warehouse.

[Orb Sole]

Maybe this is a stupid thing to say, but if you're working with two different pieces of software and nothing matches up, and it's not an occasional issue but a constant one... maybe stop using two different systems?

[Red Arrow]

I also think the problem might be the two different systems, which, as I understand it, don't really connect with each other. First of all, it's complicated, why even do that? Second, there are some great modern solutions, and you can read more about them in this article: https://www.eyeofdubai.ae/news/details/key-features-of-an-effective-inventory-management-software. You'll simply have one system with unified inventory data showing what's available and what's out of stock.