Johannesburg, 17 Nov 2006
Home Improvements, a chain of 12 home furnishings, white goods and electrical equipment and accessories stores located in main centres in Mpumalanga, has implemented the locally developed isoPOS point of sale software solution at all of its outlets.
The isoPOS solution has created a far less stressful working environment for Home Improvements owner Kobus Pretorius, who runs the group of stores from Hazyview, where his data centre is located.
"I have much improved control of the business now and for the first time in the 13 years we have been operational, I can obtain a complete overview of the business at any time."
The major Home Improvements stores are at Lydenburg, Nelspruit, Sabie, Hazyview, Malelane, Komatipoort, Bushbuck Ridge, Kamaqekeza and Matsamu. Purchasing of furniture, suites, televisions, sound systems, fridges, freezers and other home goods is done centrally. Stock is distributed and accounted for within a system of inter-branch transfers with goods received notes coming back into head office.
The isoPOS software has been installed at every store and data on sales, stock levels, orders and goods received is conveyed daily via an after-hours dial-up Internet connection from the isoPOS at each store to the Hazyview data centre where it is downloaded via ADSL into the main server and integrated seamlessly into Accpac ERP 100 accounting software.
"We were doing most of this manually before," said Pretorius. "While we operated a software program at some of the outlets, it could not cater for layaways which are an important aspect of our business and that meant a lot of paperwork was still required."
He added that the transition to isoPOS initially needed a lot of hard work to transfer the existing data. "Now we are really seeing the benefits come through. It is a very secure system and there are excellent high-level control features for central reconciliations."
Pretorius said the isoPOS concept fills a gap in the marketplace. "There are many independent companies like Home Improvements that cannot afford huge investments in sophisticated networks. However, a point of sale software like isoPOS, which has proved an excellent solution for my kind of operation, is not only affordable but also adds value."
Karl Wagner, isoPOS managing director, said isoPOS at the outset was deliberately designed to be simple to use and easy to maintain from cashier level right up to top management.
"It is a point of sale solution which can be quickly and easily fine-tuned to accommodate the varying requirements of businesses.
"As Home Improvements has discovered, isoPOS produces critical information for management so that informed business decisions can be made quickly and easily from a central point. This is especially important in an operation with many widespread branches. It means less travel for management and more effective use of management time. Whichever way you look at that, it translates into cost savings."
For more information please visit www.isopos.com
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