Are you running a retail business? You need software for different functions like POS billing, inventory, accounts, payroll etc. Do you plan to buy (or have bought) individual software for the different functions or a single software that handles all these functions, like an ERP software?

If you are going for individual software for each function, just ponder over a few interesting facts:

Can buying an integrated solution be more economical?

While you can buy specialized packages for the different functions like accounts, point of sale billing, payroll etc., the cost will probably add up to much more than what a single, integrated package will cost you. If you factor in the cost of AMC for all these software, you will be able to see the total cost of ownership come down drastically for a single software.

Will the integrated software save you time?

‘Time is money’. And if you can save time, you can invest this in improving your business or going home to spend more quality time with your family.

When using an integrated software suite, you do not need to make postings, tally figures of one software to another and update masters and transactions data everywhere whenever there are edits. Once a transaction is posted or modified, the data ripples down to all sections that are affected and all reports are automatically updated.

When using different software packages, even if some connectivity has been setup between the software, upgrading one may break the data flow requiring costly re-development.

How about the inter-department co-ordination?

Each department has a bunch of responsibilities. Though they are divided by the responsibilities, they are united by the goal and that is to increase overall profitability of the business.

They need proper coordination to perform their duties successfully. But, using individual software for various departments may break the thread of coordination. For, example, if a certain product is sold out, the purchase order team must add that in their purchasing list and the sales team must know about the stock-out so as to update the customers about the lead time. Any information gap here can reduce the credibility of the organisation and cause costly business losses.

Introducing FusionRetail: the ERP for retail businesses

FusionRetail is an enterprise grade software that handles all the functions of a retail business with an integrated approach. Thus sales incurred on POS terminal are automatically posted to all affected sections. The inventory module can update stock position or rates of items and the POS will automatically know the new figures.

Integrates your retail stores

Not only does FusionRetail integrate your departments within one store, it can also help you connect multiple stores and see consolidated figures and MIS reports for all stores.

Increases sales

An ERP software can increase your sales by highly reducing, even eliminating stock-out situations. It will warn you when items are below a threshold level. Similarly, it will issue alerts when certain stocks are not moving so that you can reduce the price or hold sales to clear out the inventory.

Improves the supply chain

The ERP software can improve your supply chain by helping you place orders well in time for deliveries before you run out of stock. Similarly, one of your stores may be having extra stock of some item which may be out of stock in another store. These alerts can save you lots of sales and lost customers.

Updates the accounts in real time

An ERP system has a single database where all transactions of every module are stored and this results in getting real time updates across modules for any transaction happening. So if a certain item is sold in cash, the inventory, cash balance, accounts etc are all updated immediately.

This reduces the day-end reconciliation time heavily and you can go home early to spend some time with your family and friends, with increased peace of mind.