First week at Neotechnology Business Systems

mwertheimer — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 13:50:01 +1100

Week 1 at Neotechnology saw me start work on a marketing plan for NBS support services with the goal of growing this part of the business in Tasmania. This has had an unexpected benefit as the market research undertaken has helped to gain a basic idea of the environment in which Neotechnology operates and to gain an insight into some of our key customers and competitors.

Neotechnology and I were introduced through the K2B marketing program. The K2B program is a government funded program designed to keep recent marketing graduates in Tasmania. The selected marketers work full time while also undertaking regular workshops to help develop and expand the skills learned during their marketing degrees. The program also gives Tasmanian ICT companies the opportunity to experience firsthand the benefits of having a marketing professional working for them. I feel lucky to have been chosen by Neotechnology as I get the double advantage of the mentoring of the K2B staff and also the leadership of K2B and marketing veteran Shirly Sareyka.

I can already see some of the other benefits of working in the ICT industry. Already I have started learning about systems software and hardware, in particular Point of sale software and hardware, which I am sure will become increasingly useful as I continue with my career.

With the guidance of Shirly and the K2B program I will begin writing another marketing plan in February for an exciting new product to be released later in the year. Watch this space for more information closer to the release date.

New experience with media relations and communication.

mwertheimer — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 11:45:21 +1100

Last month on top of day-to-day marketing activities, I was involved in the promotion of the Neotechnology fundraising BBQ for the people of Haiti. This was an exciting experience for me as it provided different and new challenges than my normal marketing role with Amicus. My main role in the BBQ was to design the promotional materials such as an advertising flyer letting people know the reason for the BBQ and the date and time, and another one to advertise a raffle and the prizes.

The main reason for my excitement was the experience of trying to get media coverage for the event. Shirly Sareyka was able to recommend some contacts at the various news stations and instructed me on the process of receiving media attention. The first thing required is to write a media release. I attempted this and sent it to Shirly and quickly found there is a specific format required before it will even be considered. With Shirlyâ€™s modifications I faxed the media release to the news stations and was surprised when both WIN and Southern Cross news arrived.

The BBQ was a huge success, raising much needed money for the relief effort in Haiti, and also for me personally as I gained valuable experience in media relations and promotions. Both news stations ran a short story covering the BBQ so the media release and promotion did the trick.

Learning HTML the hard way.

mwertheimer — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 11:53:49 +1100

Last week I began working on the monthly customer newsletter. This involves writing the introduction, a couple of articles and finding out what improvements and alterations have been made to the Amicus POS system then adding them into an HTML template. At first I thought this task would be easy, and it was, until I had to put the text into the template. I have had a little experience with HTML at university so was familiar with most of the tags, for example . This was ultimately my downfall. For those of you unfamiliar with HTML, say I wanted a part of the text to be bold, I would use the tag then the text I want to be bold and to signify the end of the bold part .

This is where things went wrong. Assuming I knew what I was doing I jumped in and put the code into the template. However, I had forgotten the all important â€œ/ â€ to signify the end of the formatting. This meant that I had â€œopenedâ€ a lot of tags but hadnâ€™t â€œclosedâ€ a single one. Once I had saved, the program I had been using to alter the template freaked out and attempted to close all the open tags. The next time I came back to edit the template there were hundreds of tags throughout the code, making it impossible to do anything with.

After spending a long time combing through the code and removing all the unnecessary tags, and then realising I should have just started a new template, I again saved and the layout of the newsletter had changed and put images in places they shouldnâ€™t be causing the text to be awkward. Wrongly assuming it would be faster to find the cause of the problem than start a new template I began to look for the problem in the code. I searched for ages without success. I was about to give up and start a new template when Shirly spotted that one of the images was missing an alt=â€â€. I have no idea why this should affect the formatting but it did.

So that was my first experience with the HTML newsletters. Since then I have started on the next newsletter and am pleased to say I have learned from my previous experience and so far there have been no problems. I hope you enjoy the newsletters even more after hearing the pain I had to go through to get it sent out!

