The POS Software Blog
News from Tower Systems about locally made POS software for specialty local retailers.
While we think there is plenty in our POS software that separated us from others, it is our active wonderful of retail businesses, where we play with our software daily, that is a key differentiator. here is a video that we shot for one of our stores a few days ago, launching our Christmas card range…
We’re not your usual POS software company. We own and run retail shops as well as online retail businesses. We are grateful and proud to share this video of part of the Christmas display at our newsXpress Southland store. This was live over a week ago. The shopper reaction already has been wonderful.
Having retail shops where we can experiment with the intersection of POS software tech enology and physical retail is helpful to our software business and our retail businesses.
Here at Tower Systems, weeks into this second lockdown in metro Melbourne due to Covid we’re doing okay. We have a core group at the office for necessary work with 90% of our team working from home.
Thanks to our infrastructure investment in VoIP and other technology, our customer service, POS software development, customer training, sales and other work has continued unimpeded.
We are grateful to our customers for their understanding and their faith in us. We sincerely appreciate their business.
While the world does look different to what we anticipated for 2020, being here and being able to connect in new ways is terrific.
Regardless of what happens in our home state with this latest lockdown, we plan for our team members to continue to work from home into 2021, to provide for them the safest work situation.
A couple of months ago, we hired Matt for a new role on our help desk and around a month ago we hired Eric. These are net new roles for us, an expansion of our team.
Following comprehensive training, they are participating in help desk calls, helloing to deliver timely and professional help to retailers using our POS software.
With more retailers joining our community every month, we needed to expand our capacity. Matt and Eric are helping us do that.
While 2020 is an unusual year, delivering unexpected situations, we are grateful that more small business retailers are partnering with us and the tech we develop and sell.
Tower Systems is proud to have created two new jobs in Australia, for entry level tech roles, in the last 2 months.
We have been able to do this because Australian companies, local small business retailers, are supporting us, using our POS software.
So, thank you. Thank you to all the businesses that have chosen Tower Systems this year already. We are on track to welcome more new customers this year than in the last six years, which themselves were each a good year.
Creating jobs is something we are proud of. Welcoming Matt and Eric to our team is a thrill, something for which we are sincerely grateful.
As a company focussed only on serving local independent small business retailers, we are aware of the importance of service of the local community. Our software helps our customers in this mission. Being a small business ourselves, it keeps us grounded, focussed on the same goals as our customers.
We know that is we serve the local community well, the local community will serve us. yes, it reads as cliche. However, it is more than that, it is a maxim to live by.
By adding two new roles to our front line help desk, we have improved our ability to serve our customers, to help them enjoy more from using our software, to help them create businesses that are more valuable to all who rely on the business for personal value.
We get it that we are part of an eco system. Playing our role really does help others. This is another reason why we need to keep evolving what we do. hence, our regular review of staffing levels and growing as we need to grow.
2020 is an unusual year. for us, it is a year of growth, evolution and discovery. We are enjoying the year, even though the news out there is not ideal. We think we are better at what we do and that is part of the reason we are seeing the growth we are enjoying in 2020.
Thank you for your faith in us, for positioning us that we need to add new roles to the company. It is your support of us that has helped us created these 2 new roles and the Australian economy appreciates that. Small steps, for sure, but steps in the right direction.
Have a wonderful weekend…
We love Monday mornings at our POS software company for these reasons and more:
While 2020 is an unusual year, we’re grateful for what it is bringing to us.
Sunrise, to us, is optimism for a new day, hope for what it brings, happiness at being fresh for what it brings.
We think about it like some retailers think about opening the door to their shop. Everything is in place, everything is ready … let the day begin, let’s see what the day brings.
Chasing sunrise every day is about chasing that excitement and happiness. It is about loving what you do.
We love what we do here at Tower Systems.
We are pleased to have been successful in hiring another person to join our help desk. This is a second net new position for the customer facing side of our business in the last two months. It is a testament to growth in rooftops that we are expanding our head count in times that are seeing reductions elsewhere.
We are glad to welcome new experience and skills that Eric and Matt a month ago bring to our team in service of small business retailers.
We are adding another role, a new role, to our POS software help desk, the second net addition in the last month. This is necessary given a solid trajectory of new rooftops in our POS software user community.
