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We are frustrated with the world is ending type reporting relating to the arrival in Australia of Amazon. More stories have been published this week. Most stories are not reporting. Rather, they are ignorant fear-mongering. Unfortunately, the wrong people are often quoted, like the ever-shrill Gerry Harvey.

We shot this video to provide some thoughts on the arrival of Amazon and to offer suggestions for small business retailers.

Our marketing team is having fun in reaching out to small business retailers:

Retailers switching from one POS software program to another usually want to convert their business data. Rather than saying yes this can be done, our approach is to provide our customers with advice on what can be done and what cannot be done and to explain the processes and the whys.

WHY CONVERT DATA

Converting data from your current software eliminates the need to manually key data into the Tower software. The time saving is considerable. If the current data is good data, the value of bringing that across can be vital to any business.

UNDERSTANDING THE RISKS

Converted data is only as good as the source data.

In other words, if the data in your current system is of poor quality, the quality will not improve in the converted data – unless you clean up the current data prior to conversion.

Simply converting data does not make the data better data. Here is advice on cleaning up the data prior to conversion:

1. Delete all stock items you no longer carry and will not carry in the future.
2. Delete all customers you have not served in more than five years.
3. Delete all supplier details where you no longer deal with the supplier.

WHAT IS CONVERTED

What we convert depends on the software we are converting from. Some software is restrictive, to lock you into it while other software calculates data such as loyalty points live, rather than storing a number by customer.

Here is a list of what we most commonly bring across in a conversion:

1. Customer details. Name, address, phone, email.
2. Supplier details. Name, address, phone, email.
3. Inventory. Description, stock code, bar code, quantity on hand, department, category and supplier.
4. Loyalty. Name. ID code / number and points value.

WHAT IS NOT CONVERTED

Due to data complexities here is a list of data we do not convert. We developed this list to ensure we provide to you the best converted data outcome:

1. LayBys.
2. Sales history.
3. Accounting system data.
4. Gift voucher balances.

A PRE-CONVERSION CHECK

The best way to be prepared for and certain about a conversion is a pre-conversion check. To do this we would need full access to your data well before the installation. This check will help us see any issues and either resolve them or raise them with you prior to the actual conversion. This check is done at our head office by a senior member of our team.

We will advise you of any issues we encounter during the per conversion check.

THE CONVERSION PROCESS

This is done either on site or at our office during or immediately prior to the installation process as it must be done using up to date data as you switch from one system to another.

The conversion is at a moment in time. In other words, you cannot flip from system to system if you want to have accurate data. Once converted, you are on the new system.

Conversions can take considerable time, overnight, or even longer than a day, depending on the amount of data to convert. Therefore, we encourage you to clean up your data prior to the conversion.

WE DON’T KNOW WHAT WE DON’T KNOW: THE HAND OVER OF CONVERTED DATA

Once the conversion is done and you are advised it is complete it will be important you check the converted data. Check customers, balances, points and other data to ensure you are confident the data you need has been converted.

We say we don’t know what we don’t know as it is true. You know your data better than us, you are better positioned to see mistakes we might otherwise miss – hence our reliance on you checking the converted data.

GO LIVE

Once you have the converted data in our software and are happy with it, you will be advised to run a go live. This sees you enter up-to-date account balances. No line items are entered, only the balance.

TIMING

It is important we know if you want data converted when you order your system from us. We are unable to do the work if it is requested during the installation as we have allocated time for the installation and training only, not for conversion.

Another of our customers had their business severely impacted last week with their new National Broadband Network (NBN) connection taking almost the whole week to get up and running.

You would think this would be okay, that they could use their old non NBN internet connection until the NBN was up and running. That smart approach was not the approach those providing their NBN connection facilitated.

At the start of the week their service provider disconnected their internet access as the NBN was about to be turned on. Five days later, after many phone calls and extraordinary business disruption, the NBN was on.

There was no apology, no compensation, no empathy.

This small business was hit hard by not having internet access. They had to spend money on temporary arrangements, which were mediocre at best. Given their location that not only cost money, it also cost time to organise.

The poor handling of the NBN roll out was caused by the Internet Service Provider of the small business. This is where the poor customer experience occurred with them disconnecting internet access prior turning NBN on and then compounding the problem with poor, almost non-existent, customer service.

There were products the business could not sell over the counter, payments they could not take, services they could not provide. Yet their ISP did not help. The biggest challenge was with cash as this business relied on close to half all transactions being cashless and they lost that, without warning, when their ISP cut them off without warning because of the imminent NBN switch over. The agreed plan was switch one off and switch one on. The operational people at the ISP were not told of the agreed plan and once they switched internet access off it appeared to be too hard to switch back on.

We helped where we could with options on lodging a complaint against their ISP and with alternative access options they could acquire. But none of this should have been necessary. Their ISP, which claims to support small local businesses, should have had the entire matter in hand.

While there is a quality issue with the current version of the NBN roll out in our opinion, there is this other problem of poor ISP management of business cut over from existing internet access to NBN access. It should be easy, well managed with easy access contact points in the event of any issue.

Internet access is vitally important infrastructure in small business retail today. This switching over to NBN must be better, faster, for small business retail.

More Australian banks are pulling out of country towns, leaving local businesses and individuals without any over the counter bank services.

In one situation last week, a regional town with a population of 2,000 saw its last bank brand close, leaving locals a forty-five-minute drive to the nearest bank. This means local businesses have a round trip of ninety minutes just to bank business takings, increasing business costs by hundreds of dollars a week as banking, which used to be done locally daily, now must be done three times a week resulting in four and a half hours in the can and at least another hour and a half parking, waiting and more.

It impacts on how a business operates.

While some businesses can operate by promoting cashless trading, in regional and rural towns with an older demographic, cash is preferred.