The modern POS system is so much more than just point of sale!

mwertheimer — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 11:44:21 +1100

This month while writing an article for the monthly newsletter about the additional benefits of a point of sale system I was surprised by the number of ways a POS system can help a business. In the article I was restricted by the word count so I thought I would take this opportunity to discuss the additional benefits of a POS system in greater detail. The most obvious advantages are the point of sale advantages:

- The POS system speeds up customer checkouts allowing a greater number of customers to be served in a shorter time helping to make the customers experience more enjoyable.
- The POS system can allocate discounts to specific customers or customer groups.
- Can help to deliver orders promptly and accurately.
- The POS system can produce professional and personalised invoices and receipts.
- Makes it easy to manage customer credit and orders at the point of sale.
- The POS system allows the user an easy way to update prices and discounts from one location.

The POS system can also help with customer relationship management by providing a place to store the customerâ€™s details along with information about purchase preferences and activities. This information can then be used by the marketing department for a variety of different marketing functions such as:

- Undertaking personalised and targeted direct marketing efforts. For example, sending out specific discounts and offers to different segments of the customer base encouraging the price sensitive customers to buy while not losing profits from the less price sensitive segments.
- The sales information can be used to keep track of large purchases in order to send out a thank you letter or reward.
- The POS system can also give upper management the tools to determine the effectiveness of a specific marketing campaign. For example, management can determine the increase in sales after a television advertising campaign.

Another function the POS system can help with is inventory management. As most retail owners and manages will know, successful inventory management is extremely important. By having too much stock on hand you are tying up money and storage space and by having too little you are missing out on potential sales. A POS system can:

- Provide your organisation with detailed information on what products you have on hand and the popularity of specific products. This allows management to only order the products that sell and to discontinue products that are not selling.
- The POS system can also provide information on the speed with which inventory is turning over. This allows businesses to order stock to arrive just before the organisations inventory runs out.

This can save the business a large amount of cash by decreasing the need for storage space, decreasing the possibility of goods becoming out of date or out of fashion and decreases the need for cash to be tied up in inventory allowing it to be spent on other business activities.

- The POS system can even help with the reordering by allowing â€œreorderâ€ levels to be set in the program. Once a products stock on hand level falls below a defined number the POS system can automatically reorder those products.
The final function a POS system can help with is aiding your organisations book keeping and accounting. The POS system can provide your organisation with timely and accurate reports that allow greater accuracy and efficiency with your book keeping. A POS system can provide:

- A range of reports such as the amount of sales for a period, the amount of receivables for a period and the amount of debts accrued for the period.
- The POS system can alert you to when your accounts payable and receivable come due.
- The POS system provides a clear audit trail.

As you can see the modern POS system offers an organisation much more than just a point of sale facilitator. The modern POS can save you a huge amount of time and money and increase the efficiency and accuracy of your organisation.

4 Ways Your Point of Sale Software Can Help You to Reduce Fraud

mwertheimer — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 09:30:00 +1000

Fraud presents a challenge to every business owner and you need to be continually on your guard against fraudsters and scam artists. Fortunately, having a point of sale software system installed can give you added protection and minimise the likelihood of your business suffering any unnecessary loss.

The larger your business, the more it is likely to become a target for fraudulent activity, but if you have the right systems in place you can make the job of the fraudster that much more difficult.

Whilst you may never be able to completely eliminate the possibility of loss from fraud, there are a few things you can do to tighten up your security.

Limit the Spread of Information. Your point of sale software system allows you to centralise the control of pricing and you can eliminate the capacity of individual staff to negotiate or change prices at the checkout. Putting these controls in place eliminates the likelihood of staff fraud.
Make sure the inventory orders are authorised by the business owner or manager. Your point of sale software system can automatically generate an order when stock levels reach certain levels at the signing of purchase orders or cheques should only be allowed by senior staff after checking with the software system for accuracy.
Control Product Returns. In some instances of fraud, customers purchase items and then return them for a full refund soon after. In some cases the customers have used the item and returned it claiming it is faulty; whereas they never had any intention of keeping the item in the first place. One extreme example is where a food processor was used to prepare some food items for party and then returned two days later for a full refund claiming that the item was faulty. Although it is impossible to completely guard against this, some customers develop a track record for regular returns and you are completely within your rights to refuse future sales to these people. Your point of sale software can be set up to record instances of frequent returns so that customers can be identified accordingly.
The greatest control that a point of sale software system allows you to implement is instant checks on credit cards and bank account funds. Where there is insufficient funds you will be alerted instantly and the sale will not proceed. Credit card and direct debit accounts can be set up in this way so that instant approval from the bank is obtained prior to finalising the sale.

