Radiant Payment Services

Posted on by ccsretail

Radiant Systems recently launched Radiant Payment Services (RPS) to expand their product offering with credit card payment processing.  This is a great opportunity for you to do a review of your existing processor and see if you can get some better rates.   In this tight economy every little penny seems to help.  If you are using CPGateway (Internet Card processing) you may be able to get preferred rates for this also, in combination with RPS.

Some of the benefits of using RPS are:

  • Competitive and transparent pricing
  • Tight integration with CounterPoint Retail Management Software, providing an end-to-end solution
  • Single point of accountability from the time the card is swiped to the settlement of funds
  • Reliable infrastructure backed by fully redundant data center

There is a single point of accountability from the time the card is swiped to the settlement of funds. A Reliable Infrastructure is backed up by a fully redundant data center.

Radiant is doing a calling campaign to introduce you to their new program. So please take a few minutes and talk with Fernandus Jones.  He might be able to save you some $$.   And of course if you have any questions, please contact me or Norma.

Fernandus Jones
(866) 599-4220 x 312
Radiant Payment Service
Fernandus.Jones@radiantpayments.com

How Can CCS Help You Thrive In This Business Climate

Posted on by ccsretail
 
As you know, the economic climate is not the best at the present.  This is not necessarily a problem with no solutions.  CCS has been in business since 1980. We have seen the impact of this type of economy before. We remember what helped our customers and prospects then.
 
Many of our core support and sales consulting competencies can help you be more capable of weathering these storms.
 
We can work with you to find ways to extend the life of your existing systems and maximize their current utility, rather replace them with new items.  We have developed the skills in services and sales to do this over the years.  You can draw on these and our working relationship – now.
 
We have some suggestions on how CCS Retail can start to help you.
 
1.      Contact us to discuss what your current problems are with meeting the needs of your customers and running your in-house operations effectively.
2.      CCS can meet with you over the phone or in person, whatever is most convenient.
3.      We will prepare a summary of our thoughts on solutions that leverage your present systems as much as possible
4.      CCS can recommend training where this will help you better use what your already have.   We will arrange for a training session that best suits your schedule. In our classroom, over the Internet, or onsite.
5.      We will recommend customizations were this will have the most impact for you.
6.      CCS will work within your limited budget as much as possible.
7.      We can make sure you get all the discounts we can pass on from our suppliers on any new items that are the most cost-effective alternatives. We will try to negotiate for you with our suppliers when this will make the difference to you.
8.      We try to offer our own special pricing to accommodate you where we can.
9.      CCS will listen to your suggestions and try to accommodate you as much as is practicable.
 
Rather than being uncomfortable with the challenge of this economy on your own, call us and let CCS Retail help you.  Don’t risk further erosion of your profitability. We are ready.
 
Your Partner in All Business Climates.
 
CCS Retail Systems, Inc.
 
800-672-4806
 

Reduce Overhead – Improve Sales

Posted on by ccsretail
Are you looking for ways to reduce your overhead and improve sales during the slow economy?
 
CCS Retail Systems has an answer for Retailers.  Many Retailers are either running with limited automation or using a bulky system with outmoded technology and unreasonable operating costs.  Get the benefits of a CounterPoint System that solves these problems.  We can get you converted and running in record time.
 
Get rid of the weight of some your fixed automation costs.  Our CounterPoint System offers complete system features at a fraction of the cost of many comparable systems.  Enjoy the benefits of lower overhead with a system that is easy to use and maintain. 
 
Easily configure CounterPoint to your needs.  Reduce head-count, keep your best people, by making the system match your needs as closely as possible.  A poorly designed system adds labor cost. CounterPoint is easily tailored to your way of doing business.  Working around system limitations is one of the common complains we hear.
 
CounterPoint is designed from the ground up for Retailers.  We have used the latest technology tools to make a system that is easy to use and easy to keep running.  Whether you have a few locations, or a large multi-state configuration, CounterPoint will scale to your size.
 
Protect your current investment when CounterPoint is installed.  We have converted dozens of systems to CounterPoint.  We are committed to using your existing equipment where possible.  We have accomplished near miracles with reusing equipment and converting data from very different and very outdated systems.
  
Keep your check-outs moving.  Our CounterPoint developers are experts in Retail operations.  Get the benefits of a true POS system at your check-outs.  Reduce lost sales and lost repeat business with CounterPoints’ features.  Minimize keystrokes to enter sales, and use 2-second Internet credit-card authorization to impress your customers. 
 
