It’s not just that it is
user-friendly and easy to learn. It’s
not just that it is stable, doesn’t
crash and is guaranteed to be compatible
with all upcoming versions of operating
systems.
It’s not just that it is used by tens
of thousands customers world-wide. It is
not only because it is developed and
supported by one of the biggest and
oldest software development companies in
the world which has a 20-year roadmap
plan for future development.
And it is not that the support people
who are certified to install and
maintain the software are required to
pass rigorous tests and keep their
certification and customer references up
to date otherwise they are not qualified
any more.
It is not even because of the fact
that the users have access to a special
Web portal where they find news,
downloads, tips and tricks and can
communicate with other users.
And it is not just because the
dedicated business technology
specialists such as Retail Hero have the
ability to support the customers
anywhere anytime and are just mouse
click away.
It is because the software allows
extending itself by the efforts of
third-party software developers. That’s
what really makes it great. That’s what
really shows who’s going to win in the
end.
Let’ look at the recent software
history. Many great “black box” products
of the past (i.e. completely
proprietary, with no extending or
customization capabilities) -- though
cherished and loved by the customers
ended in oblivion while may be less
user-friendly, but extendable products
survived and thrived. Examples are many.
Microsoft Word, which in the beginning
obviously sucked compared to WordPerfect
but allowed developers to create
thousands add-ons and extensions, won
the game. Apple has almost lost its
market completely before they figured
out to make their platform software more
customizable and programmable. Lack of
development and customization options
lead Novell through series of purchases
of products and development tools (not
all of them smart) to eventual
abandonment of their own native protocol
and the core system in exchange
for an open source operating software
(which has its strength exactly in
extendibility and customization
options).
The same customizability makes
Dynamics RMS (Retail Management
System) so great. Unlike many other
point-of-sale software (it’s only about
500 software titles are available in
that category), Dynamics RMS has an API
(Application Program Interface) and
customization capability which allows
third party developers such as Retail
Hero, develop and independently market
various add-ons which enhance the core
functionality of the system.
A POS software cannot survive without
that. It is because each individual
store, even in the same retail vertical,
is different. Small retailers need to
compete with large box stores and other
retailers, and the only way they can do
that it to offer unique, specialized
customer service and loyalty programs
which their competitors do not have. As
the customer’s loyalty is capricious,
the reality of life may dictate new and
new requirements every few months.
Some software vendors are trying to
escape that trap by positioning their
software as built “specially” for a
certain retail vertical. I.e., POS for
sports stores, POS for apparel stores,
POS for grocery stores etc. But the
truth is that basic business rules are
very similar if not identical in
practically any retail industry, from a
coffee shop to a public library (despite
how different they may seem at the first
glance).
As the basic rules are similar, it
makes sense to use the same standard
“base” software (which performs the
universal functions such as customer
checkout and other POS functionality and
inventory control and management), and
enhance it with necessary features such
as specific loyalty programs, visual
enhancements, operation optimizers and
more.
Microsoft Dynamics RMS is such a
great base product. It can be equally
successfully used at a grocery store,
high end apparel store and even at the
restaurant. With additional enhancement
such as “Q-Rewards”
it may be even better used at a pet food
store or coffee shop. With another
enhancement called “Catalog
View” it may be better fit in a fast
food venue or small restaurant or
produce stand. With “Back
Order Presto” Dynamics RMS’s ratio
of success in a hardware, appliance or
furniture store (those which deal with
volume of back orders) goes up. “Hero
Points”, “Quick
Tender”, “PIC-ME”,
“TOP
Import”, “Mobile
Inventory” will enhance efficiency
of retail operations in pretty much any
retail store. As many millions of retail
businesses are there, each of them
creates business opportunity for both
Microsoft, hundreds of certified RMS
resellers and growing number of
independent developers such as Retail
Hero.
So, for us there’s no secret in who’s
going to win the POS software war in few
years from now. The question is whether
or not you – a retail business owner –
will chose to be on the wining side.
Staff Writer
Retailers to Increase Spending on
Technology
Eighty-three percent of retailers plan to
replace or upgrade POS systems
Retailers will participate in the surge of
business spending expected this year,
according to research by the NRF Foundation
(NRFF) and BearingPoint, Inc. The study,
"Retail Horizons: Benchmarks for 2007,
Forecast for 2008," found that eighty-three
percent of retailers expect replacing or
upgrading point of sale (POS) software
systems to provide real-time customer
information at the time of sale.
