The Emerging Ideas and Progressive Ideals of the 2015 Business

Article Contributed by Philip Piletic

Today, every business needs more than an edge. In an atmosphere that’s filled with competitors looking to fill every niche at lightning speed, every aspect of a business needs move with the speed and fluidity of a startup. Fortunately, technology has made this readily possible.

First, think small, but do it in a big way. The cloud is huge, but it has the potential to make your business more agile than even your largest competitor. Centralized storage not only saves on server and backup costs, but also allows your entire workforce to access every bit of relevant information in real time. Even better, they can do it remotely.

The ideal of the paperless office is quickly becoming a reality, and cloud computing is the way it’s happening. Every document, report and record can be stored in a single location that’s accessible from locations as close as the corner office and as far away as your sales team in Singapore.

Missing a meeting is no longer an excuse. From your daily sales goals to your long-term visions, everyone is in the car when they’re in the cloud. Such strategies used to take ages to develop. High-level meetings and late nights perfecting presentations were the norm. No longer.

VoiP is the new land line. Instead of spending on telecom, companies can reallocate to broadband and open up bandwidth for video conferences. Services like Skype Business mean every talk is a face to face, and one-on-ones are just clicks away.

This increased connectivity eliminate the distance between operational components, and this reduced size exponentially increases speed. Increased speed means greater flexibility, and greater flexibility means a more competitive company. You need to keep your brand polished, shining and exciting. This means updates, rollouts and deliveries need to happen faster than your competition.

A connected and flexible company still needs to watch its waste. Bloat is an ugly word, but it exists in almost every aspect of every large company. When you’re quick and connected, you have more than just a better means to distribute information – you have a better means to receive it.

Metrics is the name of the game, and the most direct access you have to your sales is through your point of sale. POS systems are making breakthroughs in every way imaginable, and they can revolutionize your business.

Fast transactions are only the beginning, but they’re also important. Long lines are a scourge, but efficient POS systems utilizing optimized specialized tabs and customized tender functions can reduce cash handling, speed up sales, and keep customers spending. When a bill can be split with the touch of screen, patrons feel like they’re paying less so your business earns more.

From instant voids to correct sales to stock write-offs at the terminal, every type of transaction can move faster. Merchandise can even be transferred between locations without any complicated paperwork.

Your employees benefit, too. Using their proximity RFID tag, they can log in and out in an instant – any employee can make any sale, anywhere. Their hours are easily documented and reported, and Z-Reports are generated without receipts and calculators. Department managers can create sales reports without using any valuable time, and banking reports can cut waste – and money – out of shifts.

The customer is the focus, and a good POS system works in this regard. A system that can help you determine which customers are buying specific products can help you zero in on your inventory and your focus. And let’s not forget discounts.

Sales are no longer dependent upon keys and percentages. You can target groups for discounts and key spenders for their preferred products. Buy-one-get-ones are as easily automated as buy-five-get-ones, and loyalty programs manage themselves.

These things are all metrics, and they all need to be available for real-time analyses and reporting. Today, they are. Even inventory levels can be controlled via POS. That’s right – what was once determined by diligent managers at district branches can be analyzed and reported by your POS.

Orders can be generated automatically, with shipments recorded using barcodes instead of pencils and lists. Yes, we’re still talking about your POS.

These days, they can even provide you with caller ID. More than one sale has been disrupted by an unwanted telemarketer. With a leading-edge POS, a simple glance could have closed the deal.

Companies that can move quickly have an undeniable advantage over bloated bureaucracies in every possible way. From the management of company data to the employment of new technologies, in 2015 your company needs to be a sports car, not an old pickup truck. For every dime on which your company can turn, you could be making make ten.