![]() Hi guys, welcome to our final blog of the week, hope you have been enjoying our first week of blogs. I’m Meg and I’ll be posting a blog every Friday for the next three weeks. In this week’s blog post I will be bring you guys through the benefits of technologies in salons, so keep reading to find out what information systems can do for your business :) To be a successful salon these days, salon owners must invest in salon software. This means no more writing down appointments or keeping count of stock on paper. According to Lohrey (2017) “accounting, payroll and financial reporting, inventory control, scheduling and customer relationship management are among the most common” types of software in salons. If investing in salon software is something you are interested in, but not sure if it’s worth the investment for your salon then reading this blog post is definitely worth your while. Scheduling Salon software allows clients to schedule an appointment any time of the day, without having to talk directly with anyone from the salon. This system leaves very little space for errors, as every member of staff from the salon can easily login on their desktop or mobile devices to see when they have and don’t have appointments, this means double booking cannot happen. Loyalty Programmes Are you a salon that is looking for new ways to introduce loyalty programmes into your salon? Then look no further than salon software. According to Salon Today (2017) “With automated loyalty programs, clients gain points every time they visit your business. After they achieve a certain number of points, they’re able to trade in their points for a free or reduced price product or service.” This allows clients to feel important and that you value their loyalty to your salon. No Shows Most salon system software offer a service that sends out a text once a client has confirmed their appointment online, a text will also be sent to the client the day before their appointment. This reduces the chance of no shows as people are less likely to forget about their appointment, or if the client is unable to make their appointment they will inform the salon the day before when they receive the appointment reminder text from the salon. This will allow the salon to offer the appointment to a client who is waiting on a cancelation. Profits If your salon has an effective salon software you are more likely to increase profits. The convince that salon software brings to your clients will ensure that they keep coming back to your salon, your salon will also attract new clients once they hear about the convenient services that you are providing through salon software. This can only lead to your salon growing and making more money. Inventory It’s very hard to keep track of your stock levels in a salon when you’re using a pen and paper, but using salon software for inventory ensures that no products are going to waste or getting lost. Using salon software means that you won’t be ordering stock when you don’t need to, because salon systems allows you to maintain stock levels throughout the year. “When you use a software system to track products, you can better survey what’s moving off shelves and what you need to focus on ordering during your next round of purchasing.” (Salon Today, 2017) Hope you enjoyed this week’s Friday post, Meg :) References Lohrey, J. (2017) The Use of Technology in a Hair & Beauty Salon [Online] Available at: https://bizfluent.com/facts-7257048-use-technology-hair-beauty-salon.html [Accessed 26 February 2018] Salon Today (2017) The Benefits Software Brings to Salon and Spa Owners [Online] Available at: http://www.salontoday.com/article/82076/the-benefits-salon-software-brings-to-owners [Accessed 26 February 2018].
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![]() Hey guys, and welcome back to our blog. My names Molly and I will be posting our blog weekly, on a Thursday. Today’s blog will look at salons who are currently using the information systems, and technologies, which we hope to incorporate into our chosen business. Eyre Hair: Eyre Hair, are a local salon located in the middle of the town of Newbridge, Co. Kildare. They currently use an online booking system, which is integrated into their tills, and POS Systems, and is then connected to their customer data base. When a customer calls the salon to make a hair appointment, they search their name in their data base, and then a calendar showing available dates, and times, pops up. Once the customer has decided on their desired date, and time, their information is allocated to that space. Returning customers information will pop up automatically as it has already been stored within the system, and if it is the customers first time, a new information card will be made within the system, with all necessary details, for future use. Once the appointment has been made, they will receive a confirmation text a few minutes later, confirming the dates and times chosen. This is an excellent way to ensure that all information is correct, on both sides, and completely eliminates mistakes that can be made such as double bookings, using a traditional pen and paper system. This technology also allows staff to input notes, and further information about the client, such as style/colour preference onto their personal information card, which will be extremely helpful for further bookings. Information about clients can be updated in real-time, which is also helpful for future bookings. As Charly discussed in yesterday’s blog, the application ‘Timely’ is an example of this type of technology. Shapes and Shades: Shapes and Shades is also a salon located in Newbridge, Co. Kildare. They are currently using an automated payroll system, called Sage. Sage (2018), is an online payroll system, that offers automate PAYE, automate statutory payments, free 24/7 phone and email support, print or email pay slips, and automatic enrollment complaints, to name a few. Although there is a monthly fee to use this system, it makes employers jobs a lot easier. It eliminates human error, which can often cause trouble with employees’ wages. The more traditional way of completing payroll is also very timely. Incorporating this type of system can be costly at first, but massively reduces expenses in the long-run. Benefits
