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Accounting is essential for every business; it’s something a business cannot run without. This part of the business however is normally handled by someone else and not the owner because accounting can take quite a bit of time and everyone knows you have more than enough to do. On the other hand, accounting is a very important factor that you cannot ignore and you yourself will have to keep an eye on things.

So hire someone to do all the work but check on all the work as well, doesn’t seem like the perfect formula. That’s where accounting software comes in handy. Accounting software is like an accountant except it gets the job done instantly, it’s with you 24/7 and it works on a lot of different things in a fraction of the time. You’ll have everything you need to run your own accounts. One of the very popular accounting software in the market now is the MYOB Accounting.

You have the MYOB Accounting or the MYOB Accounting Plus. With MYOB Accounting you can easily change quotes to orders then invoices; it easily integrates with Microsoft, your MYOB contacts can be synchronized with Outlook, monitor performances by cost centre or department, undo bank reconciliations easily and more.

With MYOB Accounting Plus you get the same benefits as MYOB Accounting plus more features that makes your life easier! Weather you choose the MYOB Accounting or the MYOB Accounting Plus, you’re business will definitely be a lot easier to handle.

Your POS software can help out in many different aspects of the business, one of them being increasing profit by controlling prices of your items. With all prices controlled from one place, all your employees will have the correct up to date price to give your customers, mark ups or downs can be fixed for any department easily and instantly, pricing errors will be reduced and special prices can be computed automatically.

The POS Software also makes it easier and quicker to print price tags at receiving rather than keying or writing, set items discount prices for a certain amount of time then they go back to normal price automatically and avoid price negotiations since customers can't haggle with a computer.

Large Inventories that need price adjustments is very difficult and time consuming without a POS Software in place. You’ll know which items sell the most and the least and from there you’ll make more money by knowing what to keep more of and what to get rid of.

Reducing price mistakes, hitting price points, and making small adjustments; these are simple tasks for a POS software that can add 1 to 5% to your profit margins, and when you convert that percentage to cash, it’s well worth it.

Inventory control requires precise and rigid monitoring from the time when product supplies arrive in storage area or warehouses to product delivery.
 

If the retail shop is small and only have 1 storage area and 1 cash register within the retail shop area, barcoding and scanning are 2 critical areas to look at. Thus, it is necessary that retail owner gets the right compatible barcoders, barcode scanners, barcode printers, display and POS software.
 

Barcoders and barcode printers should imprint clear and unique barcodes to each product during inventory. Product details should be complete during barcoding from product price to quantity, size, color, expiry date, etc. Each barcode should be scanned and registered with the cash register through POS software. Storage and cash register should be interfaced for a balance product inventory (no excess or shortage) in every delivery and purchase.
 

Point of sale especially inventory control becomes complex however when the retail shop is big and multinationals with isolated departments, divisions, branches, outlets and offices. A programmable POS software with communication and simultaneous back-up capabilities are needed here. A programmable POS software is necessary because bigger retails have more unique operations. Point of sale is more complicated if big retails insist on using standard POS software.
 

Communication capability is the key for efficient point of sale of a big retail that deploys multiple cash registers and large management departments. Big retail companies have many POS users and loads of data that require seamless real time transfer and back-up of point of sale data. If one department does not receive any relevant point of sale transaction, retail operation especially in inventory department certainly will be in trouble.
 

A central control unit with secure server, client-server technology, peer-to-peer-like communication, local area network and back-up are needed for this complex inventory control to prevent retail troubles in the future.
 

Each product purchased and delivered should be
 

Laptop POS technology with mini wireless scanner and mini printers, linked wirelessly and remotely to multiple cash registers and central control unit.
 

All POS hardwares are portable with rechargable batteries for power failures, which are still prevalent outside First World countries.

Increasing sales always require customer service. Training customer service representatives/staff/agents are not enough. They got to have the right tools to deliver the best customer service.

For most, convenience best defines a best customer service. A best customer service is when a customer get his/her product need in quality form by a courteous and hospitable customer service attendant. But when a customer gets it in long lines to finish his/her grocery or long hours to have his/her meal because of faulty point of sale system, then it does not complete a best customer service.

