Spedi Retail Software - EPOS for the convenience sector

Safety Is Not Like The So-called "free Lunch"

Sunday 16th May 2010

It can be expensive and its costs are not easy to ignore

Unfortunately, safety obeys the well-known rule "If it can go wrong, it will", because, in the absence of external constraints, systems always tend to become less orderly, i.e. more randomly arranged, over time.

For example, take about 20 identical 2-metre network patch cables and coil up each one neatly, but do not tuck the ends into the coil or tie up each coil individually. Now put them all in a tidy pile, then try pulling one cable out by its end. In no time at all, the tidy pile will become a tangled mess. However, if each coil is separately bound or, better, placed in an individual plastic bag before being added to the pile, each one will remain separate no matter what happens.

In the same way as binding a coiled network cable or placing it in a plastic bag takes more resource than merely coiling it up and throwing it on a heap, providing safety takes additional resource. Air travel is said to be the safest form of travel - but this is achieved by design, not luck. The costs of the regulations and attention to detail in the air travel industry are substantial. Were similar standards to be applied to surface travel, road accidents would make headline news due to their rarity. In countries where safety is not regarded with the same importance as in Britain, serious industrial accidents are commonplace. China's coal mines are among the most deadly in the world, due to their lack of Western levels of safety, but without the additional costs these safety constraints impose their products can be afford to be cheap.

Safety applies as much to data as to anything else. Backups and duplicate equipment all cost money, which can be regarded as wasted if it is never called upon. However, in many ways safety is like crossing the road. We are all taught to listen, look right, left and right again before we even step out onto the tarmac. We are also taught to keep on looking and listening all the time until we reach the other side, "just in case....".

"Safety costs", in so many surprising ways, not all of them large ones.

Clever People May Well Ask The Right Questions....

Sunday 9th May 2010

However, the REALLY clever people take note of the answers and then do something about them

Anyone can ask questions, but what matters is whether or not they are the right ones. To see this in action, just watch a few minutes of Jeremy Paxman grilling an over-confident politician! In business, it is all too easy to ask the wrong questions and thus not be aware of a serious problem until it is too late.

It may be very interesting, or even encouraging, to see how the weekly takings this year compare with the same period last year. By itself, this is not really much use. What matters is how the business is performing "as a whole", taking costs as well as sales into account. It is also important to monitor stock availability and trading hours.

Is it really worth keeping the store open for that last hour on Sunday night, just to sell a few 6-packs of beer and a dozen packets of cigarettes? This sort of analysis is invaluable for adjusting staffing levels, one of the biggest variable costs in a retail grocery business, at different times of the day.

Have there been any "out-of-stocks" among popular lines during the week? These represent missed sales (and thus profit) opportunities.

It is almost impossible to answer the "right" questions without the help of a good EPoS system. Those who think of EPoS as "Too expensive" or "Too complicated" will find it increasingly difficult to survive. Rather than "How much does it cost?", they should be asking "How can I use it to develop my business?".

Keep Your Antivirus And Firewall Software Up-to-date

Sunday 2nd May 2010

Otherwise, it could well cost you dearly

Some people fondly imagine that they do not need an antivirus program, because they never visit any "dubious" websites. If only they were right! There are increasing numbers of websites which, unknown to their owners, have been hacked and are able to conduct "drive-by" attacks on visitors. Such infected sites will endeavour to install undesirable software on the visitor's PC, ranging from irritating pop-ups and similar scumware at the lower end of the scale, right up to full-blown viruses and trojans at the other. The most worrying aspect of such attacks is that they do not require the visitor to download an application as a deliberate act - merely viewing the infected page is sufficient.

At one time, stories abounded of how some well-known site or other had been defaced by hackers. Naturally, the criminal fraternity soon realised that such techniques could be used for their own purposes and the "drive-by" exploit was developed. Although web developers now pay much more attention to making sure that their sites can withstand such activities, it is unreasonable to expect that every website is 100% safe.

It is no more than basic commonsense to lock a vehicle when leaving it unattended, even though everyone in the area "looks honest", there is good street lighting and there may even be a police officer patrolling nearby. In the same way, using up-to-date antivirus and firewall software helps protect your PC from cyber-criminals.

It is not even necessary to spend any money for good protection - AVG's excellent free antivirus software is available from http://free.avg.com, while Zonelabs' Zonealarm firewall, also free, may be downloaded from http://www.zonelabs.com. Paid-for products are also available, of course. These usually offer additional features which some people find useful.

Familiarity Breeds Contempt.....

Sunday 25th April 2010

..... But what about UNfamiliarity? What does that breed? Suspicion? Fear? Curiosity?

Innovation, or any other type of change, can be something of a two-edged sword. Most living organisms have mechanisms in place which attempt to preserve their current state, whenever possible. A simple example of this behaviour is the way in which we humans shiver when we are too cold or sweat when we are too hot. In either case, our built-in temperature regulation mechanism is doing its job of keeping our body temperature as close to 37 degrees Centigrade as possible. Effectively, it operates on the principle that "Everything is fine as it is, so any change could be for the worse and must therefore be resisted".

This behaviour also extends to the way in which we think. There is a natural tendency to believe "We have always done it this way, so there is no need to change". Clearly, this leaves no room for innovation. Had
this principle been applied to computers, we would all still be using a character-based, MSDOS-like interface. There would be no such thing as Microsoft Windows or, in the open-source world, KDE or Gnome. Sometimes, an innovation richly deserves the suspicion it attracts. Apart from Wikipedia, who remembers the Sinclair C5 or the ICL One-Per-Desk, both from the early 1980's?

Other innovations are more successful. On the food front, chilli-enhanced chocolate is surprisingly popular, although not to everyone's taste. Waitrose, "middle Britain's favourite supermarket", introduced a new line this year - Hot Cross buns with Belgian chocolate. These were deservedly popular and practically flew off the shelves. Watch out for them in other supermarkets next year! Another popular line, this tinme from their delicatessen, was a Smoked Wensleydale cheese. Although it may sound strange, like chill-enhanced chocolate, it actually tastes rather good.

Provided that innovation and changes are introduced properly, customers will welcome them ragtehr than resist them. In the case of retail grocery, this is largely handled by the manufacturers and suppliers. The retailer, however, must ensure that, if the "new" product should turn out to be a dud, he is able to identify it quickly and remove it from his shelves. Otherwise, his business will steadily deteriorate as his customers go elsewhere.

A good EPoS system is a massive help here. Since even a fairly small retail grocery store carries over 5,000 lines, it is easy for slow-moving or otherwise under-performing lines to evade the notice of even the most eagle-eyed retailer. A properly-designed EPoS system, however, can deal with an effectively unlimited number of lines. It can then bring any lines which do not meet the retailer's pre-defined targets to his attention, enabling him to take appropriate action to deal with them.

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