These four simple checkpoints can be implemented by any business owner to protect against the incidence of fraud. Although not an exhaustive protective mechanism, your POS software gives you an added advantage in protecting your business.

If you are experiencing an unusual amount of theft or other types of fraudulent activity, you may find it easier to pinpoint this once you have these systems in place and then consult with a security firm to add further security checks.

7 Ways To Get the Most of Your Point of Sales Software

mwertheimer — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 09:30:00 +1000

If you are still deciding whether to purchase a point of sale software system for your business, you might be interested in some tips on how to get the best out of your software.

With most large retailers already using a point of sale system to their advantage, it is time for small businesses to catch up by implementing some simple technology that can boost sales, decrease fraud, and maximise profits. By tweaking your system in small increments you can leverage huge results that will propel your business to maximum sales performance in a very short time.

Let's take a look at some of the things you can do to maximise the impact of your point of sale software.

Set Profit Margin Goals. Every business needs to maximise profits and a quick discussion with your accountant will easily establish your optimum or minimum gross profit margin. With your point of sale software you can regularly analyse sales during the day and obtain an instant picture of your gross profit margin to that point. It is then a simple step to make a small adjustment to pricing to ensure that your target is met.
One of the most overlooked benefits of point of sale software is the customer information you can gather with each transaction. You can generate a profile of every customer and implement some sales prompts at the cash register which will appeal to the customer's previous sales history. By offering special discounts you will be surprised at how much you can make through extra sales.
With the same customer information, you can start snail mail or e-mail campaigns to individual customers offering the same special deals and create a customer loyalty program in the process.
You can improve cash flow by making sure that credit card and direct debit transactions are approved instantly through your bank prior to the finalisation of the sale. This ensures that all sales are credited to your account the same day.
Improved Inventory Control. As each sale goes through your system, you can track inventory levels and set up re-order points to ensure that your stock is always kept at optimum levels. You can even ensure that seasonal trends are catered for by reducing or increasing orders as you determine.
Decrease the Incidence of Fraud. By implementing controls within your system you can limit access to sensitive data and disallow staff capacity to adjust pricing or stock requirements. This lessens the incidence of fraud and protects your valuable business investments.
Staff Training. You can track the performance of every individual employee as well as each cash register and assess the efficiency of both. Trends can be recorded and remedial steps taken through specific staff training modules which will further enhance sales.

These few points should be enough to convince any small-business owner of the efficiency and benefits of POS software systems. The gap between large retailers and small is being narrowed all the time and these software systems can boost your business to new levels.

CeBIT 2010

mwertheimer — Mon, 31 May 2010 14:27:29 +1000

The major project I have been working on during May has been the organisation of the Neotechnology stand at CeBIT. This involved ensuring the stand would be set up correctly and on time, that we had marketing and promotional material available for the exhibition and to advertise our involvement in the exhibition.

The promotion of the event involved several different media channels, including the internet, email and snail mail. By using multiple channels we were able to offer all our customers and partners free entry to the exhibition.

One of the other major tasks for the event was to organise the hardware systems to display our software. We used five different hardware set ups which needed to be delivered all around Australia to ensure the software could be installed and the hardware and software were working efficiently together. Thankfully, the support and implementation department were able to get all the systems up and running in a very short time frame with only one minor issue.

With CeBIT now over I am turning my attention to several other marketing campaigns. The next few months are already shaping up to be an exciting and busy time for the marketing department at Neotechnology!

Why Retailers Love Point of Sale Technology

mwertheimer — Tue, 23 Nov 2010 22:20:28 +1100

In the fiercely competitive world of retail, efficiency is essential. Point Of Sale (POS) technology can be one of the features that set one business apart from its competitors and thereby contribute to its healthier bottom line.

There are two main ways that effective POS technology benefits retailers and their owners: innovative POS technology will drive sales growth and increase the intelligence available about a business. Effective POS technologies can range from the very basic to the highly sophisticated, but always need to be tailored to the nature and demands of the retailer that it serves.