A quality product and hospitable customer service attendant are not enough to deliver quality customer service. Fast delivery of customer orders makes a lot of difference in customer service especially nowadays when most people are often rushing. And an efficient POS system will deliver such service to increase sales.

Right match of POS hardwares and softwares makes an efficient POS system. An efficient point of sale takes, display and print preparation details and delivers customer orders fast and in real time. A right POS peripheral swiftly scans grocery items and displays total grocery cost for payment.
 

This required efficiency is best shown in fast food counters especially in drive-thrus. When a drive-thru customer makes an order in an order counter, a hospitable food attendant quickly punches in the right order in the cash register and displays the order details to the customer for confirmation. After customer confirms, the food attendant quickly communicates and forwards the order details to the kitchen for preparation. The kitchen then quickly forwards the ordered food to the claim counter for delivery to the customer. All these efficient processes are facilitated by a right POS system. Quick take and delivery of customer orders coupled with hospitable food attendants make drive thrus click.
 

Efficient POS system is necessary because fast quality customer service greatly differs one retail shop in a crowded competitive and nearly homogenous market.
 

How using POS software increase your sales?

In this information age, we are often loaded with data that are often left unprocessed and unreported for the target users. We undeniably have multiple tools to collect data but we rarely have—or maybe discovered less—tools to process and report user-friendly data.

Does your POS software have these capabilities?
 

It would be great to find a POS software that easily translates a million of point of sale data to mass media-like information, that is concise, brief, simple and graphical too.
 

This POS software-generated information will provide retail owners relevant information for daily and future retail operations.
 

POS software should not only have that mass media-like data processing and reporting capabilities but also easy and real time archiving and feedbacking features. POS software should store millions of data that can easily be extracted for retail business reviews and evaluations. Along with this feature is also a capability that traces, processes and reports patterns of point of sale information for comprehensive (not just daily, but quarter, annual, decade, etc.) retail performance.
 

These trend analyses provide retail owners a clearer business direction and better decision especially in developing strategies to increase sales. If a POS software is faulty and not right, it will certainly provide wrong point of sale data and misdirect retail owners. Wrong point of sale data will not provide the right marketing and management strategies to increase sales.
 

It is not enough that a POS software could provide a daily point of sale report. It needs to provide comprehensive yet understandable point of sale reports for a big picture sales performance, required in crafting effective strategies to increase sales. These concise point of sale data will identify retail strengths and weaknesses that are highly instrumental in sales strategy management. If POS software could supply relevant information when sales are up or down, then it will certainly increase sales.
 

It is important that the choice of POS software is compatible with the choice of POS peripherals or hardwares. A POS periphal like a barcode scanner might work right with another POS software but not in your choice of POS software. A perfect match or same brands of POS peripherals might be chosen.

If a retail shop banks on existing computing technology because of its limited resources but highly needs a more efficient POS system, retail owner should look for POS technology that match its existing computing technology. The retail owner might not have the latest version of Microsoft operating system that his/her choice of POS technology requires. Also check if the existing computing technology can handle and store all additional data that the new POS system will be streaming and backing-up.The choice of POS technology might be right with the existing computing technology but works slow because of heavy stream of point of sale data. Compatibility of POS hardwares and softwares are most critical in the communication and data network area. A working cash register is useless if the data network is faulty because of incompatible POS hardwares and softwares.

Compatibility is important in complex point of sale systems. Thus, a retail owner should take a careful matching of POS softwares and hardwares.

Pretesting all matched POS softwares and hardwares before using them for full-time retail operation is also important. They might only be perfect on papers and technician's advice. Request a dry-run of POS technology operation for 2-3 days for POS technician, consultant and user/s to check for possible troubles. There would always be errors in any system and multiple pretests entail cost to business, but when they are minor and manageable, the choice of POS software is now ready for full operation.

POS softwares were all carefully designed and crafted. Thus, they are all right technologies. They just become inappropriate after wrong retail business match and use.