We are looking for someone with small business retail experience as understanding the needs of our customers from their perspective is helpful. Excellent communication, a knowledge of tech, including software, and a desire to genuinely help are also key attributes we are looking for.
Serving only small business retailers, personal service matters. We will be looking particularly at candidates who can demonstrate a desire in this area.
We offer excellent training and support for this new role, a full time role, in our Melbourne based business.
If you know someone interested, please have them email me at mark@towersystems.com.au asap.
We get that there is a lot of challenging news out there right now thanks to corona and the mess than is 2020. Here at Tower Systems we serve a diverse pool of specialty retail businesses and this diversity has been key in enabling us to stay open and to add to our customer community.
With the current situation in Victoria, we would on-board the new hire remotely and provide comprehensive training through our considerable remote infrastructure. We may supplement this with some time in the office, occasionally.
Working in a permitted industry and fulfilling Permitted Roles enables us to maintain our head office in Hawthorn, a suburb of inner Melbourne, open for business.
While we operate the head office with minimal staff in a Covid Safe operation, being open here at the office allows us to provide an enhanced level of service.
The majority of our team members are working from home and have been dong so since March thanks to our VoIP phone tech and our other platforms including a secure commercial Zoom account, a secret commercial Teams account and more.
Given the businesses operating in a hosted environment through data centres we facilitate and other services we provide, some out of our head office, we meet several points of criteria laid down by Justice Victoria. For our customers and the businesses they run, we are here, delivering business as usual services.
To be sure, we have completed the appropriate Department of Justice paperwork. We also have a visible and adhered Covid Safe plan for the office as well as protocols for those who do attend the office.
Here at Tower Systems it is 100% business as usual.
The headline is that it is business as usual at Tower Systems, as it has been all through Covid.
Since March 2020, most of our team members have been working from home. Our head office is open with a skeleton staff covering essential services.
The commitments we made at the start of Covid continue to be held: our support fees have not increased, the free software licence offer for folks working from home is still in place, the no credit card fee policy is still in place, our hardware discount offer is still in place and our specific retail channel support packages are still in place.
Our goal from early March was to provide our customers with a regular year regardless of what Covid brought. We think this focus has been appreciated by small business retailers who, themselves, have sought as normal as possible a year.
Stay safe and well everyone.
Tower Systems is a proud Australian software company serving in the vibrant IT sector in Australia and, in particular, in the local small business specialty retailer space.
We are a software company first and foremost. We make what we sell. We support it too, with local Australian help desk experts providing help and assistance to retailers in Australia and New Zealand.
With so much software used by businesses, including retailers, in Australia sourced from overseas software companies, we are grateful to the support that has enabled our Australian software company to be here, trading and growing since we started in February 1981. That’s right, February 1981 of continuous service to Australian small business and retailers as an Australian software company.
Our leadership team are software developers, tech experts bringing to the company fresh approaches, techniques and ideas for delivering genuine solutions to small business retailers in the POS software and business intelligence spaces. We have more recently brought web development to our suite, expanding our Australian software company offering.
Competing with overseas software companies is challenging, especially with low labour cost coders from India, China, the Ukraine, Indonesia and Pakistan. These low labour cost countries are where massive intern national software companies have development done. Our local labour cost is higher. The quality is worth it.
Australian businesses like buying from Australian businesses. However, we don’t chase pity business. Our focus is on continuous professional development, ensuring that we get better and more useful for our customers.
While not large, we are proud for the contribution that our Australian software company has made to small business retailers right around Australia and New Zealand. We have helped develop plenty of careers as well as businesses. Inside the company, the professional development of those who work for us is important to us. We think it is factor in people enjoying working with us for the long term. we sincerely appreciate commitment.
Australia needs a strong tech sector. Software development here in Australia matters to business and government. We would love to see more support for Aussie software development by government and the big end of town. No one gets Aussie needs and nuance like Aussies. Australian software companies are more likely to be good and responsible corporate citizens for the benefit of Australia too.
Today, we welcomed a new help desk team member to our business to fill an additional role. It feels odd to be expanding our workforce while many businesses are contracting theirs. To be cliché, it is what it is.