Quality POS systems will also be easy to use and learn (so that employees can quickly be trained and confidently and correctly use the technology) and flexible enough to cope with the changing business climate, customer needs and the diversity of information sought from the business.

Many retailers do love POS Technology that is tailored to their business and its needs and POS technology that is capable of developing and growing a business. With the ability to ensure accuracy, the manage and trace stock, manage sale prices and the quickly produce sales and profits reports, it is little wonder that POS technology can be so loved.

But more specifically, what is it about POS technology that retailers love so much?

(1) Sales can increase and operations can improve:

Contemporary POS technologies are easy to use, fast and efficient – Employees can be quickly trained and feel confident using the system. The processes that underpin the technology are fast and reliable, making the experience pleasant for customer, employee and business owner.
Full information, relating to stock, customers, payment and more can be accessed directly from the POS
Systems can be implemented to allow permission to different areas and security levels for allocated staff
Many POS systems offer real time transactions via internet technology so that all sales and customer details are live and accessible at all times
Stock control is improved so that, if a business has a number of outlets, it is possible to see what is available in other stores in real time
It is possible to look up information about products and stock quickly and easily, possible to sell products from multiple store/warehouse locations and to sell in bulk or in retail
At POS, suggestions for add on or up-selling can be made
If necessary, the processing of sales can be suspended and resumed at a later time
Multiple payment methods are catered for. Gift vouchers are valid and redeemable across all stores
It may be possible to create invoices remotely
It is possible to reprint or email invoices from any terminal
Stocktaking processes can be streamlined
With touch screen functionality, reliability, accuracy and speed are better guaranteed
Business owners can consider the appropriateness of having a centralised customer database, which can be used to facilitate communication with customers and perhaps even underpin a loyalty program
Some business owners choose to have customer comments fields available so that notes can be made that are relevant to the sale or the customer
Effective systems make it easy to quickly find customer information, invoices, lay-bys and products
For businesses with a number of outlets, it can be possible to run sales reports for all and across stores, with business owners or managers selecting the variables that wish to include

(2) More intelligence about the business can be gathered:

State of the art POS systems assist retailers to develop awesome sales and marketing campaigns and for this to be done with minimal effort and time!

When a customer database is maintained, a world of possibility opens up for the retailer. They are able to:

Use profiling technologies to email or possibly even text message customised and personalised information to the customer, including product catalogues
Generate sales reports showing customer purchase behaviour and then use an e-newsletter or direct email to promote and up-sell products to targeted customers
Schedule the dissemination of newsletters and other communications
Enable customers to access your website and online store (if applicable) to view your entire range and then make purchases online
Maintain a good customer loyalty system
Measure the success rate of communications to customers
Test pricing concepts, new products and sales promotions.

POS technologies can work to the advantage of large and small retailers, no matter whether the retailer is a department store, supermarket, dry cleaner or delicatessen. POS technologies can be designed to grow with the retail business and be tailored to its specific needs. With efficient and effective POS systems in place, retailers can watch their business grow and flourish with reduced time and energy being spent trying to negotiate an out dated and time intensive POS system.

Designing Your Point of Sale System

mwertheimer — Fri, 26 Nov 2010 10:30:00 +1100

No two businesses are the same and so it follows that different businesses require unique and specialised Point of Sale (POS) technologies.

Unfortunately however, some business owners can struggle to find and select the most fitting POS system for their business. Many find themselves grappling with confusing sales literature, completely confused as they try to figure out how to compare software programs with seemingly endless features.

Here, we give you a straight down the line account of what to look for in designing an effective POS system for your business that will increase sales, revenue and profit:

