CategorySocial Responsibility

Free collateral created by us for indie retailers in our community.

The Donation Dollar is a wonderful initiative, helping Aussies engage with and support local charities and community groups. We are proud too circulate Donation Dollars in our own shops and our Mint Coin Shop and to help retailers engage with the opportunity.

Here is the press release from The Royal Australian Mint with details:

The Optus data hack that was announced yesterday is serious. As to how serious, it’s too early to sell since Optus is yet to be sure as to the extent.

What we don’t understand is how Optus had this data organised and stored.

Our advice to our customers is to not, ever, store customer credit card, licence or other key identifying details in one place.

It’s why we recommend all payments are done through secure gateways, with only those gateways capturing and processing payment. This way the POS software itself does not need to store or even know the payment method or account numbers.

We also recommend any identifying details required for age specific purchased, details like a licence number, are sighted and accepted, but not stored. It doesn’t make sense to us to store a licence number or passport number. Maybe Optus had their reasons.

The last thing any business wants is to be responsible for the release into the public domain of private identifying details for any customer.

Software companies have a responsibility to provide tech platforms that meet the needs of local businesses. We have, in the past, been asked to store personal identifying details of customers, and declined. We explained the security risk. Some who asked understood. Others, it turned out, were not a good fit for us.

Software companies, like our POS software company’s have a responsibility to also provide advice to our customers since we are likely to be the tech experts in their world., We can’t make them behave a certain way, but we can at least explain what’s best when it comes to data security, protection from hacks and best practice backup tools to enable recovery would a hack be successful.

Local indie small businesses retailers following the advice we provide could not, ever, find themselves in the situation of Optus as the sensitive personal data would not be there to be taken in a hack.

Here at Tower Systems we take our role of making and supporting POS software for local indie retailers seriously. We are grateful to the 3,000+ local indie retail customer we serve for their support and engagement,. it means a lot to us and all who rely on us.

Our head office is closed today for the AFL Grand Final eve public holiday. But fear not, we’re open in other states, providing awesome customer service and sales access to awesome POS software made for local small business retail.

Now, the And the Big Men Fly reference … it is a reference to an excellent Australian play by Allan Hopgood. It’s a classic AFL drama. But back when it was written, the AFL was the VFL.

Those were the days.

We are grateful for the opportunity to be interviewed for this ABC TV news story about working from home through Covid.

Here at Tower Systems, and our other business, newsXpress, we offer our team members the choice of where to work. There is no pressure on them returning to work, to the office. We will support them where they want to work.

We filmed so much more for the ABC story. We appreciate their interest in our approach to business.

What do you do? It’s a question you’re often asked when meeting someone for the first time.

Imagine the reaction when a local retailer says I sell memories.

How awesome is that. It’s emotional, heartwarming and intriguing all at once.

This is what local small business retailers using our POS software can say. Like the fishing shop that sells fishing rods, bait and more, and adds value by sharing local fishing tips and secret location details … and doing all of this consistently and easily through their Tower Systems fishing shop POS software.

This is one of the videos we have made to nurture part of what we do, the selling of memories. While this is made for fishing shops, it also speaks to other retailers where we support them selling memories to customers.

Embedded in out POS software are ways retailers can do this, sell memories, add value beyond the products they sell to make the experience wonderful, memorable.

We are so proud to be able to do this, to help our retailers sell memories that are heartfelt and cherished. And, while for sure, this is about what the tech does, it is about how what we do helps retailers to act in ways that play out as to how customers feel. This is where the memories are made – from feelings as a result of using the what the business sells, based on the use of the POS software we make.

Tower Systems is not your usual POS software company.

We make POS software for local specialty retail. We also run and operate 4 shops in Melbourne in the gift / homewares / collectibles spaces as well as 7 online shops. We understand the challenges of being small and local, and we have built into our software tools to help you thrive.

In you software you have easy easy for sharing locally relevant knowledge and advice, which can help your business stand out, and bring people back.

Like we said, Tower Systems is not your average POS software company.

As well as making and supporting our POS software, we also share retail insights.

To find out more about our POS software, email sales@towersystems.com.au or call 1300 662 957. You can also directly call Tim on 0401 833 917 or Justin on 0434 365 789.

While we are flattered that Canadian owned software company Retail Express thinks Tower Systems is important enough to target in YouTube ads, it is frustrating that they are trying to woo sales prospects from people we attract to POS software demonstration videos at our YouTube channel.