Here at Tower Systems, the is is that we are grateful to service a diverse and strong mix of marketplaces that are essential every day. Produce, farm, pet, garden, fitness cycling, news … these are all sectors people rely on every day, pandemic or not.
So, today, we welcomes Matt to our help desk team in a new role. He’ll be off the grid for a couple of months learning the software and our processes.
Here at Tower Systems we think retailers should have a choice between cloud based POS software or desktop POS software.
We offer both solutions: cloud based POS software and desktop POS software.
retailers can use our POS software in the cloud. They can also use it on a desktop, laptop, iPad or other tablet computer.
We are comfortable with cloud based POS software and we are comfortable with the locally run desktop POS software.
Yes, we believe choice matters for small business retailers.
Our cloud based software runs in the cloud, on a server of your choice, with us hosting or you hosting, with secure backup and insulation from the need to update the software.
Our customers choose from a menu of options as to the best cloud based POS solution for their particular business needs. We talk with customers, understand their needs and make recommendations to serve their needs.
We think flexibility is key to small business retailers, the opportunity for them to choose what is right for their businesses now and into the future. We say this because situations can change, just as tech can change. This is the issue, this is is what small business retailers are experiencing … change … this is the model of 2020 and beyond.
Cloud based POS software works well in this situation as it does offer the opportunity of scaling, of growing ads the business grows and of contracting as the business contracts. The Tower Systems cloud hosting infrastructure, which is off-site, secure and scaleable, is able to service small business retailers with surety and safety as they navigate the cloud based world of doing business.
Cloud based POS software can be misunderstood. This is why Tower is flexible and accommodating of the varying needs of small business retailers. Our advice and support seeks to offer help so that small business retailers are able to make certain decisions for surety through change economically and in individual businesses.
Tower Systems serves specialty retailers with specialty POS software (cloud based or desktop) tailored to the needs of these businesses, to serve them and support them as they evolve. We are an Aussie POS software co serving Aussie and NZ retail businesses. We are grateful to serve thousands of retailers.
We are a POS software company that owns and runs shops. We bought our first retail business in February 1996. Every day, the experience is valuable and appreciated.
Recently on social media, we have been sharing stories from our own experiences. These stories for a local Aussie shop have resonated. Here are some of them:
Storytime. Joe is 89 years old. He lives in a nursing home. When he moved there, he was limited as to what he could bring. The old shoebox with the collection of cards he’d received was the first thing he chose.
In that box are cards from his time as a local community Aussie rules coach. Parents and players had written cards over the years and Joe had kept them. “Each card is a memory”, he says with a smile, looking through his collection.
The oldest card Joe has is from 40 years ago from a player grateful for Joe’s help. Here it is so many years on, making Joe’s day.
Greeting cards hold the most wonderful memories.
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Storytime. Not long after Jeff, Deidre’s husband of 35 years, passed away, she received a card in her letterbox. It was from a Sam. It told the story of gratitude for the time Jeff helped Sam when he was down on his luck, by giving him a job. Sam explained that Jeff created the job for hem, to help him out. He told Deidre how that gesture from Jeff changed his life, that he owes his life to Jeff.
While Jeff passed away 10 years ago, Deidre has the card on her bedside table and looks at it every night. She is grateful for Sam and the card he sent.
Greeting cards give us the most wonderful memories.
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Storytime. Olivia turned 10 years old last month. The big birthday party planned could not happen, of course. With her family living in a flat, a drive-by honking or horns was not practical. The mum of a friend organised for everyone to send Olivia a birthday card.
Olivia received more than 50 cards, more than for any other birthday. The cards meant the world to her, especially those from her friends. The notes they wrote to her warmed her heart more than any gift. She wrote back to everyone. It took 2 days.
Olivia still has the cards on a shelf in her bedroom. She looks at them every day as each card is a friend or loved-one.
Greeting cards give us the most wonderful memories.
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Storytime. When Nick’s dad died, he didn’t know what to say to his mum. They were not close, Nick had not seen the family for many years since he walked out at 17 years old. Now 32, on hearing of the passing of his father, Nick wanted to reach out to his mum, but he was too scared to call or visit. He chose a gentle and respectful sympathy card. He shared a happy memory of his dad and explained how he had, finally, sorted out his life. He mentioned that even though he left, and that he never forgot and that his dad’s patience is something he eventually learned for himself.
