Optisoft Technology Company Ltd

A lot of small business owners are concerned with growth. All they want is an increased workload to show that they are working, increased revenue, and maybe a good LinkedIn recognition. In the quest to achieve the above, they end up burning energy and being less productive, and having a high operating cost with most times: little profit.

Growth is good if you want to show the world how much of a hardworking fellow you are. But if you’re going to do less work and see a big profit, then your answer is in Scaling. Scaling doesn’t make you lazy. No! Instead you become more productive if you scale. Imagine working very hard to increase revenue only to end up with high revenue and a very high cost. When you scale, more money is added to your bank account while you are less involved in the business activities’ daily running.

Scaling is about initiating systems and procedures that increase productivity. When you scale, you leverage people’s time, money, and relationship for your business’s smooth running and your less involvement in the day to day running of your business. Scaling ensures that your growth strategies are sustainable while adding new customers and growing your revenue without adding extra work to your plate. It is in the best interest of small businesses to choose scale over growth. It’s the business owner choosing smart work over hard work.

How can small businesses scale using Tech?

And in today’s series of Using Tech, focus shall be on: USING INVENTORY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM TO SCALE YOUR BUSINESS.

In business – specifically retail, a proper understanding of your inventory can make or break your business. Every entrepreneur should be able to manage their inventory as it is vital. Spreadsheets can not do the work today, as it does not: scale with your business. Instead, it adds multiple sheets, which leaves you with more work, and most times, you are left with error-filled sheets. If you must scale your business, you must put in place processes and procedures that allow you to scale. And one of such is an inventory management system.

When using an inventory management software like Cube 700, it allows data flow automatically from one system to another because of the cloud storage. Unlike the manual inventory system where data is entered manually into several systems, inventory management software sends information across your systems. You don’t have to enter them. They are moved from one point to another. So, when a product is purchased, your online shop tells your accounting software. Which records your tax and revenue, you also have displayed on your dashboard your store profitability live on your mobile, and the software can automatically reorder if you are getting low on stocks. This system is up to date and gives you freedom from manual entry errors while giving you the tools to improve your business. Another thing an inventory management system is going to do for you is: give you up-to-date data for important decisions. Information such as: which product sells the most? Who is most likely to purchase them? When should you order more, and how much should you keep in stock?

An inventory management software gets this data, shows you the detail, finds your star product, and creates reorders for you while it compares running cost. And because it is cloud-based, your data can be accessed at any place at any time. Having a cloud-based inventory management system like Cube 700 gives you mobile access to your inventory to expand your business. You can check your stock levels, receive notifications, and reorder products on the go.

There is a lot to gain in scaling your business. And scaling rightly with the right software (Cube 700) is the best decision that you can take this year for you and your business.

Business itself responds to human problems by offering solutions in exchange for value, mostly money. But although businesses solve problems, they are not spared by problems. What makes a business successful is its ability to solve human problems and as well solve the problems that arise within itself as it finds a solution to human challenges. In time past, due to scanty innovations and the non-existence of tech, many businesses didn’t have to think a lot to get the problem solved within themselves. Their lack of means meant they had to work with what they had without trying to innovate.

Technology changed that. Today, the world is moving at a swift pace, and businesses are all trying to catch up with it, therefore, facing the challenge of aligning their processes to be able to solve the problems they have set out to set. Today, businesses are faced with the challenge of using tech to solve customer problems and as well using tech to streamline internal operations to be able to keep up with customer demands without collapsing the system.

Today’s post shall explain how businesses can leverage tech to solve the problem of operations with specific emphasis on commerce.

Using Technology to Solve Commerce Problems

Never has there been a time when buying and selling needed tech than this. Not just starting an e-commerce platform, but also running the day to day activities of commerce businesses, tech is in high demand than ever. From sourcing for products, lead generation, marketing campaigns, finding the right market place to sell products, to building optimal sales funnels, commerce has a high need for tech.

Data Problem

Business owners used to have that book with documented customer details (much business still do). This was very inefficient. Many times, they had so many books containing customer details that it was difficult and sometimes impossible to get customer data.

