http://www.markinson.com.au/company/blog/ http://www.markinson.com.au/company/blog/brisbanetruckshow/ <div id="_mcePaste" style="position: absolute; left: -10000px; top: 0px; width: 1px; height: 1px; overflow: hidden;">Following our involvement in the recent AAA Expo, we’re excited to also be exhibiting at the Brisbane Truck Show from 16 to 19 May 2013.</div>
<div id="_mcePaste" style="position: absolute; left: -10000px; top: 0px; width: 1px; height: 1px; overflow: hidden;">Visit us at Stand 258 (Plaza Level) and learn more about our ERP and retail solutions for the commercial vehicle industry, including MomentumPro and Shopkeeper.</div>
<div id="_mcePaste" style="position: absolute; left: -10000px; top: 0px; width: 1px; height: 1px; overflow: hidden;">We’ll be demonstrating our new internet and channel integration products for parts catalogues and streamlined electronic order processing, in addition to our new mobile solutions for field-based auto aftermarket sales teams.</div>
<div id="_mcePaste" style="position: absolute; left: -10000px; top: 0px; width: 1px; height: 1px; overflow: hidden;">The Brisbane Truck Show is the premier event in Australia for the transport industry, showcasing the latest in heavy vehicles, technology, engineering and innovation.  It runs over four days at the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre:</div>
<div id="_mcePaste" style="position: absolute; left: -10000px; top: 0px; width: 1px; height: 1px; overflow: hidden;">Thursday 16 May<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>10am to 6pm</div>
<div id="_mcePaste" style="position: absolute; left: -10000px; top: 0px; width: 1px; height: 1px; overflow: hidden;">Friday 17 May<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>10am to 6pm</div>
<div id="_mcePaste" style="position: absolute; left: -10000px; top: 0px; width: 1px; height: 1px; overflow: hidden;">Saturday 18 May<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>10am to 6pm</div>
<div id="_mcePaste" style="position: absolute; left: -10000px; top: 0px; width: 1px; height: 1px; overflow: hidden;">Sunday 19 May<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>10am to 4pm</div>
<div id="_mcePaste" style="position: absolute; left: -10000px; top: 0px; width: 1px; height: 1px; overflow: hidden;">Follow us on Twitter to find out what we’re doing each day at the Show! </div>
<p>Following our involvement in the recent <a title="Markinson at the AAA Expo" href="http://www.markinson.com.au/company/blog/visit-markinson-at-the-australian-auto-aftermarket-expo/">AAA Expo</a>, we’re excited to also be exhibiting at the <a title="Brisbane Truck Show official site" href="http://www.brisbanetruckshow.com.au/" target="_blank">Brisbane Truck Show</a> from 16 to 19 May 2013.</p>
<p>Visit us at Stand 258 (Plaza Level) and learn more about our ERP and retail solutions for the commercial vehicle industry, including <a title="MomentumPro" href="http://www.markinson.com.au/solutions/wholesale-distribution/">MomentumPro</a> and <a title="Shopkeeper" href="http://www.markinson.com.au/solutions/point-of-sale/">Shopkeeper</a>.</p>
<p>We’ll be demonstrating our new internet and channel integration products for parts catalogues and streamlined electronic order processing, in addition to our new mobile solutions for field-based auto aftermarket sales teams.</p>
<p>The Brisbane Truck Show is the premier event in Australia for the transport industry, showcasing the latest in heavy vehicles, technology, engineering and innovation.  It runs over four days at the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre:</p>
<p>Thursday, 16 May 2013 - 10am to 6pm</p>
<p>Friday, 17 May 2013 - 10am to 6pm</p>
<p>Saturday, 18 May<span style="line-height: 16.1875px;"> 2013 - </span>10am to 6pm</p>
<p>Sunday, 19 May<span style="line-height: 16.1875px;"> 2013 - </span>10am to 4pm</p>
<p><span style="line-height: 1.35em;"><a title="Markinson's Twitter page" href="https://twitter.com/#!/Markinson_BSS" target="_blank">Follow us on Twitter</a> to find out what we’re doing each day at the Show! </span></p> Thu, 09 May 2013 11:02:46 +1000 http://www.markinson.com.au/company/blog/brisbanetruckshow/ http://www.markinson.com.au/company/blog/visit-markinson-at-the-australian-auto-aftermarket-expo/ <p>Workshop owners and managers facing the challenging realities of change in today's industry will learn how to improve their businesses at the <em>2013 Australian Auto Aftermarket Expo</em>. Find how the latest developments in automotive aftermarket software can make your business an even greater success.</p>
<div id="_mcePaste" style="position: absolute; left: -10000px; top: 0px; width: 1px; height: 1px; overflow: hidden;">World-class automotive aftermarket technologies on show</div>
<div id="_mcePaste" style="position: absolute; left: -10000px; top: 0px; width: 1px; height: 1px; overflow: hidden;">The Auto Aftermarket Expo returns to Sydney from 11 to 13 April 2013, with an exhibition hall full of state-of-the-art vehicle repair and servicing equipment, replacement parts, tools and accessories, plus a busy program of industry events offered by supporting organisations and host, the Australian Automotive Aftermarket Association (AAAA).</div>
<div id="_mcePaste" style="position: absolute; left: -10000px; top: 0px; width: 1px; height: 1px; overflow: hidden;">Held every two years, the Expo is a free trade-only event for bona fide members of the automotive industry, and showcases new technologies, product launches and money saving business systems, with exhibits by hundreds of manufacturers and suppliers within the automotive industry. </div>
<div id="_mcePaste" style="position: absolute; left: -10000px; top: 0px; width: 1px; height: 1px; overflow: hidden;">Markinson Business Solutions’ display – Stand D42</div>
<div id="_mcePaste" style="position: absolute; left: -10000px; top: 0px; width: 1px; height: 1px; overflow: hidden;">Markinson’s display will feature demonstrations of our business software solutions tailored for the automotive aftermarket industry, including MomentumPro ERP and Shopkeeper for retail management.  </div>
<div id="_mcePaste" style="position: absolute; left: -10000px; top: 0px; width: 1px; height: 1px; overflow: hidden;">We’ll also be demonstrating our new mobile solutions for field-based aftermarket sales teams, in addition to new internet and channel integration products for parts catalogues and streamlined electronic order processing.</div>
<div id="_mcePaste" style="position: absolute; left: -10000px; top: 0px; width: 1px; height: 1px; overflow: hidden;">Attend Markinson’s seminar - Harnessing technology to shift gear in the automotive aftermarket</div>
<div id="_mcePaste" style="position: absolute; left: -10000px; top: 0px; width: 1px; height: 1px; overflow: hidden;">Markinson is also pleased to be conducting a seminar on Thursday 11 April 2013 at 2pm at the Sydney Exhibition Centre, Hospitality Suite 2.</div>
<div id="_mcePaste" style="position: absolute; left: -10000px; top: 0px; width: 1px; height: 1px; overflow: hidden;">Harnessing technology to shift gear in the automotive aftermarket will provide a demonstration of how software can drive your business further in today’s competitive market.  You’ll also hear from one of Markinson’s automotive aftermarket customers explaining how they’ve used technology to improve their business.</div>
<div id="_mcePaste" style="position: absolute; left: -10000px; top: 0px; width: 1px; height: 1px; overflow: hidden;">Register to attend the Expo</div>
<div id="_mcePaste" style="position: absolute; left: -10000px; top: 0px; width: 1px; height: 1px; overflow: hidden;">The Auto Aftermarket Expo runs over three days at the Sydney Exhibition Centre, Darling Harbour:</div>
<div id="_mcePaste" style="position: absolute; left: -10000px; top: 0px; width: 1px; height: 1px; overflow: hidden;">Thursday<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>11 April 2013<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>10am - 6pm</div>
<div id="_mcePaste" style="position: absolute; left: -10000px; top: 0px; width: 1px; height: 1px; overflow: hidden;">Friday<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>12 April 2013<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>10am - 9pm</div>
<div id="_mcePaste" style="position: absolute; left: -10000px; top: 0px; width: 1px; height: 1px; overflow: hidden;">Saturday<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>13 April 2013<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>10am - 5pm</div>
<div id="_mcePaste" style="position: absolute; left: -10000px; top: 0px; width: 1px; height: 1px; overflow: hidden;">Register to visit the Expo or read more on the Australian Auto Aftermarket Expo website.  For Expo updates look for the Twitter hashtag #AAAExpo.</div>
<div id="_mcePaste" style="position: absolute; left: -10000px; top: 0px; width: 1px; height: 1px; overflow: hidden;">We look forward to seeing you there!</div>