The card opened a door and Nick and his family are reuniting.
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Storytime. “Sorry, it’s just a card, no money for a gift this year.” That’s how Chris signed off the card to Jules, her friend of more than 20 years, since they were in high school together. Swapping birthday gifts with a card and a note were a tradition. Since they lived on opposite sides of the country, they’d usually include a note with the card and gift each year.
Jules wrote back: “your card and note mean the world to me, every year. While I may have, possibly but please don’t judge me, re-gifted the odd gift from you, I have kept every card, every single card from you. I have 23. They the story of us. They are a perfect gift. Thank you.”
The card we send today can provide heart-warming memories for many years to come.
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Storytime. Jack opened the plain envelope that came in the post with the morning’s mail and was surprised to find an old card he vaguely recognised from years ago. The handwritten note on the back of the card was from Pattie, who used to be the receptionist at Jack’s work. Many years ago Pattie was going through a rough patch with her health and Jack had written her a card of encouragement.
Jack, Pattie wrote on the back of the card, I heard you have sold the business and are retiring. I am returning this card you gave me as a reminder of the difference you made. The card was the right message at the right time for me. It made a difference. It told me I was not alone. I kept it all these years as a reminder of the importance of simple kindness. I hope you treasure it as much as I have Jack.
Jack sat there and shook his head that a simple card could have meant to much.
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Storytime. Ethan’s school assignment asked that he write about his earliest memory. That’s easy, he said, it was the first letter I ever received. It was a birthday card from grandma. I was 4 and she posted me a birthday card with a tiger on it and it came in the mail. That’s the first memory I have. I still have card, and the envelope. Mum got them framed for me.
The card created in Ethan an interest in mail and letters more specifically. Now, 6 years on, every couple of weeks Ethan will write to a relative in the hope of receiving a response in the mail. And it all started with that birthday card, which remains his first memory.
Cards give us memories and stories long after they are received.
We are proud to offer locally made POS software for local retail businesses in niche specialty retail channels.
Fresh. Australian made. Australian supported. Made for specialty retailers in selected niche retail channels. This is perfect point of sale software for retailers keep to support shop local. But more than that, this is excellent point of sale software for retailers who consider themselves specialist at what they do and offer.
Here is a video of a Q&A that we hosted close to two months ago. It takes you behind the scenes to some of the many features of this genuinely new software.
Two months in and we can say for sure that COVID-19 has fundamentally changed how we do business. Of course, we are not alone in this. What we do own is our response.
We have learnt plenty over the last two weeks, about new opportunities, new needs, fundamental changes in retail and what we are capable of.
What has been most interesting is how flexible small business retailers have quickly become as they have adapted to the new business environment. Things that have have taken ages to consider in the past are considered and embraced in short time. We are loving the challenge of engaging with this, with our customers.
Time has changed. We think this is good because we are seeing small business retailers move fast and forward, seeking new customers through new products and new ways of doing business.
Some business owners are pushing harder online, which is a natural move. Others are doing this but through a product mix that genuinely reaches new shoppers for the business and thereby expands the opportunity and value base of the business.
Some business owners are de-cluttering their businesses, fine-tuning and bringing tighter focus to their business, leveraging business data to make decisions about product range, product location and supplier selection. These data driven moves are a thrill to see and be part of.
COVID-19 provided encouragement to embrace change and an opportunity of cover to make the changes – and this is the real opportunity of right now. It truly is a thrill to be part of businesses that are doing this.
In our POS software co. own case, we are doing more online than ever before as new customers are happy to be trained using video and phone hook-ups. Sales, too, are won online as we meet prospective customers over video calls. We have found some new opportunities, too.
In our retail businesses we are embracing the opportunities of the changed circumstances to grow online sales and recast the focus of the retail businesses. It is truly fascinating discovering decisions that are easy today that may have felt more complex a few months ago.
Who knows how long this COVID-19 world will exist. It could truly be the new normal. Regardless of what happens with COVID, we expect many of the changes and opportunities embraced in these months will stick, which would be good.
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