In not banking every day, small business retailers carry more cash on their premises. This increases the risk of theft. Insurance company representatives have said this could result in higher premiums. The costs resulting from banks reducing their level of customer service cascade, hurting further these vulnerable local businesses that matter to their small local communities.

With more than half of our small business POS software customers in regional and rural Australia, matters such as the closure of local bank branches and agencies matters to us, because it matters to our customers. It is possible that a local bank closure is enough to tip a local business owner to closing their business. The knock-on effect on local jobs, local suppliers and out of town suppliers like us would be noticed.

We think there is a role for government here to offer an operating cost subsidy to banks that maintain regional and rural banks in towns with a lower than agreed population threshold. We think such a policy would not only help small businesses like our clients, it would improve the appeal of the town for new residents as well as improving security for those who use the bank.

Locally owned small business retail is vital in any situation, but more so in regional and rural towns. The retreat by banks is an operational challenge that disadvantages regional and rural Australia and this is bad for the economy.

Tower Systems actively supports calls by small business retailers for government action to provide support for local banking services.

Here at Tower Systems we are grateful for the opportunity its to connect a growing list of Xero skilled accountants and bookkeepers with small businesses using our POS software and especially the POS software Xero link we offer.

We work closely with accountants and bookkeepers to help them better serve their customers. Having a CPA within our company as our CFO helps us provide a level of skill and attention in this area that is not commonly found in POS software companies.

That we use the Xero link to our POS software ourselves in ur own retail businesses also helps. In fact, that is an important differentiator tailor for us, k one we are proud of. Since February 1996 we have owned and operated retail businesses.

We connect small business retailers and Xero skilled accountants and bookkeepers through our participation in Xero events such as the recent Xerocon in Melbourne as well as other events we can access as a Xero partner.

We provide support for Xero skilled accountants and bookkeepers who have clients using our software. Our support for them helps them support their customers. We are grateful to be asked to do this.

We also provide training opportunities cities for Xero skilled accountants and bookkeepers so their skill with our POS software and the POS software Xero link is best-practice.

All of this combines to provide better service to small business retailers who use Xero and that is good for their business and all who rely on their business.

We are glad to help.

Xero is a pleasure to use. We say this as happy Xero users ourselves.

TO ACCOUNTANTS AND BOOKKEEPERS:

We list Accountants and Bookkeepers on our website.

To be included without obligation or cost, please email your details. We want to help retailers find Xero skilled accountants. Email: sales@towersystems.com.au with your firm name, your name, email, mobile and website URL.

If you have any clients in a retail business in any of the specialty channels in which we serve, we invite you to reach out to one of our sales team. They can arrange to meet with you and your client(s) to learn about the local business needs and see if our software is a match for them.

Choosing what goes into each update of our small business POS software is a transparent and democratic process at Tower Systems.

We understand that good software needs to evolve as the needs of the retail channel in which it serves evolve.

This is why retailers need to look beyond what software does today and understand what they may need tomorrow. The commitment of their software provider to providing access to software enhancements is key as is their commitment to a structured process for considering and deciding on user suggested software enhancements.

It can be hard to choose a software company based on what they may do in the future as any sales person could make a promise knowing that fulfilment of the promise lies elsewhere in the company.

Here at Tower Systems we promise our POS software customers continuous evolution and improvement of our small business POS software.

Our customers can submit change suggestions.

Our customers can vote on submitted change suggestions.

The more votes, the more attention given a suggestion.

While we ourselves bump suggestions to the top of the list based on how amazing and valuable they are, others we like to see what our customers think.

We take this open and transparent approach to POS software enhancement suggestions to show our customers their active engagement with the direction of the software.

Our approach is unique in that it is highly engaged and inclusive with and for the custoemrs who like that.

The whole POS Software Ideas process is open for even those considering purchasing our software to see. While this gives our competitors a free-kick, we are confident enough of our processes and commitment to leave it as transparent.

We launched shed Software Ideas years ago. None of our vertical market competitors has anything similar. It is a genuine point of difference for us and we like that.

If you are considering POS software for your specialty retail business, make sure that the software company y you are considering will deliver access to relevant software into the future and not just today. Your software company relationship will be long-term. That is why engagement matters.

Mark Fletcher is the owner of Tower Systems. His mobile phone number is 0418 321 338. His email address is mark@towersystems.com.au. This information is on our website and almost every piece of company literature from our weekly customer email to our print newsletter to marketing literature.

It is rare for a POS software company Managing Director to be so accessible to customers and prospective customers.

We think such accessibility is important as it speaks to trust in the company, its products and its customer service. It shows the Managing Director as having such faith in the business that they are happy for people to know how to reach them directly.

To small business POS software businesses that do not publish this information, that do not make it readily available, we would say what are you afraid of? Why not let people get straight to the top?

A common contact with Mark is from customers who ring or email to say they are happy with an enhancement in the software or to compliment a team member for a service they have provided. Being accessible for this type of contact is as important as being accessible for people who would like to complain about a poor service experience.

Tower Systems is a business about people, small business people. Personal service matters in small business retail as much as it matters in a small business POS software company. It matters a lot. Therefore, we trust the process and gladly share the direct contact details of our Managing Director.

Mark’s background is diverse, meaning he can speak to a range of topics from retail strategy to retail business management to software design to actual use of our POS software. Most weeks he has time behind the counter in one or more of the retail businesses owned by Tower where he gets hands on with the software and with in-store customers. This personal engagement with the software in a regular basis provides personal experiences that not only inform the direction of the software, they also inform the services provided by the company and provide context for some direct contact with customers.

Here at Tower Systems we believe in small business and we believe in small business retailers. We love helping them become powerful … through easy access to good business data. We love helping foster superheroes.