<p><strong>World-class automotive aftermarket technologies on show</strong></p>
<p>The Auto Aftermarket Expo returns to Sydney from <strong>11 to 13 April 2013</strong>, with an exhibition hall full of state-of-the-art vehicle repair and servicing equipment, replacement parts, tools and accessories, plus a busy program of industry events offered by supporting organisations and host, the <a title="AAAA" href="http://www.aaaa.com.au/" target="_blank">Australian Automotive Aftermarket Association (AAAA)</a>.</p>
<p>Held every two years, the Expo is a <strong>free trade-only event for bona fide members of the automotive industry</strong>, and showcases new technologies, product launches and money saving business systems, with exhibits by hundreds of manufacturers and suppliers within the automotive industry. </p>
<p><strong>Markinson Business Solutions’ display – Stand D42</strong></p>
<p>Markinson’s display will feature demonstrations of our business software solutions tailored for the automotive aftermarket industry, including <a title="Wholesale distribution and MomentumPro ERP" href="http://www.markinson.com.au/solutions/wholesale-distribution/">MomentumPro ERP</a> and <a title="Retail point of sale and Shopkeeper" href="http://www.markinson.com.au/solutions/point-of-sale/">Shopkeeper</a> for retail management.  </p>
<p>We’ll also be demonstrating our new mobile solutions for field-based aftermarket sales teams, in addition to new internet and channel integration products for parts catalogues and streamlined electronic order processing.</p>
<p><strong>Attend Markinson’s seminar - <em>Harnessing technology to shift gear in the automotive aftermarket</em></strong></p>
<p>Markinson is also pleased to be conducting a seminar on <strong>Thursday 11 April 2013 at 2pm</strong> at the Sydney Exhibition Centre, Hospitality Suite 2.</p>
<p><em>Harnessing technology to shift gear in the automotive aftermarket</em> will provide a demonstration of how software can drive your business further in today’s competitive market.  You’ll also hear from one of Markinson’s automotive aftermarket customers explaining how they’ve used technology to improve their business.</p>
<p><strong>Register to attend the Expo</strong></p>
<p>The Auto Aftermarket Expo runs over three days at the Sydney Exhibition Centre, Darling Harbour:</p>
<p>Thursday, 11 April 2013 - 10am - 6pm</p>
<p>Friday, 12 April 2013 - 10am - 9pm</p>
<p>Saturday, 13 April 2013 - 10am - 5pm</p>
<p><span style="line-height: 1.35em;"><a title="Register" href="https://secure.tradevent.com.au/aprimo/default.aspx?eventid=619" target="_blank">Register</a> to visit the Expo or read more on the <a title="Australian Auto Aftermarket Expo website" href="http://www.aftermarketexpo.com.au/" target="_blank">Australian Auto Aftermarket Expo website</a>.  For Expo updates look for the Twitter hashtag <a title="AA Expo on Twitter" href="https://twitter.com/search/%23aaaexpo" target="_blank">#AAAExpo</a>.</span></p>
<p>We look forward to seeing you there!</p> Thu, 21 Mar 2013 13:22:44 +1100 http://www.markinson.com.au/company/blog/visit-markinson-at-the-australian-auto-aftermarket-expo/ http://www.markinson.com.au/company/blog/technology-trends-in-retail/ <div id="_mcePaste" style="position: absolute; left: -10000px; top: 0px; width: 1px; height: 1px; overflow: hidden;">As technology transforms the retail landscape, survival in the industry is contingent on the ability to adapt. Targeted software solutions are key to accomplishing goals of maximising profit margins and reducing costs, with recent improvements designed to streamline operations and advance customer relations management. </div>
<div id="_mcePaste" style="position: absolute; left: -10000px; top: 0px; width: 1px; height: 1px; overflow: hidden;">Updating to retail-focused business intelligence software can bring improvements in the areas of supply chain administration, inventory management, customer relations and order tracking. </div>
<div id="_mcePaste" style="position: absolute; left: -10000px; top: 0px; width: 1px; height: 1px; overflow: hidden;">Some of the key technology trends retailers need to know to achieve these goals include the following:</div>
<div id="_mcePaste" style="position: absolute; left: -10000px; top: 0px; width: 1px; height: 1px; overflow: hidden;">Business Intelligence</div>
<div id="_mcePaste" style="position: absolute; left: -10000px; top: 0px; width: 1px; height: 1px; overflow: hidden;">Recent developments in Business Intelligence (BI) software are set to increase the profitability of the retail industry, cutting transaction costs and improving on customer management applications. </div>
<div id="_mcePaste" style="position: absolute; left: -10000px; top: 0px; width: 1px; height: 1px; overflow: hidden;">Retailers must make sense of massive amounts of data, including changes in sales, customer demographics, fashion trends and shifting product preferences.  Without easy analysis of this information, retailers are limited in their development of effective strategies for growth and dealing with market fluctuations.</div>
<div id="_mcePaste" style="position: absolute; left: -10000px; top: 0px; width: 1px; height: 1px; overflow: hidden;">The search for cost-effective processes has led to integrated systems and a renewed interest in analytics and BI software.  New data analytics technologies allow managers to handle expenses, improve product development and track orders. In the end, these improvements help businesses better understand and respond to customers’ needs. </div>
<div id="_mcePaste" style="position: absolute; left: -10000px; top: 0px; width: 1px; height: 1px; overflow: hidden;">Improved Mobility </div>
<div id="_mcePaste" style="position: absolute; left: -10000px; top: 0px; width: 1px; height: 1px; overflow: hidden;">An effective mobile strategy is no longer something ‘nice to have’ but is fast becoming a necessity for retail business growth.</div>
<div id="_mcePaste" style="position: absolute; left: -10000px; top: 0px; width: 1px; height: 1px; overflow: hidden;">New developments are combining BI software with wireless technologies, allowing communication between support staff and on-site employees anywhere in the country, with ‘anytime, anywhere’ access.  Other wireless technologies are being adopted as part of the networking infrastructure to support enterprise applications such as inventory orders and file management. Fully mobile point-of-sale technologies using tablets, scanners, and credit card readers offer onsite sales representatives greater flexibility and ongoing support. </div>
<div id="_mcePaste" style="position: absolute; left: -10000px; top: 0px; width: 1px; height: 1px; overflow: hidden;">Real-time Inventory and Stock Control </div>
<div id="_mcePaste" style="position: absolute; left: -10000px; top: 0px; width: 1px; height: 1px; overflow: hidden;">With the help of Enterprise Software Solutions, retailers have greater control over inventory management.  By accessing online inventory systems, staff can find real time information about stocked items and track customers’ orders wirelessly. Other forms of inventory management software allow invoices to be billed directly to a store’s accounting system. These improvements have streamlined the inventory system and offer sales representatives real time information about the products in stock. </div>
<div id="_mcePaste" style="position: absolute; left: -10000px; top: 0px; width: 1px; height: 1px; overflow: hidden;"> </div>
<div id="_mcePaste" style="position: absolute; left: -10000px; top: 0px; width: 1px; height: 1px; overflow: hidden;">Omni-Channel Retailing </div>
<div id="_mcePaste" style="position: absolute; left: -10000px; top: 0px; width: 1px; height: 1px; overflow: hidden;">An omni-channel solution provides a tighter integration between the online presence and the physical store.  Multiple channels are not only assisting retailers to connect with consumers outside of the store but also increasingly, within the physical store environment.  Customers expect today’s retailers to deliver through one voice and one brand, and today’s technologies allow the customer’s experience to continue from one channel to the next. </div>
<div id="_mcePaste" style="position: absolute; left: -10000px; top: 0px; width: 1px; height: 1px; overflow: hidden;">During the past 2-3 years, new mobile devices like smartphones and tablets have gone from zero penetration to now stand at well over half of the Australian online population.  Nielsen forecasts 64% personal ownership of smartphones and 39% household ownership of tablets by the end of 2012. </div>
<div id="_mcePaste" style="position: absolute; left: -10000px; top: 0px; width: 1px; height: 1px; overflow: hidden;">Mobile devices provide a range of opportunities to support consumers’ discovery of what to buy and where to buy it from, not to mention facilitating a means of purchase. </div>