This second annual study, which surveyed
more than 100 retailers, focuses on store
and field operations, supply chain, customer
relationship management, merchandising,
advertising, human capital, information
technology and marketing issues.
In analyzing this year’s survey data, NRFF
and BearingPoint observed that the three
currents of change of last year -- moving
toward greater customer-centricity,
traveling along the data-knowledge-action
continuum and shifting toward a
boundary-less business model - were
reaffirmed with the addition of a fourth
current: the need for retailers to be on a
greatly accelerated path to differentiate
themselves from the competition.
“With continued momentum in the economy, now
is the time for businesses to invest in new
technology,” said NRF President and CEO
Tracy Mullin. “The retailers who choose to
invest today will be rewarded tomorrow.”
“As the competition increases, retailers
need to figure out how they can
differentiate even more,” said Scott Hardy,
a managing director with BearingPoint’s
Retail/Wholesale practice. “Retailers are
looking to POS in 2008 to provide real-time
information to have a better understanding
of the customer.”
Other key findings of the study include:
Cost containment will be the #1
priority for 2008
74% of retailers segment their
customer base by loyalty and
66% by customer preferences
49% cite private label development
as a priority
82% list sales associate training as
a key initiative
In addition, about a third of the
respondents will focus on
micro-merchandising and multicultural
marketing
The study suggests several approaches
retailers can use to differentiate
themselves from the competition, including:
Leveraging a robust understanding of
the consumer to create unique,
differentiated merchandise assortments.
Build a brand in an integrated way
that resonates.
Provide a seamless, multi-channel
shopping environment.
Build and sustain a high performance
workforce.
Source: NRF
8 Tips for Choosing the Right POS
1. Never buy hardware first – it might not
support the software of your choice. Don’t
limit yourself this way.
2. Never go to computer technicians for
advice. They are great in helping to choose
required hardware but hardly know anything
about retail industry and its specifics.
Poor advice in the area of business software
leads to money loss and frustration.
3. Choose the POS software vendor wisely.
Evaluate his reliability based on the
company’s road plan, business reputation and
stability. Ask yourself – what happens to my
investment if this vendor goes out of
business? Is there support for the system I
am buying? What if there is a bug in the
software and who’s going to fix it? Be
confident in your purchase.
4. Make up your own mind – don’t pass the
decision making process to someone else
unless you are absolutely sure that that
person knows your business inside-out! Each
retail business has its unique requirements
and workflows. Only you can choose the
system with the right functionality.
5. Make your shopping list! Write down all
the features you may need in your POS and
ask the supplier to demonstrate them to you.
Also be curious how other retailers do
things – it is not the fact that you’ve done
it correctly all these years.
6. Typical POS and inventory management
systems help you on two major fronts: in
lowering your costs through better inventory
management and eliminating shrinkage and by
increasing the customer loyalty. While the
first is a quite standard set of features
and routines, the customer loyalty systems
vary from industry to industry and from
retailer to retailer. Gift cards, loyalty
points, incentive coupons and discounts,
membership clubs etc. – there are many ways
to keep the customers interested! Think of
which type of customer incentives you want
to use and see if the software will support
it.
7. Some POS systems come as a product, some
– as a service meaning that you don’t own
the software but only have an access to it
for a nominal fee. Decide which is better
for you. Make sure that you thoroughly
understand your terms and conditions before
signing into anything.
8. And remember – after you bought your POS
system, spend enough time to learn it! It is
your investment – use it wisely and to the
full.
Staff Writer
Retail Humor -
The Hook
A keen country lad applied for a salesman's
job at a city department store. In fact it was
the biggest store in the world - you could get
anything there. The boss asked him, "Have you
ever been a salesman before?"
Yes, I was a salesman in the country" said the
lad. The boss liked the cut of him and said,
"You can start tomorrow and I'll come and see
you when we close up."
The day was long and arduous for the young man,
but finally 5 o'clock came around. The boss duly
fronted up and asked, "How many sales did you
make today?"
"One," said the young salesman.
"Only one?" blurted the boss, "most of my staff
make 20 or 30 sales a day. How much was the sale
worth?"
"Three hundred thousand dollars," said the young
man.
"How did you manage that?" asked the
flabbergasted boss.
"Well," said the salesman "this man came in and
I sold him a small fish hook, then a medium hook
and finally a really large hook. Then I sold him
a small fishing line, a medium one and a huge
big one. I asked him where he was going fishing
and he said down the coast.
I said he would probably need a boat, so I took
him down to the boat department and sold him
that twenty foot schooner with the twin engines.
