Small businesses sharing ideas and writing their own news stories.
MAJESTIC IS A CLEVER COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE AND DATABASE SOFTWARE TOOL.
Centered around the concept of a communication journey, Majestic increases sales prospecting and response rates by an astonishing 1000% above the industry average.
Majestic is set up to be automated. Your business carries on as normal while the system grows, manages and communicates with your customers and prospects on a regular basis to stimulate sales. The system is customisable by you which means you don't have to incur large development costs or wait days for simple changes to be made.
By connecting you to other businesses using our software or by attending a free networking Coffee Group in your area, you will tap into an authentic community of business owners seeking to help each other become successful.
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We are actually in the middle of looking at features of Point of Sales software, having covered the online sales point last week. However, this week I want to discuss something entirely different, although related to software.
Process maps! Why bother? This is for big corporates with 200 staff doing the same boring function over and over again you might think. Think again.
Process mapping entails the collection and documentation of all your business processes in the form of a process map consisting of specific symbols and connected with arrows to indicate how the process flows. Typically process maps are used to indicate either software or engineering processes, and specific symbols are used to indicate specific steps. For example, a decision point is indicated with a diamond shape. Any decision can typically lead to an answer of “Yes” or “No”. According to the answer the process will flow in different directions, perhaps different actions are necessary.
Typically also the process map should indicate the responsible person or job function that should execute the action indicated by the symbol. Sometimes some functions are processed on the business system, and this needs to be indicated on the process maps as well.
Sophisticated software can be used to build complex process maps, also called flow charts. Some smaller programs which are also made for process mapping include Visio and SmartDraw, but you can just as well use Excel or Word, or OpenOffice to draw your process maps.
Process Maps in itself are not good enough. They might give you an overview of your business processes, but will they be good enough to get your end users to understand what they have to do? Typically Process Maps lack the necessary detail. It is therefore necessary to document procedures for all the processes your business requires, well at least for the common processes. In HansaWorld we use our internal shared folder, which we call “Conferences” to document these procedures. We typically have a conference for “Sales Procedures”, Purchasing Procedures”, “Admin Procedures” etc, and in each of these folders we put the actually procedures.
Procedures are written in collaboration with the management team and line managers and/or supervisors and users that use the procedure. More often then not the end users will know more about a procedure than management and they should have an insight into the procedure. Once it has been agreed on how a certain process will function, and thus the wording of the procedure has been agreed upon, it is approved by management.
All staff working with the procedure is now required to sign a printed copy of it, which is filed and close at hand for reference. Procedures are then updated from time to time as required.
There are many advantages to documenting procedures like this. Firstly management gets a better understanding on what is actually involved to perform a certain task. Secondly staff can be held accountable should they not follow a certain procedure. They cannot come back and say: “But I did not know how to do this…”.
On the other hand, staff cannot be held responsible for mistakes made when they follow the procedure. Then they have acted in good faith and the procedure was wrong or ambiguous. Of course a situation like that is a trigger to refine the procedure. Another advantage is that new employees find their way around much quicker and make fewer mistakes in their new job. Staff is also more relaxed since they know exactly what is required of them.
Although mapping processes and documenting procedures might seem a tedious exercise, it is nonetheless a great tool to help users make the most of their work, and especially use their business management software correctly and effectively.
Until next week, and remember……keep it (A)FRESH!
About the writer: Immo Böhm
Immo Böhm is the founder and managing director of Afresh Consult. He has been involved with business management systems for over 5 years. He is an experienced implementation and process design consultant and has done in excess of 40 projects in this regard. Immo has a B.Sc degree, a diploma in IT and a MBA (UK).
If your business has the following characteristics:
1. It has mainly credit sales 2. December and early January are typically periods of zero or very little by way of sales,
then your February month end will be the worst from a cash-flow perspective. This is because during December and January you will have payments coming in from credit sales made in October and November.
If your business has the following characteristics:
1. It has mainly credit sales 2. December and early January are typically periods of zero or very little by way of sales,
then your February month end will be the worst from a cash-flow perspective. This is because during December and January you will have payments coming in from credit sales made in October and November.