The essence of a brand provides a guarantee to the consumer a certain amount of comfort and reliability. An effective system will promote and uphold the image of your business and strengthen your brand
A quality system will enable you to up-sell your product without diminishing or reducing the value and image of the product. Systems should observe price rules, take special promotions into account and calculate reductions for the user – can you imagine how useful this would be for a number of businesses but particularly at the supermarket point of sale? Also, cutting edge systems will prompt employees with suggestions for up-selling or add-on selling at the point of sale.
With intense competition for the repeat business of customers, a loyalty system is essential for many businesses today. In designing the POS system to best meet the needs of your business, consider the capabilities you require to encourage loyalty and further contact with your customers. Think carefully about the benefits you can provide to your customers as a reward for joining your loyalty program – there has to be something in it for them!
Another important consideration relates to the graphical display that is used. It is vital to place your promotions right in front of customers, as humans we are so often drawn in by interesting and captivating displays that entice many of our senses. This is also a great opportunity to position your brand, increase customer retention and foreground promotions. Not only that, effective graphical displays will also increase the likelihood of impulse buying, a behaviour that is appealing to any business.
A good POS system will also include fast and easy communication with other stores or outlets and head office.
It should be easy to train staff in the use of the POS system and straightforward for them to use on a daily basis. A high level of staff comfort and confidence with the system is likely to increase their desire to use it and thereby their commitment to making sales.
When designing a POS system for your business, ensure that the system will help you to understand your customers – their needs and preferences in terms of products and purchasing – and enhance your relationship with them.
The POS system developed for your business should also be reliable and robust; no business needs a temperamental system that lets you down at the most inopportune times. This is just embarrassing and does little for your image or the likelihood of repeat business.
Your POS system needs to be flexible, to meet the needs of a rapidly changing business world and your own dynamic business.
Accurate reports are vital to any business and so a quality POS system should be capable of generating the reports that you require that can be tailored to include the variables and information that you wish to know more about.

POS systems can be tailored to meet your business’ needs and designed to reflect its unique existence. It is worth spending the time and money required to develop a quality system as experience shows that this investment can result in increased sales and business growth in the long run and improved efficiency in the short and longer terms.

How to Prevent Theft at the Point of Sale

mwertheimer — Mon, 29 Nov 2010 10:30:00 +1100

Loss to business as a result of theft is frustrating and unfair. Regrettably, theft can be at the hands of ‘customers’ (although they are not customers in the truest sense given their lack of intention to pay) and sometimes even staff. Consequently, having strategies in place at the Point of Sale (POS) to minimise the likelihood of theft will stand any business in good stead.

One of the main benefits of having an effective POS system in place is that an effective system can lead to a reduction in theft at the point of sale. With staff able to use the system to trace stock, there is less need for employees to leave the register and possibly open the retail outlet to thieves who may try to use a query as a tactic to have a staff member leave the floor.

Another possibly advantageous benefit of having a quality POS system developed and used is that the system can be synchronised with security doors and alarms, so that staff are quickly and obviously made aware when an item that has not actually been paid for departs the store.

Sadly, some estimates suggest that employee theft accounts for nearly 50% of retail inventory loss. No one likes to think that their own staff would be pilfering business property, but as it can and does happen, it is reassuring to know that POS systems can be configured to prevent retail theft of this type and expand on the owner or manager’s knowledge of the business’ activity.

10 useful strategies that can be applied in this regard:

POS systems can provide reports to managers that show all or selected register transactions every day. These may include: excessive opening of the till drawer, small cash refunds and returns. When staff are aware that management undertakes this sort of analysis, this awareness on its own can help to reduce theft.
Each day, business owners and/or managers should also generate a report showing voided, cancelled and deleted transactions.
Similarly, transactions showing returns should be produced and studied on a daily basis.
As appropriate, it is important that each operator of the POS system is given their own log on and password. This of course helps to track the activities of employees, but ensuring that passwords are not shared will help to prevent users from logging on using another person’s details.
It is advisable to embed password protection and security to all areas of the POS software used by your business, with employees allowed to only access the information that they really need to perform their duties.
To reduce theft, but also to enhance business intelligence, inventory adjustment reports should be analysed daily.
Profit margin reports can also be scrutinised daily so that any discrepancies are highlighted and can be investigated as appropriate. If margins are lower than expected in particular categories, then it could be wise to do a little research to work out why.
It is also recommended that inventory counts be kept accurate. In the absence of comprehensive reports, it is difficult to know whether stock levels are as they should be.
Inform employees that the POS system used has the facility of monitoring stock levels.
Very importantly, ensure that access to the personal information of your customers that is kept within your POS system, particularly credit card information, is kept secure.

No business owner wants to face the situation of theft occurring at the POS. However, awareness of a number of tips and application of the strategies listed above can help to reduce loss through theft for large and small retailers.