Then came spreadsheets. The invention of Microsoft excel made it easier for data to be documented. Businesses no longer had to use books to record customer data. And as things improved, there was the invention of the sales automation system. They made it so much easier to document data and carry out campaigns seamlessly with the data that businesses have.

Marketing Problem

The internet changed the way businesses reached out to customers. Marketing was traditional and very inefficient in reaching out directly to the target market. You could not niche down traditional marketing. Your radio jingle, TV advert, and billboard had to speak to everyone. This was challenging for businesses.

But today, businesses can run ads on online platforms and even target this ad to their market. And it’s cheaper. Tech has solved the problem of reaching out to your target market. From SEO, Facebook ads, and email marketing, tech has made marketing easier and cheaper for businesses.

Payment Problems

During my last shopping, payment was made with my debit card. We have moved from an era of cash payments to an age where payments can be made through bank transfers. The issue of cashier accountability is gradually fading out for businesses. All they need to do is integrate seamless payment processes into their business and see every penny accounted for.

The beginning of seamless payment is just upon us. With time, payments will be more simplified more, giving both businesses and their customers better ways to make and receive payments.

Product Delivery

Customers now track their products. People purchase products continents away and can still keep track of those products until it gets to them. Trust has been built amongst customers because they track their wares and have it delivered to them.

This is one aspect of commerce that technology has been able to solve, giving businesses the leverage to build trust amongst clients, therefore having them do business beyond their national borders: increasing product reach and market share.

If traders can leverage tech in their sales process, there is a lot to gain. Ecommerce is not here to go but to stay. It will be in the best interest of traders to use tech in their sales and operation process to increase their reach and market share.

What are those aspects of commerce that tech can solve?

May 2020, Twitter, Facebook, and Square announced that their staff members would be working from home. With Twitter announcing that their staff will have the “work from home forever option.”

So many people expected the announcement, but no one anticipated the “forever option.” Although remote work has been going on for some years now, the outbreak of the novel coronavirus has forced a lot of companies to go remote for the safety of their staff and their host communities. Companies are no longer asking the question, do we go remote? But a lot are asking the question of how do we optimize productivity as our workforce goes remote.

Remote Work

Remote work is a working arrangement that allows professionals to work outside of a traditional office environment. When people work remotely, they do not assemble in a workspace to work. They work from different locations while work is virtually monitored and task virtually assigned. The idea is that job does not have to be done from a single place for it to be successful.

This is becoming the new norm globally, and more companies will join this trend as the year unfolds. But as more companies roll out plans to work remotely, it has consequences for both the staff and the organization. Companies that adopted this policy are already facing specific problems that come from working remotely.

In this blog post, these problems will be analyzed and solutions as to the question given.

Remote working has been great for getting us through lock-down but truly creative work needs the magic of face to face interaction, not endless Zoom calls. Without the serendipity and chemistry of real-world encounters, the world will be a far less creative place.  — Rohan Silva, CEO, Second Home

Challenges of working remotely

The first challenge remote teams face is the problem of project management. In physical workspaces, work is coordinated by the HR and team leads. But in situations where team members cannot be constantly checked, keeping an eye on team members will always be tedious. And when this happens, it can affect the outcome of projects.

Indeed, remote work will usher in the birth of companies with a global workforce on a large scale who will have to be coordinated from a point. This is very challenging. A lot of companies are already experiencing this problem of working from different locations and time zones. Coordinating a team of people on a different part of the planet is one of the challenges of remote work.

Lastly, while companies will have to figure out how to deal with project management and time zone challenges, another challenge that will be faced by these companies will be overcoming distractions on the part of their staff.

A lot of people who work remotely will work from home. And they will always have to focus on work and house chores. Most staff will even be faced with the issue of caring for children and loved ones. These distractions are capable of reducing productivity on the part of the team.

These are a few challenges that companies that work remotely or have chosen to work remotely will face. But the good news is: these problems are not without solutions.

Ways to overcome some of the challenges

Here are things companies can do to solve the challenges attached to working remotely.

For project management, there are software that can be used by project managers to assign and track the progress of tasks. Tools such as monday.com, Trello and Asana are very cool tools remote project managers can use to solve this problem.