The axe can fall suddenly. In many ways it’s better that way. But sometimes you’re aware of the axe being sharpened. And that sharpening process can be pretty grating on the nerves. I’m talking here about losing your job. Not because you fouled up, but because of corporate downsizing or reengineering, as they like to call it.
It’s happening to many. There was a time when you heard of someone being retrenched. Now we all know somebody who has been chopped. We probably know a few. These people have suffered - financially, emotionally, mentally. Perhaps their biggest knock is their self esteem
To succeed in business you need to be able to communicate. Here we go again, you say to yourself. Blame everything on a lack of communication. But I’m not generalising. I’m talking about one of the greatest barriers to communication in business - the use of jargon and clichés.
Take benchmarking, re-engineering, change management and downsizing for instance. Beware! I’ve found a direct correlation between the number of such words that pepper a person’s conversation, and that individual’s lack of insight into what makes business tick.Use of jargon is usually a strong indication of someone’s ability to really communicate effectively. To rank among the successful in business, you need to be able to express yourself on any subject using plain, simple English.
At the start of a new decade: my reflections on 24 years in Small Business and Management Development
My work at the Graduate School of Business Administration, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa – more popularly known as the Wits Business School (WBS) has provided me with invaluable experience. This broadened and built on that which I gained while working in industry.
Start by developing your resources. A Network is a powerful resource
Getting ahead in business requires a personal investment on your part. However, investing time and effort in upgrading skills and knowledge is not enough. You need to invest in a good network. A network consists of a wide range of people who will be willing to provide you with information at short notice.
If you’re going to survive in the 2000’s with any vestige of your present standard of living, you have only one choice. Get into your own business.
Why? As an employee, your salary will not only cease to grow as the economy gets smaller, but the government will in future demand an increasing portion from your income to finance prodigal spending. So, not only will there be no prospects for you in terms of career and salary improvement, but you may actually be left jobless. I know that this is not the time to be gloomy, but I owe it to you to be frank. Traditional career prospects will be limited.
There are three reasons why you should start your own business...
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I hope you had a good holiday and a good rest, and that your energy levels are up again for the new year! It is going to be an exciting year for Africa. Not only because of the world cup in South Africa, but also because I believe this is going to be Africa’s decade.
I discussed two books in my last column last year. Books that really made a difference to how I view life and work.
The third book that struck me is from Vijay Mahajan: “Africa Rising”. Mahajan has traditionally researched fast growing markets in Asia, and during his recent studies on Africa he says he found much of the same signs in the economy that were visible during the economic rise of America, the Asian Tiger states and China. Africa is the last big market to tap, and although its not always easy to do business in Africa, the time is definitely right to start planning for it.
There are over 900 million consumers in Africa. It is true that many of these are not part of the formal economy - yet! It is also true that many of these consumers are now moving into the formal economy, into what Mahajan calls “Africa Two”. These are all consumers that do have some cash to spend, mostly on basic commodities and basic telecommunication needs. And with a growing African diaspora, there is a lot of investment into Africa, much more than one would think.
Also, Africa is richer than one tends to think. Africa is richer than India on the basis of gross national income (GNI) per capita, and a dozen African countries have a higher GNI per capita than China. It is also true that in Africa you are not dealing with a single market, but rather with many of them, which complicates things. However, many African nations are opening up their markets and making it easier to invest and conduct business. Business in turn builds democracy and stability, and hence I believe Africa is going to be a huge opportunity. Well, actually it already is!
Many of our customers are planning to expand into our neighboring markets this year. With HansaWorld working so well over WAN, this is easy for them to do. Many have already done so. Our company has expanded to Botswana and Zimbabwe last year, and we did some major deals in Kenya. So I can vouch for the findings of Mr. Mahajan. Have a look at “Africa Rising”. You will start to see a lot of opportunities opening up in Africa.
This also became evident when I visited Kenya recently, and the Uhuru Highway was packed with trucks fully laden with construction material and construction equipment, bound for Uganda. Some of the economies in Africa are the fastest growing in the world, and most have escaped the world economic crisis due to the protected nature of their economies.
“Well, what does all this have to do with software?” you might ask. A lot! If your company is now running on a run of the mill accounting package and a couple of spreadsheets, then you are in danger of not being able to face the onslaught of new competition. With Africa being the last big market, expect a rush of businesses moving into Africa, and this includes your market as well. If those business have better systems and processes in place, then they will be more competitive. Your knowledge of the local market will only protect you to an extent. And why not invest in systems and processes that not only keep competition at bay, but also allows you to compete in the markets that are now opening up?