Then he said his Volkswagen probably wouldn't be
able to pull it, so I took him to the car
department and sold him the new Deluxe Cruiser."
The boss took two steps back and asked in
astonishment, "You sold all that to a guy who
came in for a fish hook?"
"No," answered the salesman "He came in to buy a
box of Tampons for his wife and I said to him,
'Your weekend's shot, you may as well go
fishing.'"
Most of the
modern POS software runs on the standard
computer platform, such as Windows operating
system. That gives an impression that one
does not need anything special when is
looking for a POS computer: just take any
standard low cost office or home PC, put the
software on it and there you go.
The truth is
though that a computer for retail operations
must conform certain criteria. First of all,
it's a business system for which any
downtime is unacceptable. Secondly, it's an
investment therefore it must provide
adequate performance for the years to come.
Next, there are very specific devices (cash
drawer, receipt printer, barcode scanner,
weigh scale, pole display etc.) need to be
connected so the PC must have enough ports
to connect these and provide room for few
more extra. Further, as the retail
environment is often congested, dusty, with
poor air flow and other conditions that may
be deadly for a regular PC.
The real POS PC -
the one which is designed specifically for
retail environment, is the next best
investment which you can do after choosing
the proper POS software, such as
Microsoft Dynamics RMS. Retail Hero
recommends the following POS computers.
HP POS System
rp5700
Designed with a
Retail Business customer in mind, the new
Hewlett-Packard rp5700 unit
is a great, economical solution for Dynamics
RMS. It comes with 3 year on-site parts and
labor warranty
Partner Tech PT8800
Integrated POS Unit
Partner Tech's
PT8800 integrated POS unit
provides the most versatility and efficiency
for heavy-load little-room retail venues,
such as fast food outlets, coffee shops,
snack bars etc. Together with
Dynamics RMS and Retail Hero's
Catalog View it will make an ideal POS
system for such retail environment.
The customers who
purchase both hardware and Dynamics RMS
software from Retail Hero can receive 10%
discount on any Retail Hero Dynamics RMS Add-in (Hero
Points,
Q-rewards,
PIC-ME,
Visual Catalog,
Back
Order Presto and others). Hardware upgrades such
as touch-screen LCD, RAID-mirrored hard drives,
backup system are also available - please call
and ask!
Any system is only as good as the people who use it.
Today various business technology systems provide
many useful ways to optimize business processes,
assist in timely analyzing the important business
data, help in optimizing the business workflow and
so on. Unfortunately, the more complicated business
system become the more training it takes for the
employees to use it properly.
Those organizations which do not have their own IT
department, often “stand on the shoulders” of the
outsourced helpdesk specialists who have advanced
knowledge of the specific business software and can
provide invaluable daily support. Whenever a
customer makes mistake, the friendly support
specialists are right here to help to recover from
the situation - if possible, and provide
recommendations on how to avoid the problems in
future.
But in doing so the service organization often finds
itself under a severe risk of being blamed for the
occurred problems in the first place. As a
neurosurgeon who has been trained for years to dig
into the depths of the human brain to remove a
dangerous tumor, the support specialist often digs
deeply in the very heart of the business
data that is corrupted and manually rebuilds the missing pieces or
removes malicious bits and bytes. As for the brain
surgeons, a mistake made by technical support
specialist may also be costly. Fortunately, how
critical the loss of data may seem be it is still
not loss of a human life – and that is probably
why the support guys are paid just a fraction of
what a neurosurgeon might get.
However, let’s say an unexpected problem occurred
despite all precautions. What the customer can do?
First, they have to realize that this is as much of
a blow for the supporting organization and they’re
probably concerned a lot about the situation. The
customer needs to assess if they trust enough the
provider to let them deal with the situation.
Sometimes it is the only option because another
provider may not have the intrinsic knowledge of the
system to deal with it anyway.
Secondly, the parties need to thoroughly assess the
damage and see if recovery possible and to which
extent. If no remedy seems to be likely it’s up
to the customer what they want to do.
At this moment the support company finds itself in a
very hot spot. All past successes and achievements
are forgotten. A specter of a lawsuit is haunting.
Disciplinary actions must be taken. Internal
procedures must be revised and altered. Staff
changes may be imminent. The survival of the
business itself may be at stake!
But if a remedy is possible and achievable it
becomes a real test for the integrity and technical
knowledge for the support organization. Will they be
willing to take jump into the flames or will try to shift the
responsibility on some unfortunate external
circumstances? Will they be willing to provide the
remedy with no additional charges? Will they be
willing to put extra effort and overtime into it?