Working remotely gives businesses the freedom to hire talent around the world. But these talents don’t work from the same time zone, which can put teams out of synchronization. To solve this problem, companies can set up a working schedule for workers. This will allow team members at the same time zones to work at the same time. This can be done with tools like an integrated calendar. This tool helps you pull everyone’s schedule into a single place and help remote work managers schedule tasks and meetings according to availability.  Slack is also a cool tool team can use to solve this problem.

Lastly, in overcoming distractions, team members can solve this problem by scheduling their day. But if they have kids that can be a distraction while working, team members can focus on working at cafes or workspaces.

In a proper cost-benefit analysis, the benefit of remote work dramatically outweighs the cost. And it will be in the highest interest of companies to adopt this policy as it will cut operating costs and bring the best talents on board. Although challenges exist like every other human endeavor, if these teams implement the solutions listed, remote work gains will be innumerable for teams.

In light of the current pandemic and economic climate in the world, businesses are looking for ways to maximize growth, improve sales and stay competitive.

Ezone Enterprise Resource Planning System is a tool for planning and managing all of the resources of your business.Ezone ERP system is critical for achieving continuous improvement for your business.

Ezone manages your business effectively by minimizing the use of your resources and maximizing the profit you earn, i.e. cutting costs and still expanding the business at the same time.

Most companies use different software systems for different functions in different departments. Inventory, Sales, keeping track of deliveries, employee records is also different as well.

It becomes a difficulty when departments need to collaborate to compile and share data accurately and timely.

Ezone ERP system was created after extensive research on how to make workflow processes easier in the organisation and for staff and to help integrate all departments on a single system to enhance productivity.

Functions of Ezone ERP

1. Ezone creates a common language for greater employee productivity:-

Ezone centralizes access to data in one common database, It will improve the way information is shared and managed. We have created a way to simplify the ways you share and understand important information.

2. Improves Workflow Process:-

It creates a standardized operation process across your business. By giving all employees access to the information they need, when they need it, you will improve efficiency for a better operating environment.

3. Automation:-

When your processes are automated, you will improve the efficiency and quality by tracking and monitoring with Ezone and you will point out potential issues faster before they have a chance to impact on quality control.

4. Improved collaboration:-

Ezone improves the virtual communication across the business and can optimize business processes and dramatically improve responsiveness. Improving internal communication between apparently unrelated departments can have a positive impact on collaboration across the company.

5. Scalability:-

Ezone is quick to respond to change and can impact as a continuous business improvement tool. If you can access important information with ease, then you will be more effective in leveraging growth and development opportunities for your business.

Features

• Inventory
• Human resources
• Workflow Process Automation
• Accounting
• Customer Relationship Management
• Document Management System
• Learning Management System

Benefits

Ezone System manages your inventory,

giving you accurate records on the go of stock levels to help you in eradicating issues of over stocking or understanding products.

Ezone System manages your staff, their records, helps in recruitment, records staff progress to ascertain performance, and also keeps records of benefits like leave, pension e.t.c.

Ezone System enhances the workflow process in your organisation, by giving you accurate records of information and giving reports with ease, it simplifies the everyday business processes because when your work flows, you can concentrate on getting more done and focus on the things that matter. It allows your team to spend more time on the actual work itself and less time on the processes that support them.

Ezone System manages the company’s accounting and financial business processes and operations, including; accounts receivable, accounts payable, sales order processing, purchase order processing, inventory control and management, manufacturing, human resources, payroll processing and much more.

It monitors the business financials, and also tracks the tangible and intangible assets like human resources, and materials e.t.c that are not financials per se, but impact the company’s finances.

Ezone System enables your business to better manage customer interactions, provide support, and maintain relationships through reliable systems and processes with it’s customer relationship management functionality. It also integrates organizational processes across marketing, sales, and customer service with functionalities and features that can strategically serve key initiatives across departments.

Ezone System helps you to manage document processes in your organisation, by automating the retrieval of documents, contracts, sales records e.t.c. across the entire organisation.

The management of these processes and transactions digitally provides your organization with quantifiable ROI and a competitive advantage.

Ezone System manages the processes of creating, hosting, distributing and accessing training sessions, this could be used for staff on boarding, promotions or for training.

