Creating an inventory management system for social enterprise Nisa

Last year, Elisha Watson, founder of social enterprise and fashion label Nisa, came to Altshift – a division of BDO Information Systems, for help creating an inventory management system.

Nisa was established in 2017, and hires refugees and migrants in their Wellington workshop to help make underwear and other garments, all using sustainable materials.

Elisha Watson and the rest of the Nisa team in the Wellington workshop. 

The need to upgrade information systems after business growth

As Nisa grew, Elisha found the business was handling large volumes of stock, but she was unable to accurately estimate how much and what the value of that stock was. This led to issues with stock-taking and incorrect records of how much material the business had.

Elisha realised she needed an inventory management system to help understand her stock and make better business decisions around that, so she chose BDO to help.

Understanding that Nisa is a social enterprise that is having a significant positive impact on the lives of its employees, BDO agreed to carry out the work at a reduced fee. The BDO Information Systems team developed a comprehensive inventory management system that enabled Elisha to understand exactly how much stock she was holding (both finished product and material).

BDO then connected the inventory management system with Nisa’s point of sale and other information systems to ensure a seamless experience. As soon as a customer purchases a garment in the shop, the inventory management system is also updated, helping Nisa decide when to purchase new stock, as well as understand which products are selling the best.

“The new system was implemented in April and has had a significant impact on my understanding of how the business is operating,” explains Elisha. “It has helped reduce business risk because we have a much better idea of the amount and value of the stock we’re holding. This has had a positive impact on the accuracy and timeliness of our business reports and forecasting, enabling me to make much better business decisions based on much more up-to-date information. When we held a pop-up store in Auckland recently, it also made it a lot easier to transfer stock.”

“I’d never have been able to get this off the ground without BDO’s help,” continues Elisha. “I’m amazed at how quickly the BDO team has worked, and the connectivity with all our other systems has been great. If anything, it’s raised a lot of questions for me in terms of the potential of having even more inter-connected systems and there’s a lot that we can do at Nisa to level up and realise our business potential.”

If you’re ready to take your business to the next level, contact the BDO Information Systems team today.