The company also has installed a new inventory management software to help individual stores keep better track of prices.

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The company powers the textbook rental services of 250 campus bookstores through white-label partnerships, running touchscreen kiosks, iPhone apps and inventory management software.

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By services Mitchell means anything beyond matching suppliers with customers--such as providing financing, on-site inventory management, parts-tracking software and chip programming.

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And other software vendors created applications for accounting, order entry, inventory management, communications and customer relationship management.

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It services hundreds of global firms, including Goldman Sachs, Visa and DHL. Infosys has developed switching software for Cisco, a factory management system for Nestl and an inventory tracking application for Nordstrom.

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Adams also ran through the pros and cons of mobile device management software, such as Mobile Iron, which allow businesses to keep a permanent inventory and track their registered handsets.

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Alas, the competition can work this magic, too, and can, moreover, sell the portal-management software in a huge package that includes lots of other applications (for managing customers, employees, inventory and so on).

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