I see this as a huge opportunity that is not to be missed.
Until next time, and remember……keep it (A)FRESH!
About the writer: Immo Böhm
Immo has extensive experience in business management systems implementation. His experience spans the retail, logistics, hospitality and agriculture industries. He holds a BSc Degree from the University of Stellenbosch and an MBA from the University of Luton in the UK.
What does it take to succeed as a consultant? Whether you’re a lone consultant, a part-owner of a small firm or a consultant at one of the big organisations, the answer is all the same - marketing! Your skills in analysis, problem solving and strategy to name but some of the tools most consultants have in their toolkits, do not guarantee you a future no matter how good a consultant you are.
I have lived in Richards Bay for 13 years, but last Friday I had a very different view of the harbour from one that I have ever had before. I have spent some time in speed boats in the harbour, but much of the time, my eyes are half closed from the spray and my focus is more on maintaining my grip on the tube than on what the surroundings look like! I have spent some time on the shores of the harbour swimming in the shallows and tanning or entertaining my children on the banks with fishing rods….but from the relaxed deck of the Sweet Waters Yacht, drink in hand, gentle breeze in my face, the shores take on a very different appeal.
To grow your business, you need sales...To grow your sales, you need marketing. But...marketing can be expensive, and usually requires a good deal of investment to generate necessary sales.
This article shows how you can significantly grow sales, AND increase your brand awareness - without a high level of investment.
"Brand Association" is like takinga "free ride" on someone else's ticket, benefitting from all the hard - and expensive - work they've already done.
Read about how Brand Association can help your business to grow
A quick look at "Brand Association" and how this can help improve sales for your business, as well as increase awarness for your business with lower investment,
Being Your Own Boss – Part 2 By Nikki Viljoen – Viljoen Consulting – April 2009
Getting your message out there will probably be your next huge challenge and in order to resolve that you need to create a message that has a fast, hard hitting, instant impact
Brought to you by Immo Böhm from Afresh Consult. www.afreshconsult.com
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Very likely you are already in a holiday mood and in a rush to get the Christmas shopping done. This reminds me of one of my favorite Christmas quotes that I found on the web: Oh, for the good old days when people would stop Christmas shopping when they ran out of money. ~Author Unknown.
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We are in the middle of discussing Point of Sale systems. Just yesterday evening we had a discussion about this here at the HansaWorld partner conference at Didimala Lodge in South Africa.
The central theme that every HansaWorld partner here mentions with all the Point of Sale systems they support is security. As I mentioned last time, a POS sales point is an easy target for fraud and theft. This is simply so because this is the point where stock leaves the shop anyway, where cash is handled anyway, and it is thus difficult to control.
One way of adding a layer of security is to install a camera system alongside the Point of Sale system. Ideally there should be camera per cashier, and it should be positioned in such a way as to have a good view of the items currently being scanned and packed, as well as the faces of the persons involved in the transaction.
IBSG Analysis sponsored by Cisco Systems in the USA found that across almost all retail sectors, shrinkage was cut by almost 50% after customers implemented an integrated security strategy, including a fully integrated Business Management System such as HansaWorld, with the Point of Sale being part of the Accounting and Logistics software application, and a surveillance camera system linked directly to the software and database.
The National Supermarket Research Group, also in the USA, found that their members had a 31% reduction in shrinkage when using monitored Point of Sale terminals.
The easiest way is of course to just install the two systems, and not linking them up. However, the system becomes really useful if linked up and used together. The easiest way of doing this is to ensure that the camera can follow the transaction on screen, but the big problem here is resolution. You would need a really high resolution camera to be able to record enough detail of the transaction. This is very costly both in the sense that you need expensive cameras, and also you need massive amounts of storage, since a lot of large video files will have to be stored. There are two other ways of achieving this with good results.
On the one hand the Point of Sale system can feed the transaction detail to the camera as it happens. The camera then adds the transaction text to the video as an additional layer. When viewing the video you will now be able to see which item is currently being scanned in high quality text on the screen, without this resulting in high data volumes.