What extra mile will they go in order to make the
customer happy again? To what extent they treasure
the business relationship and the trust of the
customer?
Now, let’s say – after few desperate days and
sleepless nights while performing acrobatic data
manipulation and charting many un-billable hours,
the problem is solved for 99.9%. What each party has
learned from the experience?
The support organization has learned to enforce
the bullet-proof data security policies and improve customer
communications. The whole ordeal also tested the
company’s integrity, depth, dedication, and
technical expertise.
The customer learned to improve their own procedures
(such as data backups). They also learned that to
err is human but forgive is divine. And that “to fix
it” is the whole reason for the technical support
specialists to exist.
Source: IT Blogs
Test Explores RFID's Ability to Fight
Shoplifters
New research from the University of Arkansas'
RFID Research Center shows that radio frequency
identification technology has a potential role to
play in theft deterrence in the apparel and footwear
business.
The study sought to find how well RFID would act in
an electronic article surveillance (EAS) capacity.
Like regular EAS, which sets off an alarm as a
tagged item passes through a door's sensors, RFID
signaled when an item was leaving the store
illegally. The RFID tagged items also provided
additional information not available with EAS
including the specific items and quantity removed.
"When something is stolen, the store gets a double
hit. They know something is being stolen but, they
don't know what it is," Bill Hardgrave, director of
the RFID Research Center, told RFID Journal.
"Overall, we were pleased with what we saw, but the
research is far from over," he added. "RFID did well
against [traditional] EAS."
The University of Arkansas testing simulated typical
shoplifting scenarios in stores and tracked items
using a variety of technologies including RF and
acousto-magnetic (AM) EAS technologies and EPC Gen 2
tags.
Researchers along with ADT and Checkpoint Systems
tested EAS technology and RFID systems in "non-cooperative
environment" scenarios including using various
techniques to shield tags such as holding them under
the arm or placing them inside a hat or foil bag.
A combination of EAS and RFID appears to give
retailers the best chance of putting a crimp in
store shrink.
"I think we will see combinations of those
technologies at least in the near term," said Dr.
Hardgrave.
One area not tested was the susceptibility of RFID
tags to be removed without being disabled.
Randy Dunn, director of RFID sales and marketing at
ADT, said a solution that combines a RFID chip
placed inside an EAS tag may make it difficult
enough to discourage shoplifters from attempting to
tamper with the combination technology.
Source: RetailWire.com
Businesses Blind to the Data Breach Risks
of
Temporary Staff
Research released by Websense, Inc. this past
December has revealed that temporary workers across
the UK are unwittingly exposing businesses of all
sizes to information security breaches. The survey
revealed that over 80% of temporary staff had the
same level of access to company documents as
permanent staff but without the same accountability.
In the Information Open Access survey of more than
100 temporary staff, the findings indicate that
organizations may be unnecessarily putting their
data at risk by granting temporary staff access to
confidential information at the same levels as
permanent employees.
The survey highlights that 87.7% of respondents were
able to access documents from the company network
drive, 52% had used a co-worker's e-mail account and
80.7% had unlimited access to the Internet from
their work PC. A worrying level of apathy amongst
businesses toward basic data security processes is
leaving them wide open to the risk of accidental or
deliberate data breaches - only 21.1% of temporary
workers had signed any type of PC or Web use policy.
During the busy Christmas season the UK's 3.1% (or
770,000) temporary staff ballooned to nearly
900,000. However, businesses were evidently
ill-prepared for the security risk this introduced.
The most prominent theme to emerge from the survey
results shows that temporary workers are exposing
businesses to potentially large-scale information
leakage where confidential data is allowed out of
the organization, either by mistake or through
malicious intent. Key findings include:
87.7% of respondents were able to access documents
from the company network drive or electronic folders
that permanent staff use on a day to day basis
62.4% had used someone else's login details to
access a work PC
57.5% admitted sending work documents to the wrong
person
91.2% were able to print any work document they
liked
36.8% were given access to passwords for company
systems (i.e. invoicing, procurement, payroll)
52% used someone else's e-mail account or a general
company e-mail address
42.1% were able to connect a personal device (iPod,
USB key, PDA) to their work PC
A similar survey has yet to be conducted in the USA
or Canada, but if these findings in the UK are any
indication of how lax company policies are with
regard to hiring temporary employees, then its just
one more reason to make the already security crazed
American public even more paranoid.