<div id="_mcePaste" style="position: absolute; left: -10000px; top: 0px; width: 1px; height: 1px; overflow: hidden;">Rather than diluting the store experience, the integration of channels throughout the shopper journey instead creates a strong design language that sits across all channels.  Consumers want personal and engaging experiences from retailers at each touch point.</div>
<div id="_mcePaste" style="position: absolute; left: -10000px; top: 0px; width: 1px; height: 1px; overflow: hidden;">Web Stores</div>
<div id="_mcePaste" style="position: absolute; left: -10000px; top: 0px; width: 1px; height: 1px; overflow: hidden;">Over one million Australians buy goods online. Meet them there and seize new markets, greater sales and more satisfied customers.  B2C e-commerce sites allow retailers to reach previously untapped markets and consumers, in addition to enhancing the in-store experience and delivering greater convenience for customers.</div>
<div id="_mcePaste" style="position: absolute; left: -10000px; top: 0px; width: 1px; height: 1px; overflow: hidden;">With live inventory becoming more prevalent, and 60% of shoppers using the internet for pre-purchase research, retailers must at least have a meaningful online presence to remain competitive.</div>
<div id="_mcePaste" style="position: absolute; left: -10000px; top: 0px; width: 1px; height: 1px; overflow: hidden;">The emerging trends in retail-based software can be partially attributed to a response to changing economic conditions and the growing number of tech-savvy customers.  Retailers who fail to respond to market demands with advanced data management capabilities risk losing customers and sales in today’s increasingly challenging retail environment. </div>
<div id="_mcePaste" style="position: absolute; left: -10000px; top: 0px; width: 1px; height: 1px; overflow: hidden;">About Markinson</div>
<div id="_mcePaste" style="position: absolute; left: -10000px; top: 0px; width: 1px; height: 1px; overflow: hidden;">Markinson is a business software company, dedicated to the creation and provision of innovative retail-specific solutions and services to companies across Australia, New Zealand and the Asia-Pacific region.</div>
<div id="_mcePaste" style="position: absolute; left: -10000px; top: 0px; width: 1px; height: 1px; overflow: hidden;">With over 25 years experience, Markinson combines expertise in business intelligence, CRM, workflow, business process management and review to offer its clients innovative software solutions for their retail business.</div>
<p>As technology transforms the retail landscape, survival in the industry is contingent on the ability to adapt. Targeted software solutions are key to accomplishing goals of maximising profit margins and reducing costs, with recent improvements designed to streamline operations and advance customer relations management. </p>
<p>Updating to retail-focused business intelligence software can bring improvements in the areas of supply chain administration, inventory management, customer relations and order tracking. </p>
<p>Some of the key technology trends to assist retailers in achieving these goals include the following:</p>
<p><span style="line-height: 1.35em;"><strong>Business intelligence</strong></span></p>
<p>Recent developments in business intelligence (BI) software are set to increase the profitability of the retail industry, cutting transaction costs and improving on customer management applications. </p>
<p>Retailers must make sense of massive amounts of data, including changes in sales, customer demographics, fashion trends and shifting product preferences.  Without easy analysis of this information, retailers are limited in their development of effective strategies for growth and dealing with market fluctuations.</p>
<p>The search for cost-effective processes has led to integrated systems and a renewed interest in analytics and BI software.  New data analytics technologies allow managers to handle expenses, improve product development and track orders. In the end, these improvements help businesses better understand and respond to customers’ needs. </p>
<p><strong>Improved mobility </strong></p>
<p>An effective mobile strategy is no longer something ‘nice to have’ but is fast becoming a necessity for retail business growth.</p>
<p>New developments are combining BI software with wireless technologies, allowing communication between support staff and on-site employees anywhere in the country, with ‘anytime, anywhere’ access.  Other wireless technologies are being adopted as part of the networking infrastructure to support enterprise applications such as inventory orders and file management. Fully mobile point-of-sale technologies using tablets, scanners, and credit card readers offer on-site sales representatives greater flexibility and ongoing support. </p>
<p><strong>Real-time inventory and stock control </strong></p>
<p>With the help of enterprise software solutions, retailers have greater control over inventory management.  <span style="line-height: 16.1875px;">Solution improvements have streamlined the inventory system and offer sales representatives real-time information about the products in stock. </span><span style="line-height: 1.35em;">By accessing online inventory systems, staff can find real-time information about stocked items and track customers’ orders wirelessly. Other forms of inventory management software allow invoices to be billed directly to a store’s accounting system. </span></p>
<p><strong>Omni-channel retailing </strong></p>
<p>An omni-channel solution provides a tighter integration between the online presence and the physical store.  Multiple channels are not only assisting retailers to connect with consumers outside of the store but also increasingly, within the physical store environment.  Customers expect today’s retailers to deliver through one voice and one brand, and today’s technologies allow the customer’s experience to continue from one channel to the next. </p>
<p>During the past 2-3 years, new mobile devices like smartphones and tablets have gone from zero penetration to adoption by well over half of the Australian online population.  Nielsen estimated 64% personal ownership of smartphones and 39% household ownership of tablets at the end of 2012. </p>
<p>Mobile devices provide a range of opportunities to support consumers’ discovery of what to buy and where to buy it from, not to mention facilitating a means of purchase. </p>
<p><span style="line-height: 16.1875px;">Consumers want personal and engaging experiences from retailers at each touch point. </span>Rather than diluting the store experience, the integration of channels throughout the shopper journey instead creates a strong design language that sits across all channels.  </p>
<p><strong>Web stores</strong></p>
<p>Over one million Australians buy goods online. Meet them there and seize new markets, greater sales and more satisfied customers.  B2C e-commerce sites allow retailers to reach previously untapped markets and consumers, in addition to enhancing the in-store experience and delivering greater convenience for customers.</p>
<p>With live inventory becoming more prevalent, and 60% of shoppers using the internet for pre-purchase research, retailers must at least have a meaningful online presence to remain competitive.</p>
<p>The emerging trends in retail-based software can be partially attributed to a response to changing economic conditions and the growing number of tech-savvy customers.  Retailers who fail to respond to market demands with advanced data management capabilities risk losing customers and sales in today’s increasingly challenging retail environment. </p>
<p><strong>About Markinson</strong></p>
<p>Markinson is a business software company, dedicated to the creation and provision of innovative retail-specific solutions and services to companies across Australia, New Zealand and the Asia-Pacific region.</p>
<p>With over 25 years experience, Markinson combines expertise in point-of-sale, business intelligence, CRM and business process management to offer its clients innovative software solutions for their retail business.</p> Mon, 04 Feb 2013 09:44:25 +1100 http://www.markinson.com.au/company/blog/technology-trends-in-retail/ http://www.markinson.com.au/company/blog/Business-Intelligence-in-the-Retail-Industry/ <p>Retailers need to increasingly improve the ways in which they harness customer intelligence to better manage operations and reduce expenditure. Every organisation generates substantial data from their operations, which can then be harvested for Business Intelligence (BI) purposes.  It is through the use of insights gleaned from BI that retailers can truly achieve a competitive advantage.</p>
