Inventory Management with Jira(carstenwolfram.de)
carstenwolfram.de
Inventory Management with Jira
https://carstenwolfram.de/inventory-management-with-jira/
3 comments
Inventory management software seems like a great startup idea. Are there any good companies doing web-based inventory management software?
I think the market structure is just too difficult to penetrate, with not enough profit, for a few reasons.
There is an enormous amount of vendor lock-in present in most solutions out there. Through hardware only compatible with one system, hardware that is claimed to be only compatible with one system (you won't be believed that a barcode reader will work with another system), and hardware that is simply outdated. The hardware is the most expensive part to change. The current software may or may not make migration of data easy.
The software needs to be able to mold itself to many different business processes/workflows. The business processes may be inefficient or irrelevant, but if you want approval from management you need to say you can do X,Y,Z. Also it should interact with every system they have in place.
Management/owner buy-in is difficult. Just convincing lower level employees that something is great is not enough if their boss points out something doesn't have the word "cloud" 1000 times in their marketing literature (I've experienced this).
The space tends to be dominated with solutions that are provided by combination software/consulting companies. Charge little for the software, and a lot for actual implementation by the hour. Or companies that rely on affiliates/resellers and enterprise sales reps who work for commission.
Or how infrequent necessary technical competence is simply not present at many companies. When present, sometimes it's suffocated by management, other times they're too busy with other fires and fear a new project on their plate.
I could go on.
There is an enormous amount of vendor lock-in present in most solutions out there. Through hardware only compatible with one system, hardware that is claimed to be only compatible with one system (you won't be believed that a barcode reader will work with another system), and hardware that is simply outdated. The hardware is the most expensive part to change. The current software may or may not make migration of data easy.
The software needs to be able to mold itself to many different business processes/workflows. The business processes may be inefficient or irrelevant, but if you want approval from management you need to say you can do X,Y,Z. Also it should interact with every system they have in place.
Management/owner buy-in is difficult. Just convincing lower level employees that something is great is not enough if their boss points out something doesn't have the word "cloud" 1000 times in their marketing literature (I've experienced this).
The space tends to be dominated with solutions that are provided by combination software/consulting companies. Charge little for the software, and a lot for actual implementation by the hour. Or companies that rely on affiliates/resellers and enterprise sales reps who work for commission.
Or how infrequent necessary technical competence is simply not present at many companies. When present, sometimes it's suffocated by management, other times they're too busy with other fires and fear a new project on their plate.
I could go on.
As a PM at an inventory management software company, everyone who considers starting one should read your post. I am working on building a cloud-based plant floor production recognition system that will eventually add inventory management abilities. People should especially read the part about either VARs or consulting centric companies. There are basically two forms of institution right now:
- SAP/Dyanamics VARs and similar WMS VARs who just re-sell.
- Niche consulting/software companies for whom 60% of revenue comes from hourly support on implementation, etc.
No start-up has threatened our ability to operate and grow. It is way too hard, takes a long time to learn, and many people run systems that were built 20-30 years ago. We still have customers on (and happy with) our 1993 version. The bottleneck to the industry seems to be the IQ of the customers as opposed to the vision of the developers.
- SAP/Dyanamics VARs and similar WMS VARs who just re-sell.
- Niche consulting/software companies for whom 60% of revenue comes from hourly support on implementation, etc.
No start-up has threatened our ability to operate and grow. It is way too hard, takes a long time to learn, and many people run systems that were built 20-30 years ago. We still have customers on (and happy with) our 1993 version. The bottleneck to the industry seems to be the IQ of the customers as opposed to the vision of the developers.
Wow @TheCowboy. Your reply is literally one of the most thoughtful and detailed replies I've ever gotten on HN. You absolutely nailed everything why the inventory management market is tough.
If you had time, I'd love to shoot a startup idea I've been playing with and have you give feedback. I feel like you'd punch the right holes into it.
If you had time, I'd love to shoot a startup idea I've been playing with and have you give feedback. I feel like you'd punch the right holes into it.
Sure, I don't mind.
I also don't want to be shooting down people's ideas. There is a legitimate business to make money somewhere in the inventory management area, I just don't think it's ripe for a startup in the ycombinator sense of the term.
I also don't want to be shooting down people's ideas. There is a legitimate business to make money somewhere in the inventory management area, I just don't think it's ripe for a startup in the ycombinator sense of the term.
Our tool does that and integrates with JIRA(hosted only for now): http://www.device42.com/features/cmdb/
It is self-hosted or we can host it for our customers(for web based solution). We are also working on JIRA cloud integration.
I am obviously biased here, but I think with Device42 you get auto-discovery and still same workflow with JIRA.
It is self-hosted or we can host it for our customers(for web based solution). We are also working on JIRA cloud integration.
I am obviously biased here, but I think with Device42 you get auto-discovery and still same workflow with JIRA.
Would you recommend using Jira solely for this use case?
If you use hosted JIRA and don't have many users it could cost as little as $5-$25 per month. That's probably cheaper than a lot of the non-F/OSS alternatives.
If you are having problems with your device tracking now, I would recommend it if that's the only thing you use it for assuming you don't have downstream systems that need data in some specific format JIRA can't be bent to.
If you are having problems with your device tracking now, I would recommend it if that's the only thing you use it for assuming you don't have downstream systems that need data in some specific format JIRA can't be bent to.
Thanks. The company I consult for has no inventory tracking at all.
Based it off Atlassian's own article (which also goes into hardware): https://blogs.atlassian.com/2014/03/jira-asset-management-ov...