Most POS softwares have standard formats while some are programmable to fit retail needs. Standard POS softwares are not always inappropriate technology, as often criticized. They still are appropriate especially to small retails that often have simple retail operations. Those small retail shops with single cash registers and few retail items can use standardized POS software. They can even do away with barcode, barcode scanners and complex communication peripherals. A cash drawer with a standard POS software and docket printer can simply do the whole simple point of sale transactions.

POS software with standard formats become inappropriate when they are used to big complicated and expanding retail operations. A cashier or retail owner could not simply remember all the item codes that are stored in cash registers/drawers. Memory gaps and simple standard POS software delay and trouble registering. That is why barcodes and scanners were invented to fill in the efficiency gap.

Retail owners should however look carefully into the many barcoding and scanning technologies because not every POS Systems have guaranteed performance qualities. Some barcoding systems could not imprint easily readable barcodes while some barcode scanners could not read in long ranges and wet or thickly packed items. In turn, cashier pulls a manual under the cash register, traces a retail item code and delays a point of sale.

A POS software without barcodes and barcode scanners for big retails should be custom-fit but simple. A minimal display of inputs and big input buttons for cash register will prevent a cashier or retail owner to commit another common cash register error: tapping the wrong data.

There would always be an error in any tool and system, that is the human error. But if a retail owner prepares and invests on the right POS software, this error can be minimized.

Important Things To Consider On Choosing POS Software

Choosing the right POS software requires comprehensive understanding of both your retail business needs and the POS technology—both hardware and software. When you know your retail, the following areas of the POS technology should be considered:

Barcoding, barcode scanning, registering and barcode and docket printing capabilities should fully be compatible with the POS software and perform each task with precision and in real time. Faulty barcoding itself would later translate into faulty POS system and information. All POS hardwares (computer display, barcode scanner, barcode and docket printers, communication peripherals) should however be well-interfaced for the overall POS system to perform well.

POS software should generally be compatible with the 3 current major programming languages or operating systems like Microsoft, Linux and Mac and work with different brands of POS hardwares/peripherals.

Either you have single or multiple cash registers or cash drawers, the POS software could clearly monitor and control all point of sale. Thus, a communication capability that streamlines between cash register and central control, cash register and another cash register, central control and server, central control and other retail business users is necessary. The communication capability should facilitate an uninterrupted data network similar with the local area network or LAN technology.

Those are basic POS technology but point of sale would be better if it is more user-friendly with touchscreen and graphical capabilities, internet connection with strict security systems or secure servers, real time backups and wireless connectivity. These features are however because they are still not massly produced and widely used by most small and medium retails.

What is widely used are still the old programmable DOS-based POS softwares because they were cheap and custom-fit to retail needs. A programmable POS software is the best platform for point of sale simply because no single solution fits all needs.

Some Important Consideration When Choosing POS Software

Monitoring and recording point of sale are two big and costly tasks in business. They are big and costly but undeniably relevant tasks because they provide data references for profit, losses, daily business operations, future investments, etc. A small mistake in monitoring and recording point of sale would automatically incur additional and irrelevant costs to the business owners. If a cash register wrongly records 10 purchased boxes of cigarettes, instead of the usual 5, the business owner would perceive the 5 additional boxes as additional demand. In turn, the owner buys and supplies his/her store 5 more boxes, which, in reality, is not additional demand. The wrongly perceived demand is an excess supply and irrelevant incremental cost to the business owner. A right POS software is therefore necessary here.

A business owner however should be careful in choosing the right POS software because there are many POS technologies. Some are not programmable to fit your business needs. Some have limited functionality. Some are not updated to the growing technologies like Linux and Mac operating systems. Some have faulty hardware interface like scanner to computer in cash registers.

It is thus important to know your business needs first to choose the right POS technology. All POS technologies were carefully designed. They just become inappropriate when used by businesses that do not know well of their business needs especially in bookkeeping and accounting.

A business owner should consider if he/she really needs wireless scanners instead of the regular ones. Does he/she need a custom-fit POS software or would an average POS software already do? Would he/she need multiple data centers? Would he/she still need a central control server when he/she himself/herself do all the point of sale? Would a DOS-run POS software do or Windows-based?