<p>Business Intelligence software is an essential resource that forms the foundation for managerial decision-making, with relevant applications across human resources, sales, and inventory management functions.  </p>
<p>Rather than analysing and reporting on data, BI provides predictive analytics to allow for decisions focused on delivering better performance and a stronger bottom line, based on a sound logical framework.  This extends to reliable forecasting, particularly in pricing and decision-making, as retailers are better equipped to monitor and respond to fluctuating variable costs and price trends.</p>
<p>Some of the BI applications for retail are considered further below.</p>
<p><strong style="line-height: 14px;">Data management</strong></p>
<p>One of the fundamental functions of BI software is data recording and management reporting. Insight from trends in store traffic, customer preferences and sales transactions can form the basis for administrative decisions on inventory orders, sales management and staff rostering. Through predictive analysis of such trends, managers can optimise retail operations to reduce unnecessary costs and maximise profit margins.  </p>
<p>This insight especially extends to understanding the customer, and is where online retailers can have a competitive advantage over bricks and mortar retailers.  They are able to use the intelligence generated from analysing a large amount of customer data throughout the purchase journey, to predict future target customer shopping behaviour and act accordingly.</p>
<p><strong style="line-height: 14px;">Human resource management</strong></p>
<p>BI software can help retail management make up-to-date staffing decisions based on store traffic and sales transactions.  Such data can highlight periods in which additional staff are required, as well as slower periods where smaller staffing numbers are appropriate. It may also make human resource decisions clearer, such as when to advertise for vacancies or cut back on recruitment. This intelligence can save retailers significant expenditure on unnecessary staff wages and human resourcing costs. </p>
<p><strong style="line-height: 14px;">Inventory management</strong></p>
<p>Inventory management systems are yet another cost effective tool available to retailers with Business Intelligence software.  Sales transaction data can also assist in pre-empting inventory orders.  Stock with a high turnover rate can be easily identified, and necessary adjustments can be made to supply orders. </p>
<p>The ability for retailers to incorporate insight from trends and real-time activity allows them to better cater to their customers' behaviour and preferences.  Flexible and responsive Business Intelligence software is a cost effective solution to many retail managerial challenges, and ultimately, to achieve greater customer satisfaction.  </p>
<p><strong style="line-height: 14px;">About Markinson</strong></p>
<p>Markinson specialises in innovative software solutions for the retail sector. By providing access to complete and relevant information, Markinson’s Business Intelligence solutions help retailers achieve competitive advantage in a continually changing industry environment. </p> Tue, 15 Jan 2013 10:45:59 +1100 http://www.markinson.com.au/company/blog/Business-Intelligence-in-the-Retail-Industry/ http://www.markinson.com.au/company/blog/cloud-computing-the-way-of-the-future-for-australian-businesses/ <div id="_mcePaste" style="position: absolute; left: -10000px; top: 0px; width: 1px; height: 1px; overflow: hidden;">This provides a business solution that is more cost-effective, flexible and easier to use than deploying your own, physical IT infrastructure on site.  By eliminating capital expenditures on hardware and software, you only pay for what you use. What’s more, it allows user access to the latest software without the need to manage patching and maintenance.</div>
<div id="_mcePaste" style="position: absolute; left: -10000px; top: 0px; width: 1px; height: 1px; overflow: hidden;">It’s quite likely you’ve already had experience with some form of cloud computing. If you’ve ever used online banking or a web-based email service like Gmail, Hotmail or Yahoo, where you log into your email via a web browser rather than a program on your computer, you’ve used the cloud.</div>
<div id="_mcePaste" style="position: absolute; left: -10000px; top: 0px; width: 1px; height: 1px; overflow: hidden;">There are numerous business applications for cloud computing. With cloud, tapping into the benefits of mobile Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and Point of Sale (POS) has never been easier. These innovations allow you to share applications with thousands of users in an instant and make real-time informed decisions about your business processes. </div>
<div id="_mcePaste" style="position: absolute; left: -10000px; top: 0px; width: 1px; height: 1px; overflow: hidden;">Cloud computing also enables financial management and ERP solutions to integrate with your entire sales and service processes.  It provides businesses with capabilities such as anywhere, anytime access to real-time reporting, contact details, sales figures, inventory information, order tracking and financial management. These capabilities give sales personnel and account managers everything they need to connect with customers and cut administration time, meaning they have more time to work directly with the customer.</div>
<div id="_mcePaste" style="position: absolute; left: -10000px; top: 0px; width: 1px; height: 1px; overflow: hidden;">Cloud is a powerful, high-performance and future-proof tool for your business. It’s never been easier to tap into the power of business analytics, whether you need to collaborate with a small team or deliver information to thousands. </div>
<div id="_mcePaste" style="position: absolute; left: -10000px; top: 0px; width: 1px; height: 1px; overflow: hidden;">Markinson is a business software company, dedicated to the creation and provision of innovative solutions and services to companies across Australia, New Zealand and the Asia-Pacific region. Markinson can help your business integrate the cloud into its IT infrastructure, allowing you to access complete CRM and ERP business solutions from anywhere in the world. Access inventory information, share reporting data, and streamline operations across multiple sites from a central, easy to use interface on the internet. With the flexibility of fully customised applications, your cloud software can be tailored to suit your business’ unique requirements. </div>
<div id="_mcePaste" style="position: absolute; left: -10000px; top: 0px; width: 1px; height: 1px; overflow: hidden;">For more information about how cloud computing can change the way you do business, contact Markinson today. [link to Contact page]</div>
<p>The cloud is the one of the fastest growing areas of e-business. But despite its popularity, many managers still do not fully understand what cloud computing is or what advantages it can offer their business. </p>
<p>Cloud computing is the delivery of business process management tools as software services over a shared network. Put simply, it lets you access your business’ virtual server at any time, from anywhere, using the Internet. It’s like having your own data centre with storage and computing power that expands and contracts with your business’ individual needs. </p>
<p>This provides a business solution that is more cost-effective, flexible and easier to use than deploying your own, physical IT infrastructure on site.  By eliminating capital expenditures on hardware and software, you only pay for what you use. What’s more, it allows user access to the latest software without the need to manage patching and maintenance.</p>
<p>It’s quite likely you’ve already had experience with some form of cloud computing. If you’ve ever used online banking or a web-based email service like Gmail, Hotmail or Yahoo, where you log into your email via a web browser rather than a program on your computer, you’ve used the cloud.</p>
<p>There are numerous business applications for cloud computing. With cloud, tapping into the benefits of mobile Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and Point of Sale (POS) has never been easier. These innovations allow you to share applications with thousands of users in an instant and make real-time informed decisions about your business processes. </p>
<p>Cloud computing also enables financial management and ERP solutions to integrate with your entire sales and service processes.  It provides businesses with capabilities such as anywhere, anytime access to real-time reporting, contact details, sales figures, inventory information, order tracking and financial management. These capabilities give sales personnel and account managers everything they need to connect with customers and cut administration time, meaning they have more time to work directly with the customer.</p>