Reduce inventory and increase sales.  CounterPoint makes finding slow moving and dead stock easy.  Put your dollars into the stock that moves and is profitable.  Minimize stock outs and employee shrinkage.
 
Add traffic and get to ALL your customers.  CounterPoint has an integrated ecommerce website system that makes sure you are seen by the world’s largest market-place, the Internet. Your inventory and sales policies are easily accommodated by CounterPoint.
 
Reduce maintenance costs.  CounterPoint is developed by Radiant Systems, a national organization with a long history in the Retail market. They have a large base of hardware and software support technicians to maintain your system.  In your local area, CCS Retail Systems is authorized to deliver services to your company.  Our support programs are designed to allow you to budget your costs.  We do not require annual contracts. We tailor our programs to your needs and budget.  CounterPoints’ high degree of reliability makes this work in your favor.
 
Act now – don’t let the slow economy get a further grip on your business. 
 
Contact us by email at sales@ccscentral.com, by phone at 800-672-4806, or visit our website at www.ccscentral.com.  Get your CounterPoint Sales Consultant appointment scheduled.  Start your new, fresh approach to a more manageable and profitable business.

Retail Sales Up 1% – Economic Upswing

Posted on by ccsretail

There are some signs of Economic recovery already.   Good news for retailers.  The Bloomberg Press reports retail sales are up 1% in January.

"Feb. 12 (Bloomberg) — Sales at U.S. retailers unexpectedly halted a record six-month slide in January, an advance that may not be sustained as job losses climb.

The 1 percent increase followed a 3 percent drop the prior month, the Commerce Department said today in Washington. Excluding cars, the gain was 0.9 percent. Last month rise reflected higher gasoline prices and more spending on items including clothing and food.

There were enough post-holiday sales to lure people into the stores; the question is whether that is sustainable — and the answer is, obviously not, said Tom Porcelli, a senior economist at Castlestone Management Ltd. In New York. A collapsing job market means spending will deteriorate further, he said. "

Read the rest of the Article:

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&refer=&sid=a3CnzNPP2Bl4

Let’s keep our fingers crossed.

CCS Sales.
 

The Importance of Backups

Posted on by ccsretail

I get asked about backups quite frequently.  I’m asked how important are backups?  Should I backup the operating system also?  How often should I run my backup?

Well as long as I have been working with computer systems, I can say that the people that do regular backups are usually up and doing business much quicker than those who do not backup or backup only seldom.

A good rule of thumb when it comes to backups is:  You need to backup ANYTHING that you can not afford to lose.

The difference in time that it takes to rebuild a system from a tape versus from scratch can be a week compared to a day or two with a good backup.

You say "I backup everyday so all my backups are good".  For the most part this is true, but the reports or emails that you receive from your backup program have some important information that you need to check.  Did the backup complete successfully,  and did the verify process complete successfully.  The verify process confirms that the file backed up matches what is on the hard drive.  If the file does not backup or verify, the report/email tells you what file had problems and why it failed either process.

One  reason why a file would fail is because the file is locked by a user who has not logged out of the system, or has not logged out of a software application properly.  A verify failure is usually caused  when a file that was backed up, has changed.  Either the size of the file changed, or a "bad write" to the backup medium occurred because of a dirty tape or dirty tape drive.  In any case the failure should be resolved ASAP.

Full Backups vs. Selected Backups ?
For this consideration, I feel that it depends on what you are backing up.  If you are backing up a server that hosts your Point of Sale or Accounting application then a Full System Backup should be performed everyday using the backup software installed on you server.  This is best done BEFORE any posting operations, so you can recover, correct the problems, and try again. 

If your backing up your workstation or home PC, you should backup "Anything you can not afford to lose".  Like your documents, emails, favorites, music, or pictures to name a few.  These can be backed up to a CD-RW, USB Flash Drive, or even another PC, as often as you like.  This should be often enough to catch when something changes.

CCS Retail Systems can help you setup your Windows or Unix/Linux Servers with backup software, and automated backups on a schedule that fits.  Also CCS Retail Systems can recommend what backup software to use.  For example, for the Windows 2000 server and above, Backup Assist is a great choice. For SCO Unix and Linux servers Microlite’s Backup Edge is second to none in my opinion.  Both of these applications can be reviewed from the CCS Retail Systems website.

If you have any other questions about backups feel free to email me at support@ccscentral.com or call 800-672-4806
alt
Have a Great Weekend
 

Welcome To My Blog

Posted on by ccsretail

My name is Norma Dykes.  I am the National Sales Representative at CCS Retail Systems.   I have been with CCS from its inception over 27 years ago.  I spend a lot of time with existing customers helping them keep up to date on changes to the products.  I also work with new prospective customers demonstrating and proposing our product solutions.

