FORT WAYNE, Ind. -- Summit Software Inc., which develops integrated accounting and inventory management software for the petroleum, convenience store and biofuels markets, has offered some suggestions for selecting software, especially during times of poor margins.
The Fort Wayne, Ind., tech firm cited a recent OPIS study that said in 2007, gasoline retailers experienced the "thinnest margins" in a decade. These margins varied regionally across the United States with the upper Midwest and central Plains suffering the most. Combined with ever increasing labor costs and credit card fees, [image-nocss] retailers are being challenged to find ways to improve efficiency, increase productivity, and reduce shrink.
While retailers can certainly be creative in motivating employees and establishing loyalty programs to retain customers, these measures can only take their business so far on their own. The truest and easiest way to improve efficiency, increase productivity and reduce shrink is to effectively monitor the financial health of your day-to-day operations on an ongoing basis. To accomplish this, retailers need effective accounting and inventory management tools.
Accounting and inventory management software gives an efficient retailer the power to run reports daily to identify profit improvement areas, pinpoint trouble spots, improve merchandising, and integrate their operations.
The software also reduces labor costs associated with end of day activities and pricebook management.
Retailers often delay purchasing software until margins have improved. Ultimately, this strategy is very costly. In good times, retailers may be able to take a more casual approach to their operations; however, in difficult times it becomes imperative to squeeze every ounce of profit and productivity out of every operation. For gasoline retailers, implementing powerful software tools provides an effective return on investment (ROI), with paybacks in generally less than one year.
There are many accounting and inventory management software options in the marketplace. Choosing the correct vendor for your organization can often be a challenge if you don't know the right questions to ask.
Here are some important factors to consider when selecting software:
Reporting Capabilities. How extensive are the reporting capabilities within the software? Is it easy to report on the data within the tool? Are the numbers displayed in a logical, easy to use, meaningful way? Will these reports address the specific pain points you're experiencing in your organization? If not, can it create custom reports that give you the data you truly need? Integration. Integration is a word often used in the backoffice software world. Most vendors claim to have integration, but few have true integration. True integration is defined as having all the software components developed and maintained by the same company and working seamlessly. The tighter the integration between the different software components, the fewer manual steps it means for your organization. Fewer steps mean greater labor savings and less opportunity for errors. Ongoing Costs. What are the ongoing costs to keep your software up-to-date with the needs of the marketplace? How often will your hardware need replacing? What costs are associated with maintaining the hardware on a daily basis? Development. Is a company's development based on its own needs or the actual needs of their customers? Is the software's development tied to a third party? While it can initially sound like an advantage to select software integrated with a large global software package, this can potentially be a disadvantage if markets dictate changes for that software. What is the likelihood that this third-party developer will change its product to match the needs of a single industry? Technology. Technology is constantly changing and new leaders and standards are being raised up all the time while others fall into obsolescence. How well is the software vendor prepared to embrace the changes of the coming decades? Can this technology withstand substantial growth in your organization?Members help make our journalism possible. Become a CSP member today and unlock exclusive benefits, including unlimited access to all of our content. Sign up here.