<p>Cloud is a powerful, high-performance and future-proof tool for your business. It’s never been easier to tap into the power of business analytics, whether you need to collaborate with a small team or deliver information to thousands. </p>
<p><strong>About Markinson</strong></p>
<p>Markinson is a business software company, dedicated to the creation and provision of innovative solutions and services to companies across Australia, New Zealand and the Asia-Pacific region. Markinson can help your business integrate the cloud into its IT infrastructure, allowing you to access complete CRM and ERP business solutions from anywhere in the world. Access inventory information, share reporting data, and streamline operations across multiple sites from a central, easy to use interface on the internet. With the flexibility of fully customised applications, your cloud software can be tailored to suit your business’ unique requirements. </p>
<p>For more information about how cloud computing can change the way you do business, <a title="Contact Us" href="http://www.markinson.com.au/contact-us/">contact Markinson</a> today.</p> Fri, 16 Nov 2012 11:25:59 +1100 http://www.markinson.com.au/company/blog/cloud-computing-the-way-of-the-future-for-australian-businesses/ http://www.markinson.com.au/company/blog/automating-workflow-and-business-process-management/ <p>Are there any processes you want to automate?</p>
<div id="_mcePaste" style="position: absolute; left: -10000px; top: 0px; width: 1px; height: 1px; overflow: hidden;">We’ve recently implemented another business process management (BPM) solution for one of our long-standing retail customers.  The implementation included:</div>
<div id="_mcePaste" style="position: absolute; left: -10000px; top: 0px; width: 1px; height: 1px; overflow: hidden;">a list of all backorders sent to a specified email address nightly </div>
<div id="_mcePaste" style="position: absolute; left: -10000px; top: 0px; width: 1px; height: 1px; overflow: hidden;">an alert triggered and email sent to customer when they are within $100.00 of their credit limit</div>
<div id="_mcePaste" style="position: absolute; left: -10000px; top: 0px; width: 1px; height: 1px; overflow: hidden;">an alert triggered and email sent to internal email address when there is any change to a customer’s credit limit</div>
<div id="_mcePaste" style="position: absolute; left: -10000px; top: 0px; width: 1px; height: 1px; overflow: hidden;">an alert triggered and an email sent to internal staff as notification if a sales order is created and an account has no credit limit, and an email is sent to the customer asking them to make contact immediately to organise payment.</div>
<div id="_mcePaste" style="position: absolute; left: -10000px; top: 0px; width: 1px; height: 1px; overflow: hidden;">We now have an extensive library of existing automated workflows and alerts that proactively allow you to manage your business by exception. </div>
<div id="_mcePaste" style="position: absolute; left: -10000px; top: 0px; width: 1px; height: 1px; overflow: hidden;">Talk to us to learn more.</div>
<p>We’ve recently implemented another business process management (BPM) solution for one of our long-standing retail customers.  The implementation included...</p>
<ul><li>a list of all backorders sent to a specified email address nightly </li>
<li>an alert triggered and email sent to customer when they are within $100.00 of their credit limit</li>
<li>an alert triggered and email sent to an internal email address when there is any change to a customer’s credit limit</li>
<li>an alert triggered and  email sent to specified staff as notification if a sales order is created and an account has no credit limit; an email is also sent to the customer asking them to make contact immediately to organise payment.</li>
</ul><p>We now have an extensive library of existing automated workflows and alerts that proactively allow you to manage your business by exception. </p>
<p><a title="Contact us" href="http://www.markinson.com.au/contact-us/">Talk to us</a> to learn more.</p> Thu, 15 Nov 2012 15:30:42 +1100 http://www.markinson.com.au/company/blog/automating-workflow-and-business-process-management/ http://www.markinson.com.au/company/blog/5-erp-functions-to-improve-your-business-processes/ <p>Enterprise resource planning, or ERP, creates an environment in which various systems and processes including inventory, accounting and personnel are integrated under one software solution.  </p>
<p>This is especially important for wholesale and distribution businesses that need to track product ranges over large distribution networks, while managing business processes.</p>
<p>Your ERP strategy should continually grow and adapt to your business.  A wholesaler or distributor with limited focus on day-to-day operations is not going to be as competitive as one working to forecast demand, price sensitivity and market fluctuations.</p>
<p>It is important to periodically assess the limitations of your current system, document your requirements and evaluate key goals for your ERP, especially as your business changes.</p>
<p>Whether or not your business already has an ERP, here are five key ERP functions you might not yet be using to the fullest potential.</p>
<ol><li>
<p><strong>Automating processes - </strong>Advanced ERP solutions have many options for streamlining departmental procedures and reducing reliance on manual processes, saving both time and money.</p>
<p>Better accounting, billing and reconciliation from an ERP system often contribute to a reduction in the number of days for accounts receivable, while improved inventory management leads to higher turnover and return on assets.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p><strong>Enterprise Analytics - </strong>A graphical, user-friendly interface with trend analysis and exception reporting replaces pages of financial information, and a clear, top-level dashboard view is critical to effectively monitor business performance.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p><strong>Integrated CRM - </strong>A traditional CRM operating separately to ERP misses many opportunities provided by an integrated solution.  It is now possible to fully integrate CRM in a more dynamic and real-time way to your traditional ERP transactional system delivering the ultimate goal of a single view of the customer.</p>
<p>A solution with integrated best-of-breed CRM and best-of-breed ERP provides the facility to retain and service customers more effectively, at the same time as focusing on growth and new customer acquisition.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p><strong>Improved Mobility - </strong>Mobility is moving into the mainstream.  Its growing popularity comes from the ability for workers to use their ERP applications on their mobile devices—not just in the office. Warehousing staff no longer have to walk to a workstation to enter data, and drivers on the road can easily maintain records and check schedules.</p>
<p>The ability for users to now access inventory and customer information and process sales orders without needing access to a corporate network system provides significant improvements to service quality, productivity, data capture, and an increased competitive advantage.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p><strong>Integrated Web - </strong>Businesses can reduce costs by providing self-service options to enable customers to help themselves.  With a web-based self service portal delivered through ERP, businesses can now offer customers 24/7 access to invoices, statements and sales promotions, without staff needing to be available around the clock.</p>
<p>An advanced ERP system also allows deployment of a multi-channel strategy designed for convenience and flexibility in how customers make purchases.  A customer may place an order online and collect from a branch or store, and vice versa; a sales rep can create an order in the field, with goods then shipped to the customer from the warehouse.</p>
</li>
</ol><p>In today’s competitive climate, businesses should be looking to gain competitive advantages through optimised productivity, streamlined processes, improved business intelligence and integration provided by these five key ERP functions.  </p>
<p>Is your current system providing the best outcome for your business?</p> Mon, 12 Nov 2012 14:55:12 +1100 http://www.markinson.com.au/company/blog/5-erp-functions-to-improve-your-business-processes/ http://www.markinson.com.au/company/blog/top-5-reasons-to-upgrade-your-business-software/ <p>As technology changes in order to drive innovation, so must businesses adapt to take advantage of new opportunities for growth. Software upgrades are an important part of this process and as you’ll see, the decision is less about whether to update and much more about when to update.</p>
<p>Here are five top reasons to upgrade your business software today:</p>