It enables you to build courses on different topics and publish these courses on a training portal, assign courses to employees or students and track course completion status and track trainee participation.

For more information on our product and its features kindly see website link below:-

www.ezoneapp.com

Interested in Ezone ERP System?

please contact us via:

www.optisoft.ng

Do you run a food delivery business that is doing well or not and you are wondering how to expand sales globally or within your community? Are you not quite sure about breaking into e-commerce because of security concerns, the duplicity of ideas, or simply a lack of understanding about that element of business?

If you are a food delivery vendor or thinking of starting one soon and wondering if that is where your clients are, there is never a better time to gain a better understanding.

Why an “E-Commerce platform?

Building your business in a store only is like making your business a brick and mortar setup which is bound by location while the whole world is technically out there waiting to hear about what you can offer, even if you think your business needs to stay local due to your type ok delicacies, how are you bringing your business to a wider audience for an increase in profit.

More people are ordering food delicacies online because the Internet offers a smorgasbord of specialties to suit any taste and budget. Consumers can order food from their smartphones, call local vendors for deliveries, and find dishes that average supermarkets or restaurants just do not sell. As a food vendor, you are in a unique position to make a profit while building your brand by selling signature food items from your own eCommerce store.

Benefits

1. Superior customer experience

With brick-and-mortar stores, customers will feel frustrated to discover a single missing item they have forgotten to buy as it means a second time of driving, picking, and queueing. When purchasing online, they can edit an order before it has been dispatched. A possibility to reorder for customers to place orders faster.

Smart upselling is done when the system reminds customers of products from previous orders that they might have forgotten to include this time.

2. Competition 

3. Reducing Costs

E-commerce tends to carry far lower costs than brick-and-mortar setups, adding an online component to your existing business does not need to be a high-risk investment and in fact, in most cases would be a far better choice than opening another storefront if that’s something that you feel you could easily lose money on.

4. Multi-store Functionality

Enterprise eCommerce platforms feature multi-store functionality allowing businesses to create and manage multiple web stores via a single administration panel, you can have stores that can service different localities and locations.

5. Social Distancing

Selling such a vital asset as food, you must listen to customer demands even more carefully. For example, what we see now is an offline retail business feeling extremely vulnerable in the COVID pandemic. People avoid crowds, leave their houses much less, and, therefore, shop online whenever they can. In this situation, if you do not offer an online sales channel, you literally have your food retail business in danger.

6. Product Presentation

For informed purchasing decisions, customers will appreciate high-quality media and comprehensive product information (composition, ingredients e.t.c). Besides, they can go through product reviews and compare prices while online shopping. A possibility to diversify product descriptions can become one of the competitive advantages of e-commerce over brick-and-mortar businesses. An eCommerce platform allows creating custom sets of attributes for each product type so that customers get the fullest product information. For example, A dish like fried rice can have an attribute,  The food it best pairs with. What is more, retailers can group related products and possibly offer a perk in the form of an overall price reduction.

7. Payment

Both payment and prepayment after the order have been placed online and payment upon delivery is available for online food retailers. While the process is clear with payment upon delivery (a courier can accept cash or a credit card), a prepayment option has some specifics for food eCommerce.

As far as a food order can contain products sold by weight, customers can quantify an exact order cost at the stage of order placement hence prepayment can be made.

8.Decreased overhead expense

With a number of similar expenditures for online and brick-and-mortar businesses (e.g.for a store), online food vendors save on the overhead costs associated with renting retail premises (the prices of which grow in proportion to a location’s convenience) and customer-facing staff. Instead, they can invest in eCommerce development and marketing with E-commerce.

9.Personalized customer experience

Online vendors can develop more personal communication with customers – even if this communication takes place online. By tracking and analyzing customer behavior, they get to know who their customers are and what engagement they expect.

Summary

Success in an online food business largely depends on what benefits vendors offer to customers to beat a possibility to hand-pick products. In short, their competitive advantage is customer experience where they can offer a personalized approach, a time-saving purchasing process, and convenient delivery options.

We design and implement effective food eCommerce solutions. Here are our knowledge and expertise one click away.

For further inquiries contact via,

Email: Info@optisoft.ng

Call or Whatsapp:+234 708 895 7111