The other option is to link the camera to the Point of Sale system so that the Point of Sale System captures a video clip of each transaction as an attachment to the transaction record itself. This has a few advantages. Firstly it is easy to use since you only need access to the Point of Sale systems. You can simply search for the suspicious transactions and view the relevant video. Let us assume you suspect that with some kind of scheme some of your staff manage to steal a certain type of high value chairs that you sell. You can now simply run a report showing all transactions where such chairs have been sold, and then view the attached videos to see what is going on during those transactions.
If you can afford enough data storage space, then it would be ideal to combine the two methods mentioned. Also, when investing in a camera system it nowadays makes sense to go with one that uses the Internet Protocol. These cameras are simply called IP cameras and they have a distinct advantage over normal CCTV cameras in that their video stream can be used over the internet. This means you can view the cameras over the internet using your computer or even your mobile phone.
We will explore Point of Sale systems some more next time.
Until next time, and remember……keep it (A)FRESH!
About the writer: Immo Böhm
Immo has extensive experience in business management systems implementation. His experience spans the retail, logistics, hospitality and agriculture industries. He holds a BSc Degree from the University of Stellenbosch and an MBA from the University of Luton in the UK.
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Right, over the last few articles we covered Sales Orders processing in more detail. This time we will explore the other big avenue of sales - Point of Sales.
A very easy definition of a Point of Sales system is a system that is used to transact a sale while the customer is standing in front of the sales person. This scenario you typically find in retail stores, supermarkets, bars and restaurants. You also find such systems in Hospitals, Hotel Receptions, Airline Ticket Counters etc.
This diversity of scenarios poses a problem for the software developer. The Point of Sale (or POS) software has to fulfill a number requirements to be useful in all those places. Here are some of them:
The software has to be user friendly. This is because typical Point of Sale users are processing many thousands of transactions, and they have to do so with minimal training. The Point of Sale system must also have very well defined process flows in order for the transaction to be processed quickly and efficiently. The system should allow the customer to follow the transaction as it happens, so that the customer can verify that the transaction entries are correct. Therefore your software should allow the use of Customer Pole Displays. These are those little towers that stand next to a Point of Sale system showing the current transaction detail as it happens.
Your Point of Sale System should also allow for very tight access control in order to minimize theft. Handling cash is always a temptation and therefore all processes must be set up in such as way as to minimize the loopholes. There are many loopholes that need to be considered.
For example, it should not be possible for cashiers to delete lines from the transaction once that line was added. Allowing this would allow the cashier to remove the line once the customer has left, and pocket the money that the customer has paid for this item. In order to control this it is best practice to allow only supervisors to delete lines. And even then lines should not be deleted, but rather the system should put a red line through the wrong entry, and mark that line as voided. This will allow the customer to see on his/her receipt that a line was removed from the transaction. It also allows management to view reports as to how many lines were voided by which supervisor, and which cashier makes the most mistakes.
Another way of controlling the quality of data entry is to use barcode scanners. A human typically makes one mistake in 300 entries, especially in a high volume environment where the cashier is required to perform this tedious data entry task for hours on end. Using barcodes speeds up data entry and has a much higher accuracy rate. Fortunately most products nowadays are barcoded.
Something else to consider in your Point of Sale system is that it should be easy to use with either keystrokes or a touch screen. Using a mouse is very slow, since the hand has to find the mouse, then navigate to a specific point, then click. Using a touchscreen or keyboard is so much faster. Its like typing with 10 fingers vs 2 fingers.
A Touchscreen should be used in all environments where barcodes cannot easily be used. Think of Restaurants for example. In that case, a touchscreen displaying colorful buttons is the best option. The buttons can be configured in many different ways so that its easy to find the product to add to the bar-tab. For example, items used most often such as beers and coffee will be displayed on prominent big buttons on the first screen, whereas items used less often, such as a Green Label Whiskey will be a few clicks away.
We will explore Point of Sales systems some more next time.
Until next time, and remember……keep it (A)FRESH!
About the writer: Immo Böhm
Immo has extensive experience in business management systems implementation. His experience spans the retail, logistics, hospitality and agriculture industries. He holds a BSc Degree from the University of Stellenbosch and an MBA from the University of Luton in the UK.