<ol><li><strong>Advanced Architecture - </strong>Older versions are often not compatible with newer hardware which could lock you into old technology that is no longer supported by the software or hardware vendor. </li>
<li><strong>System Optimisation - </strong>Maximise your software’s effectiveness and get the greatest return on your system investment. System upgrades introduce new system features and capabilities that are unavailable in your current version, saving you time and improving the overall product. </li>
<li><strong>Increase User Productivity - </strong>As your business grows, so does the amount of work. Upgrading to the latest software lends ways to streamline operational processes. Employees can spend less time with mundane tasks and more time on value-added projects. </li>
<li><strong>Embrace Industry Trends - </strong>Be at the cutting edge of technology. Businesses that take advantage of new releases, for both business and IT benefits, gain a competitive edge by increasing innovation, speeding time-to-market, decreasing product development costs, and reducing the burden of IT administration.</li>
<li><strong>Business continuity - </strong>Keeping up-to-date on the latest software means you’ll always receive the best technical and professional support thanks to the skilled resources available for newer versions. Legacy applications are one of the most difficult issues to face within IT, outliving its welcome in sales and causing poor network performance throughout the organisation. As the months and years go by, the problem becomes more serious and harder to address, so don’t let old applications remain a disaster waiting to happen. </li>
</ol><p><strong>About Markinson</strong></p>
<p>Markinson is a business software company, dedicated to the creation and provision of innovative solutions and services to companies across Australia, New Zealand and the Asia-Pacific region.</p>
<p>As part of Constellation Software via its operating group Friedman Corporation, Markinson benefits from a strong corporate platform and international support, yet utilises its proud 25 year history of local industry experience to work closely with customers to support the achievement of business requirements</p>
<p>Contact us online for more information or call us on 1300 137 729.</p> Tue, 11 Sep 2012 16:11:22 +1000 http://www.markinson.com.au/company/blog/top-5-reasons-to-upgrade-your-business-software/ http://www.markinson.com.au/company/blog/effective-integration-of-business-intelligence-bi-and-enterprise-resource-planning-erp-systems-within-your-business/ <p>In today’s competitive environment, managers are anxious to stay well informed of what is happening within their business and throughout their industry. As a result, businesses are placing more and more emphasis on the integration of Business Intelligence (BI) and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems as a platform for informed decision making. But despite the best intentions, many businesses are struggling to implement BI and ERP systems effectively. The key to effective implementation lies within understanding their wider purpose within your business.</p>
<p class="p-darkblue">1. Have a clear understanding of the end goal</p>
<p>ERP software records large volumes of data across a wide range of business functions. The role of BI systems is to then convert this data into relevant information that can be used as a platform for informed decision making. Determining the direction and specific purpose of this information is therefore the first important step in implementing effective BI and ERP systems. Outlining key business objectives, important performance indicators or specific desired business outcomes will give a clear direction with which to successfully employ your BI software.</p>
<p class="p-darkblue">2. Use your BI system to its full potential</p>
<p>By limiting your BI system to data collection and record reporting you underestimate the value of this powerful business tool. BI provides up-to-date information that is relevant to the past, present and future of any business. It can provide the foundation for identifying historical trends and current patterns in important business data such as sales or production costs. It is also a useful means of predicting outcomes and making informed decisions on future developments.</p>
<p class="p-darkblue">3. Collaborate don’t delegate</p>
<p>BI and ERP are complex systems and implementation can be a long and difficult process. By hiring the services of an experienced Business Software Provider you lower your chances of experiencing problems later down the track. Remember that the most effective BI systems are ones that are specifically geared towards the user’s individual business objectives. Therefore you should ideally aim for a business software provider with extensive experience within your business’ industry and where possible, collaborate with your software vendor to ensure the most effective implementation of your business’ BI system.</p>
<p>Markinson is a reputable business software company that specialised in BI and ERP software across Australia, New Zealand and the Asian-Pacific region. Through a detailed process of planning and implementation in collaboration with their client, Markinson tailors Business Intelligence and Enterprise Recourse Planning solutions that are specific to each business’ requirements in order to achieve the highest possible long term results.</p> Wed, 11 Jul 2012 14:34:05 +1000 http://www.markinson.com.au/company/blog/effective-integration-of-business-intelligence-bi-and-enterprise-resource-planning-erp-systems-within-your-business/ http://www.markinson.com.au/company/blog/markinson-complete-the-brisbane-oxfam-trailwalker-challenge/ <p>Very occasionally in life, you get the chance to achieve something extraordinary. Oxfam Trailwalker is one of those rare opportunities. It's an epic journey that changes lives forever.</p>
<p>On Friday morning, 15 June, eight Markinson teammates set off to complete one of the toughest challenges in the world. Each team had to journey through 100km of Brisbane bush trail within 48 hours. Our teams started out with the goal to raise at least $2,000 and ended up raising $3,170 to go towards Oxfam's work around the world.</p>
<p>Congratulations to Joyce Tian, Emmanuel Letellier and Ron Beddows for making it halfway and to Ian Whiting, Peter Moore, Todd Lord, Ben Welch and Michael Brown for completing the entire 100km within 39 hours. To view some of the photos from the weekend, check out the coverage we received in CRN: <a title="CRN coverage for Oxfam" href="http://www.arnnet.com.au/slideshow/428406/pictures_markinson_takes_oxfam_trailwalker_brisbane_challenge/?fp=4&fpid=1090891289#closeme" target="_blank">Markinson takes on Oxfam Trailwalker Brisbane Challenge</a>.</p>
<p>This was Markinson Chief Executive Officer, Ian Whiting's third completed Oxfam Trailwalker and he aims to complete the final Australian event for 2012 in Sydney this August.</p>
<p>Speaking first thing on Monday morning (no, he didn't walk to work), he says, "This year's Brisbane event was truly one of the hardest I've experienced," he adds, "I was immensely proud of not only the team's effort on the weekend, but also their level of dedication to prepare for such a tough challenge. The support from each other, our support crew and the hundreds of Oxfam volunteers made completing the journey possible."</p>
<p>If you would like to show your support for this fantastic cause by making a donation, please visit their <a title="Donate to Oxfam" href="https://trailwalker.oxfam.org.au/tw/donate/twpaymentevent.php?TeamID=12650&EventState=NSW" target="_blank">Teamspace page</a> and follow the prompts. Every dollar raised is greatly appreciated.</p> Thu, 21 Jun 2012 12:00:00 +1000 http://www.markinson.com.au/company/blog/markinson-complete-the-brisbane-oxfam-trailwalker-challenge/ http://www.markinson.com.au/company/blog/what-does-crm-software-actually-do/ <p>A series of screenshots showing what a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) program actually looks like.</p>
<p>When it comes to customer relationship building, no technology is as powerful as Customer Relationship Management (CRM). Some businesses don’t use it however - perhaps believing that it may be too complex for their needs.</p>
<p>For those who want to know more about CRM its capabilities, a demonstration is worthwhile. Here are the most common features of a typical CRM (in this case Microsoft Dynamics CRM), with screenshots for illustration...<a href="http://www.bit.com.au/Guide/301380,what-does-crm-software-actually-do.aspx" target="_blank">read our full article in BIT: Business IT</a>.</p> Fri, 18 May 2012 14:05:45 +1000 http://www.markinson.com.au/company/blog/what-does-crm-software-actually-do/ http://www.markinson.com.au/company/blog/new-blogentry-3/ <p>Oxfam Trailwalker is one of the toughest challenges in the world - and we've signed up two teams of four to participate. Each team has to journey through 100km of bush trail within 48 hours. It's physically and mentally demanding but with the right amount of training, attitude and encouragement from our supporters, we know we'll cross the line.</p>