(Sage, 2018). Refrences *Information from both salons was retrieved from site visits to the salon itself, and from speaking to the staff. Sage (2018) Home [Online] Available at: https://shop.sage.ie/payroll-software.aspx?utm_medium=paidsearch&utm_source=google&utm_campaign=ire%7Cgoogle%7Cpayroll%7Cgeneric_payroll(p)%7Cgbr_pprg&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIpPmascvJ2QIVb7HtCh0F9wkmEAAYASAAEgJvBPD_BwE [Accessed 28 February 2018]. Sage (2018) The benefits of an automated payroll system | Sage Pastel Payroll & HR [Online] Available at: http://www.sage.com/za/newsroom/sage-hr-and-payroll/2015/04/01/the-benefits-of-an-automated-payroll-system [Accessed 1 March 2018]. ![]() Hi everyone, welcome to Wednesdays blog 😊 I’m Charly and will be posting on weekly on Wednesday’s. My topic of interest today is a little introduction into information systems which will be the focal of many of my posts, this blog is an intro into some popular systems and software used by small businesses. Hope you all enjoy and that it will help your understanding of information systems. Information systems help any business reduce paperwork, reduce errors and overall improve business performance. An information system by definition a man-made system that facilitates an organizations operational functions and helps with management decisions, by providing the information managers need and can use to plan and control activities accordingly. (Alison.com 2018) POS Systems POS systems are perfect for small businesses, all information is all saved on one database so information is easily located. An example of POS system at work could be helping the salon track a delivery of stock, to see wheter its in tranist or still in the warehouse without the manager having to individually contacti the warehouse or the driver. They are desinged to minimize the time spent on gathering customer data, starting off it’s a long process because of having to enter each customer and contact information and purchase habits, when the information is entered most systems will allow you to pull up information when needed saving time in the long run. (Chron, 2018). Inventory systems can be very useful to small businesses. The system will update when items are sold or added to stock and increase or decrease on the system accordingly. Some systems will even provide alerts when certain stock is low. Timepoint This is an information system that can be used for HR management. It is biometric management software. Timepoint allows employers and employees to easily track employees hours and increase effeincies as well as lowering labour costs. Its main focus is making back office administration tasks much easier. It is accessible anywhere on tablets, computers and smart phones. Timely Timely is a booking and calender software, especially used in spas and salons. It is a calender system that organises apointment times and hold client information, it allows you to add, cancel and invoice an appointment. It allows you to store and check client history, like preferences, previous treatments, any no shows or allergies etc. This software allows businesses to be more efficient and makes routine a lot easier for business and clients. It allows the clients to view availabilities and book in with leisure. The calender automatically updates with bookings made. It provides client reminders so less chance of no shows. It has roster functions that allow you to easily roster staff coordinates breaks, holidays etc. timely also provides reports on youre revenue and hours and sales etc.. References Alison(2018) Introduction to Information Systems. [Online] Available at: https://alison.com/course/introduction-to-information-systems [Accessed 26/02/18] Chron(2018) How do POS Systems work. [Online] Available at: http://smallbusiness.chron.com/pos-systems-work-41627.html [Accessed 26/02/18] Timepoint(2017) Our History. [Online] Available at: http://www.timepoint.ie/about-us/ [Accessed 27/02/18] Timely(2017) How it works. [Online] Available at: https://www.gettimely.com/how-it-works [Accessed at 28/02/12] ![]() Hi guys and welcome to our first blog post! My name is Caoimhe and I’ll be posting every Monday for the next three weeks. To start I thought I’d quickly introduce us, we are 5 marketing students who have created this blog as part of a college assignment. This blog is based on information systems. To learn more about us head to the about us section! Secondly, we thought for our first post it would be important to introduce the salon that we’ve chosen to base our research on. The salon we have chosen is MECCA in Newbridge, Co. Kildare. MECCA was set up in 2007 by Mike Hampton and his wife Audrey. Their aim for this business was to give their clients a luxurious experience using only natural and cruelty free product according to our site visit (2018). MECCA offer a range of services for both males and females. They offer typical hairdresser and barber services such as haircuts and hair dying. As well as this they have a makeup counter and nail station making it the ideal ‘one-stop’ salon to go to if attending an event such as awards, debs and weddings. By combining these two elements we believe that MECCA has seen a niche in the market and taken advantage of this, therefore giving them an edge over other salons in the local area. MECCA have embraced the dramatic change in male grooming in Ireland over the past few years and have adapted their services in order to cater to the market demands. They have introduced a range of products specifically for men in order to satisfy the evolving market. These products include; shampoo, scalp revitalizer, shaving cream, grooming cream, hair gel and grooming clay. Aside from the services they offer, they are also a stockist of Aveda and exclusively use Aveda hair dye. They carry a huge range of Aveda products, from body lotion to conditioner. Carrying Aveda added exclusivity to the brand at first as they were the first salon in their local area to carry the skin and hair care brand. There are a number of reasons that we chose to use MECCA to base our research on information systems on. One of the main reasons for this is that it is a smaller business and not a huge franchise. We thought we would be able to analyse and offer recommendations more effectively than with a larger company. Secondly, it is local to two of our bloggers who already have a large amount of knowledge about the salon as they would visit it regularly. Thirdly, salons are something that we are all hugely interested in as we are all involved in the hair and beauty industry. Thanks for taking the time to read this blogpost and be sure to stay tuned for the rest of the week to read about the strengths and weaknesses of our salon, an introduction to information systems and people who are using it in the industry currently, and the benefits of the technology in the salon. Caoimhe :) References Visit to MECCA salon Newbridge made by Caoimhe (2018). |
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