The following is our typical business process, also known as "Microsoft Dynamics RMS Life Cycle". It describes the processes and relationship between Retail Hero's team and a customer during different stages of the retail management system implementation project.
Initial Retail Management Requirements Gathering
When you phone in for a quote, we ask you a few questions. Often, having the answers is enough for us to determine your business goal and produce ball-park estimates. Also we request a meeting to sit down with you and find out your pains. Face to face meeting is important to determine what kind of retail management solution you really need. Such a meeting costs you only an hour or so of your time, so please do not hesitate to call our experts for an open discussion.
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We know
that each Retail
business is
different! |
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As the result of the initial process, we either prepare a simple quote (in most common situations) or give you a written detailed proposal which covers all aspects of the envisioned retail management system.
Normally, because we spend significant time and resources on preparing the proposal, we request another meeting with you where we present our solution/proposal, evaluate competing solutions and answer your specific questions. Actually, this meeting offers you another opportunity to have us provide additional professional retail management consultation for free.
Retail Management Business Analysis.
Often, the business analysis phase is tied to your initial requirements. In some more complicated cases, the business analysis may be split into separate projects with the goal to uncover and document your requirements and determine the precise cost of your future solution. In most cases the result removes the guesswork out of the proposal and strengthens the vision. Sometimes, after completing the analysis, customers decide to postpone implementation because of budgetary restraints. In such cases the customer still benefits from a thoroughly documented technical and business analysis of their processes. They also see clear achievable benchmarks and targets.
Retail Management System Deployment
When the project plan is laid out the team is ready to implement and deploy the retail management system. If the computer hardware, equipment and components are part of the solution, it is procured and shipped directly to your location, pre-installed and pre-configured.
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The team
minimizes
your costs! |
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The team normally consists of one to three specialists - one skilled and experienced consultant responsible for system architecture, system implementation overview, project management, user training and liaisons -and other experienced technicians responsible for installation and configuring software, hardware and the network.
Normally, our team is ready to deploy the solution within one to three weeks (depending on the complexity of the solution and availability of its components) after the purchase order or contract is signed.
Retail Management Training
Training is one of the most important parts of our retail management solution. Because every retail environment is different, we prefer onsite training to classroom training. We train in one-to-one demonstrations with your top business managers and technicians. Our credo is that it is more important to "train the trainer" than individually train cashiers ( POS users ), simply because our programs are easy to use and require a maximum of 2 hours of instruction per cashier. Because of high employee turnover in the retail industry, we suggest saving money by training your key personnel who then can transfer their knowledge to your first-line service staff (Train-the-Trainer).
For customers requiring alternate training venues, there are training options available which include online and classroom training.
Retail Management System Customization
As mentioned before, every Retail Management System is different. Sometimes the system requires customization. Examples include custom reports and receipts, integration with non-standard accounting systems, other software and devices, Web-enablement and more. As an example, one of our customers required a fully-integrated extended work order processing system, another looked at sharing customer data between Retail Management Systems, Food & Beverage Systems and Microsoft CRM, Microsoft Great Plains and other Enterprise Resource Planning Systems - call us for more case studies. Because our team includes software experts and programmers, we can adjust the system to virtually any specific set of business rules. You as the business owner determine the rules, which work best for your business and our team will implement those rules in software.
Time-wise, some customization projects maybe quite lengthy. Therefore, their time frame and budgets are set apart from deployment and system implementation.
Retail Management System Web Store
Internet has become an important part of the retail process. Though most of our systems are web-aware (i.e. can use Internet technologies to exchange data with other systems, services and partner organizations), the Web-enablement systems are always separate projects - because there's no two retailers the same, there's no two Web sites the same.
Optional Web-enablement simply means building an e-Commerce Web site which is fully integrated with your Retail System. We employ cutting-edge e-Commerce technologies to build a Web solution for you. Our product line includes our own and third-party products which are seamless and provide an easy business process for both you and your customers.
Retail Management Support, Maintenance and Upgrades
Once implementation is complete, there is always a need for technical support and maintenance. Retail Hero provides a full range of support services for hardware, software and network infrastructure - ranging from help desk, telephone and e-mail support to remote or on-site help and consultation. If our customers have their own technical support personnel, we work hand in hand with them, in the most critical and difficult situations, and following, leave the daily support operations to internal staff.
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Support
won't be an
issue for you! |
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Our billing model is flexible and we offer you a variety of options to purchase support services: from no contract per-call billing to pre-purchased bulk hours at discounted prices or flat-rate monthly maintenance packages. Contact us for more details.