<p>We have a goal to raise at least $1,000 for each team which will go towards Oxfam's work around the world.</p>
<p>If you would like to show your support for this fantastic cause by making a donation, please visit one of our Teamspace pages and follow the prompts. Every dollar raised is greatly appreciated.</p>
<p>Team 1: <a title="Sponsor us today!" href="http://trailwalker.oxfam.org.au/brisbane/teams/team/?team_id=12197" target="_blank">Markinson Marching</a></p>
<ul><li>Ian Whiting</li>
<li>Peter Moore</li>
<li>Todd Lord</li>
<li>Joyce Tian</li>
</ul><p>Team 2: <a title="Sponsor us today!" href="http://trailwalker.oxfam.org.au/brisbane/teams/team/?team_id=12198" target="_blank">Markinson Marvels</a></p>
<ul><li>Ron Beddows</li>
<li>Ben Welch</li>
<li>Emmanuel Letellier</li>
<li>Michael Brown</li>
</ul> Thu, 17 May 2012 10:40:22 +1000 http://www.markinson.com.au/company/blog/new-blogentry-3/ http://www.markinson.com.au/company/blog/6-things-you-can-discover-about-your-business-from-pos-software/ <p>Information gathered through your Point of Sale software can deliver valuable business insight.</p>
<p>Here are six things that retailers are sometimes surprised they can discover by using Point of Sale software:</p>
<ol><li>Details of failing stock items. Several reports are available to list items that have not sold in a specified period of time.</li>
<li>Return on Investment reporting to see the genuine value delivered by inventory.</li>
<li>Employee sales performance data.</li>
<li>Trading period comparison by department, category and supplier to see how the business is tracking.</li>
<li>Customer value. See a customer’s spend over a given period of time for deeper insight into their true value and loyalty.</li>
<li>Top sellers reporting. While many retailers know their top sellers, few understand the percentage of sales (dollars and units) delivered by these to the business.</li>
</ol> Wed, 02 May 2012 10:28:41 +1000 http://www.markinson.com.au/company/blog/6-things-you-can-discover-about-your-business-from-pos-software/ http://www.markinson.com.au/company/blog/five-tips-for-integrating-bi-and-erp/ <p>The Global Financial Crisis put Business Intelligence (BI) and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) integration in the spotlight. We needed to know urgently what was happening in our businesses and why.</p>
<p>But despite best intentions, many businesses have struggled to implement BI systems. Others who have successfully rolled it out are using it in unproductive ways, often by mistaking it for a reporting tool.</p>
<p>This is unfortunate because, when implemented correctly, BI is a powerful instrument. One company we deal with, for example, estimates that their BI trends analysis alone has fuelled growth of over 20%. </p>
<p>In your own business, the key to implementing BI correctly is having a clear understanding of why you’re doing so.</p>
<p><strong>1. Don’t implement BI – implement an end-goal</strong></p>
<p>One of the reasons that BI is notoriously difficult to get right is the fact that businesses often undertake BI without a well-defined idea of what ‘right’ will mean.</p>
<p>ERP systems capture an incredible amount of transactions and business data, and the role of BI is to convert these records into information that can be used by decision makers.</p>
<p>It’s vital to remember that the purpose of BI is to produce information and insight. Thus, deciding what insight your business needs is the first step to implementing BI.</p>
<p>Good questions to ask are: which business areas are you going to analyse? What are the important Key Performance Indicators? How will decision makers react to the insight your solution produces and what specific outcomes will it achieve?</p>
<p>Understand that BI will not solve problems in its own right. To be successful, you need to know your business and where you want to take it, then make the turn to BI.</p>
<p><strong>2. Don’t delegate success</strong></p>
<p>The best BI integrations emerge from deep understandings of business operations.</p>
<p>While BI vendors will do their utmost, this is the main reason that you shouldn’t rely on your vendor to create project success.</p>
<p>Instead, have someone from your own organisation at the helm to drive the project – perhaps yourself and another member of the management team.</p>
<p><strong>3. Don’t go it alone</strong></p>
<p>BI is a complex arena, and multiple solution types, software packages and integration hurdles make implementation a difficult assignment.</p>
<p>In the same way that a maiden skipper wouldn’t sail for New Zealand without an experienced crew, those responsible for BI integrations can avoid disaster by having practiced help on deck.</p>
<p>Ideally, your BI vendor will be experienced not only in the particular product you’re going to implement, but also in your industry. Because BI is about business improvement, hunting for a vendor with previous exposure to your industry means that the project is more likely to be informed by relevant assumptions about business processes and KPIs from the start – making it that much more likely to succeed.</p>
<p><strong>4. Avoid the ‘reporting’ pitfall</strong></p>
<p>The most common error that businesses (and sadly even some BI vendors) make is using BI as a reporting tool.</p>
<p>Having BI to simply retrieve and report on records from ERP systems is like buying a Ferrari to keep in the garage. BI is much more powerful than that.</p>
<p>Whether it’s analysing historical, current or predicted sales, production costs or other forms of business data, BI provides up-to-date information on the state of the business – insights that allow decision makers to evaluate the effectiveness of processes and departments, to understand how the business is operating more broadly and to witness trends in sales as they occur.</p>
<p>To get the most from BI, make sure that your implementation is focused on strategic insights. It’s not about sales volumes or missed targets, but the reasons behind them.</p>
<p><strong>5. Manage information security</strong></p>
<p>BI is a potent instrument for analysing information about every aspect of a business. Unsurprisingly, however, the level of information it puts in the hands of users is a common concern for CIOs.</p>
<p>To this end, data security within BI solutions needs to be carefully managed, but remember that the benefits of improved information flow across the enterprise far exceed the risks.</p>
<p>Summing up</p>
<p>BI is a difficult area, but it’s also one that offers enormous potential for delivering insights that can boost profits, cut costs and provide an ongoing picture of a business and its market.</p>
<p>With a clear set of aims and expert help where necessary, it can harness the data that resides in ERP systems and turn that latent information into valuable competitive awareness.</p> Mon, 06 Feb 2012 09:00:21 +1100 http://www.markinson.com.au/company/blog/five-tips-for-integrating-bi-and-erp/ http://www.markinson.com.au/company/blog/new-blogentry/ <p>Launch larger deployments, create faster, deeper analysis, go social and get more mobile. It’s all yours with QlikView 11.</p>
<p>To learn how QlikView 11 takes Business Discovery to the next level with:</p>
<ul><li><strong>Social Business Discovery</strong> - Share data and analysis to better uncover insight and solve business problems. Interpret data, create in-app decision notes, and engage colleagues through in-app threaded discussions.</li>
<li><strong>Mobile Business Discovery</strong> - Enhanced multi-touch capabilities on multiple devices including iPhone and iPad.</li>
<li><strong>Enhanced Enterprise Platform Capabilities</strong> - Reduced complexity and cost for large deployments. QlikView Publisher now loads documents 40% faster.</li>
<li><strong>Rapid Analytic App Platform</strong> - Create powerful, detailed dashboards in a snap. Container objects can now group standalone objects into grids to maximize screen space and create effective layouts.</li>
<li><strong>Comparative Analysis</strong> - Benchmark results across any period of time, across multiple tabs, and associate them to easily spot trends and important differences. Gain a whole new view into your business.</li>
</ul><p>The most social, mobile, enterprise-ready QlikView is waiting for you. <a title="Contact us" href="http://www.markinson.com.au/contact-us/">Contact us</a> today to find our more!</p> Tue, 06 Dec 2011 10:31:59 +1100 http://www.markinson.com.au/company/blog/new-blogentry/ http://www.markinson.com.au/company/blog/new-blogentry-2/ <p>If your business engages in wholesale distribution, maintaining efficiency while reducing expenses is an important pursuit.</p>