Here is a screen shot from a Retail Express ad video that appeared for us this morning when we went to play our newsagency POS software demonstration video at our Tower Systems YouTube channel.

Being targeted like this by a Canadian owned software company is frustrating in that we are an Aussie owned software company.

We found out about Retail Express targeting us when someone called and let us know. They were confused because they wanted to see the video of the demonstration of our POS software and this video from the Canadian owned Retail Express appeared. Once we explained that Retail Express is paying YouTube (Google) money for their video to play before ours they understood what was happening.

Tower Systems does not pay for any keyword or company name ads or other content promoting us to run when people are searching for a competitor. People searching have a right to find what they are looking for, not a competitor paying to insert themselves in the search retails.

Retail Express is a competitor of Tower Systems. We’ve not seen their software, other than this ad they are running. We have switched some retailers from their software to ours. We are sure they will have switched some our customers to them. It happens.

What we do know is that we are an Australian owned POS software company. Our software is highly specialised in nature. we serve over 3,000 locally owned retail businesses. We only focus on local retail – we have no interest in chasing large retail groups or businesses. We are best at serving local.

Retail Express is owned by Marapost, a Canadian company.

If you go to play a Tower Systems YouTube video and the Retail Express ad comes up, please know that it’s not our choice their ad plays first. It’s something they are paying for. And, while we are flattered that they think we are important enough for them to do this, we wish they’d focus more on their own business rather than ours.

Here at Tower Systems, we are not requiring anyone to return to the office. Our colleagues who want to continue to work from home are welcome to do so.

We’d rather people work from where they are happiest.

We are grateful that for our type of business, a software development and customer service company, we are able to have team members work where it suits them.

Even though our business grew up in the 1980s, 1990s and beyond, when working from an office inquire a formal way was the tradition, we have embraced the opportunity to change. In the first week of Covid we sent everyone home, and have not requested people return since. But, any who do want to return to the office are welcomed.

By being flexible in terms of where people work and even how they work has enabled us to expand our team, with six new roles created in the last few months. none of these roles could have been created in the old approach to working from a corporate office.

Saving commute time, saving on incidental expenses and more makes it easier for people to save, and be happier. Again, we are grateful to be in a position to offer this flexibility to our colleagues. For sure, the company benefits, too … and this benefits everyone.

We’ve read of businesses requiring staff to return to the office, demanding even. We’re not doing that and will not do that. Our position on work from home arrangements is here and locked-in. We like it and our colleagues like it. It benefits local communities, too, with more spending being done by our colleagues working from home, in their home locations, that would have been the case had they been office based. This is good for regional economies.

Retaining good people is challenging in any business situation, even more today. By being flexible as to where people work and how they work, we providing a flexibility that makes the company more appealing we’ve been told, and we like that.

We feel for businesses in CBDs. But the interest in work from home should not have shocked them. There was a move under way prior to Covid, although there pandemic amplified it considerably.

We are proud to see how our local retail POS software its used by many local retail businesses to do good in so many different ways, from helping local business thrive to helping them help their local comunuies and more.

Recently, we have been proud to see how our POS software has helped hundreds of local retailers sell Max, a Beanie Boo created to raise funds for autism awareness and support.

Each Max sold raises funds. Max is encouraging other help, too. Max is also playing a part in raising awareness about autism.

We have helped Max reach more people in a few ways: through easy selling online through our Magento and Shopify website connected POS software, through easy finding thanks to Google searches and our online connections and through in-store sale and promotion thanks to platforms for this in our local retail POS software.

In doing this work, we have come, ourselves, to understand why Max was created and the work of a range off charities and organisations involved in supporting those with autism and those who care for them. we are grateful for these learning opportunities cities, to have discovered so much and to be able to help in different ways.

Using our Aussie made POS software, retailers are able to share valuable information when people buy Max, such as the details of local autism support groups and services, and more. Going the extra distance like this is a way local retailers are able to do more for their communities, to help support others and show the value of a genuinely locally owned and run retail business.  We have been able to show retailers how they can do this easily, amplifying the reach of the Max campaign, which was first launched in the US by Ty Inc.

It’s one thing for local retailers to offer products as fundraisers and another, one more valuable, for them to go further, amplify the message and encourage more support and engagement by adding the local connections, because, after all, the best retail is local.

In a bg business, Max is a SKU, a barcode, something to sell. In a local retail business, Max is a campaign, for your friend, neighbour or relative. It’s personal. This is the small business difference, the way we can engage to help nurture more valuable and practical outcomes.