With existing customers, we cover new enhancements, annual tax tables, new employee training, support contract renewals. and many other essentials.

Contact me for anything you need help with, or guidance on.   I have a technical background as well as sales, so I can usually get you what you need quickly.

Look for some useful tips, and information on CCS Retail and our products, in my future posts.

Norma.
 

What is the Cost of Not Acting?

Posted on by ccsretail

In a previous article, I discussed Return on Investment you will receive by implementing an effective Point of Sale & Inventory Control System. Today let’s look at that topic "in reverse". What is it costing your company NOT to act now, or in delaying implementation of a system?

For the sake of our discussion, let’s assume your annual sales are $1.2M and your average inventory on hand is $400k. We are also assuming your cost of goods is 50%. If your actual numbers are more or less, feel free to use them, the formula still works.

The Inventory Management portion of the software is the backbone of the system. Implementing this alone will make sure you have the right product at the right time. It allows you to eliminate or decrease inventory that doesn’t sell, and increase inventory that sells. Overall this can increase your sales by 10%. So $120k minus $60k for cost of goods, and we’ll subtract another $10k for miscellaneous costs. That’s $50,000 added to your bottom line each and every year!

The system can also allow you to decrease the amount of inventory you keep on hand by approximately 20%. So if you decrease your inventory by $80k times a 30% carrying cost, that adds another $24k to your bottom line.

What about Vendor Management? Receive Vendor discounts on payment terms, quantity ordering, mark-down money, and have leverage for future negotiations. We estimate that you can receive 6% in vendor discounts using our system. 6% times $600k cost of goods, adds another $36k to your bottom line.

I could go on and on, including Gift Cards, E-Commerce, Auto-Purchasing, etc. So think about it! For every month you continue guessing at your inventory levels, or your sales information; for every month you allow your shrinkage to be 6-12% of your annual sales, for every wasted hour of labor,

HOW MUCH ARE YOU LOSING PER MONTH BY NOT ACTING NOW?

Why Can’t I Call a Technician Directly?

Posted on by ccsretail

“When I have a support issue, why can’t I just contact the technician directly and avoid speaking with someone on the support staff?” you may wonder.  Perhaps I can clarify this for you.

Our technicians provide assistance by telephone, by modem, in the shop, on site, and in the classroom. They are often tied up for a while!  An individual technician is not always instantly available, because of this, to respond to your call or email.  Contacting them directly is often counter-productive. 

Our support staff keeps track of the pending issues and knows who is available to help you in the most timely manner.  This prevents needless and time-consuming interruptions for technicians who are working on an issue that may require intense concentration.

Our goal at CCS is to provide the best support in the most efficient way!  If you have a question, I’ll be happy to find the answer for you.

Is Your PC Overheating?

Posted on by ccsretail

PC Blue Screens or Acts Strangely when it Overheats

I have seen a lot of strange things when it comes to supporting/troubleshooting computer problems.

I have received calls from customers saying “I was writing an email, then all of the sudden my computer screen went blue with some cryptic message”.  Or calls saying “It  seem to be running slower even though I scan for malware/viruses everyday and it says I have no infections.”

Depending on the message (you should write this down with as much information as possible) and when it happened, this could be just a simple fix.

To get you back up and going all that may be needed is a clean out of the inside of your PC.  When a PC is brought in to the shop at CCS Retail Systems, the first thing that is done, before anything else, is to remove the side cover and blow out all the “dust bunnies”.  I have seen PC’s come into the shop (and some on-site) that have so much dust built up inside that the cooling fans can not do their job. This causes heat to build up inside of the case.  Poorly cooled components can cause random problems that may seem more catastrophic then they really are. Remember heat and computers do not play well together.

If you are not familiar with the insides of a PC, please consider calling CCS Retail Systems,  We can come to your site and do this for you, or you can drop off your PC at our shop.

If you are going to clean your PC yourself, please use the appropriate tools like the “canned air” you can buy at many office supply stores.  Do not try to use a vacuum cleaner or your air compressor in your garage (i have seen this done with a bad effect).  This can cause damage to your computers electrical parts. Its not a good feeling to hear something bouncing down the vacuum hose and realize “I wish I had not done that”. Yell

ALWAYS power your computer down and unplug the power cord before opening the side cover.  Components can be damaged if disturbed with power applied.  Turning the system off is not enough, pull the plug from the wall as well.

Cool computing is best.

Bryan