<p>While it’s too late to make big adjustments to your enterprise resource planning (ERP) and distribution systems in time for the end-of-year-spike, the lull that can follow as the new year starts is a great time to take a big-picture look at your processes.</p>
<p>At Markinson, we’ve put together several ways to improve wholesale distribution management while reducing your costs:</p>
<ol><li><strong>Inventory is expense</strong> - Everything in your warehouse is incurring a cost. Keep inventory as low as possible by implementing systems that allow you to treat your warehouse as a node in the link between your supplier and customer, and not as a home for goods. Also identify slow-moving inventory and price it to reflect its higher warehousing cost.</li>
<li><strong>Manual processes equal added costs</strong> - Business-wide electronic and real-time tracking not only reduce costs by improving processes within your business, but also makes your business more attractive for customers (and suppliers). Share your data with customers and suppliers so that they know what you have stocked, what you can source, where products are and how long they’ll take to arrive. Doing so will help to move your inventory – creating revenue while reducing storage costs. </li>
<li><strong>A better crystal ball</strong> - Your sales team’s projections aren’t the only to predict future demand. Focus on using the information generated within an enterprise resource planning system such as <a href="http://www.markinson.com.au/solutions/wholesale-distribution/">MomentumPro</a> as a more accurate predictor of future trends.</li>
<li><strong>Consolidate </strong>- Eliminating duplicate systems is a quick way to reduce costs. Drive cost reduction by ensuring there’s a single point of responsibility in your business for keeping a handle on excess inventory. Don’t forget the basics, such as getting rid of aging inventory.</li>
<li><strong>Prioritise cost reduction</strong> - Make reducing costs a priority by creating KPIs around expense reduction. If you don’t have one already, create a dashboard view of your expenses, report on them, and ensure that the business is aware of where its costs lie. It may not always be as glamorous as sales, but reducing costs plays just as valuable a role in improving profit.</li>
<li><strong>Embrace E-Commerce</strong> – Drive down your cost of processing sales and extend the hours you can trade and regions you can target. Provide a self-service portal for customers to free up your customer service resources.</li>
</ol><p><strong>About Markinson</strong></p>
<p>Markinson is a business software company, dedicated to the creation and provision of innovative solutions and services to companies across Australia, New Zealand and the Asia-Pacific region.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.markinson.com.au/contact-us/" target="_blank">Contact us</a> to find out how we can provide solutions for your wholesale distribution challenges.</p>
<p> </p> Wed, 16 Nov 2011 10:36:33 +1100 http://www.markinson.com.au/company/blog/new-blogentry-2/ http://www.markinson.com.au/company/blog/taking-your-crm-mobile/ <p>About 41% of Australian consumers have now installed a mobile application on their phone, and, given their incredible popularity, it’s no surprise that businesses, and their employees, are crying out for mobile apps.</p>
<p>Microsoft says that mobile solutions are currently one of the top ten IT investment priorities of SMBs, and – according to iPass – 38% of businesses will have deployed a mobility solution in 2010.</p>
<p>These solutions will include everything from voice, messaging and collaboration applications, to mobile data and intranet access solutions.</p>
<p>However, at Markinson, we want to focus on creating competitive advantage through business capability enablement – that is, through mobile business applications, in particular CRM.</p>
<p><strong>CRM everywhere</strong></p>
<p>It’s no secret that businesses who deal with their customers well retain their business. From good value to good service, customer relationships can have many foundations, but what’s common to all of them is that they do not take place at head office.</p>
<p>Mobile CRM software takes the power of CRM software and delivers it anywhere – including straight to the customer. It allows staff to check inventory and price lists, act on leads and opportunities, deliver quotes and invoices, see customer accounts, histories and dashboards – all while on the road, on site or at home.</p>
<p>The business benefits of this are numerous. Faster access to information means faster responses to customer emails, calls and enquiries - improving customer satisfaction and increasing sales.</p>
<p>Reduced ‘dead time’ – when employees are either away from the office or in transit – means greater productivity. (Indeed, in an iPass survey 93% of employees with mobile solutions believed that they made them more productive, delivering an extra hour’s work per day).</p>
<p>Using mobile CRM, information flow across the business is also greatly improved. Mistakes that are the result of inconsistent data, such as out-of-date pricelists, catalogs and stock lists, are removed. The business can respond to customers in ‘real-time’, and not ‘real-time’ plus ‘as long it takes to return to the office’.</p>
<p>Low-cost mobile Point of Sale devices which integrates a magnetic strip reader and barcode scanner with devices such as iPads and iPhones – also offer reps the ability to complete sales on the spot, improving the bottom line.</p>
<p><strong>Implementation</strong></p>
<p>If your business is considering mobile CRM, make sure that your strategy keeps in mind the following:</p>
<p>Security and identity – There are few better ways to fail your customers than by failing to protect their data. As with any mobile solution, an adequate security regime is a must. Procedures should be in place for mobile handsets that are lost or stolen, including remote wipe, Secure Sockets Layer (SSL), device and application passwords are a necessity.</p>
<p>Scalability and performance – Mobile applications are popular because they’re fast. Ideally, it should be just as easy to find and execute complex functions in the mobile app as on the desktop. Some smart phones provide more processing power than others.</p>
<p>User experience – Remember that your mobile app will often be used while staff who are directly engaging with customers. Thus, how intuitive and speedy it is will reflect on the business itself. Also, the more ‘natural’ the experience, the less training staff will need.</p>
<p>Many popular CRM solutions now come with mobile application extensions, including Microsoft Dynamics CRM and Sage SalesLogix.</p>
<p>If your current CRM has an extension, it should be your first port of call. The biggest advantage in this case is rapid deployment. Using pre-defined templates, for example, your mobile CRM solution can be active within days, not weeks. There’s also the added benefit of multi-platform compatibility, with most CRM providers offering applications for iPad, iPhone, BlackBerry and Android. While some lack the full feature set, this should improve over time.</p>
<p>If your CRM system does not yet provide a mobility solution, you might consider easy work-arounds with fast ROI. If your current platform offers a web interface, for example, adapting it to a tablet-driven solution using a web browser may deliver a quick solution. Indeed, in place of native mobile applications, some CRM providers are offering mobile formatted versions of their systems with simplified layouts and small screen sizes.</p>
<p>In the mobile space, more so than in the desktop world, a key step is to ensure that your application’s design is driven by your users and their workflows. This can mean creating several options for different roles within your business.</p>
<p><strong>More with less</strong></p>
<p>Whichever way you implement mobile CRM, its essential attraction is that it allows your staff to do more with less using smart devices with which they are becoming increasingly familiar – whether that’s creating new customer contacts and leads in the field, logging calls and emails, or downloading the latest sales collateral.</p>
<p>By providing a business-wide, up-to-the-moment view of your customers and their needs, mobile CRM makes your staff more effective, both in the office and in the field.</p>
<p>Long term, mobile CRM solutions won’t be a trend but a given. But for the moment, those who equip their business to engage with customers when and wherever their staff happen to be will enjoy a significant edge.</p> Thu, 28 Jul 2011 09:02:26 +1000 http://www.markinson.com.au/company/blog/taking-your-crm-mobile/