How Software Helps Streamline Business Operations

The concept of business has been moving the world for eons. Barter systems let businesses begin, and then commerce took over, moving nation to nation and bringing spices and gold throughout the globe. But business has come a long way since the ancient Mesopotamians pressed symbols into clay. The spirit of competitive business has driven the world to develop and become better, to look for solutions to problematic situations—to simply be the best. Being the “best in the business” is an idiomatic phrase that has become synonymous with all success, defying the constraints of business in the traditional sense. Efficiency and ensuring that operations are streamlined is tantamount to spa success. Spa management software has helped skin care facilities become more streamlined and successful by reducing workload and centralizing business information.

Business management software has given spas an outlet, a place to maximize efficiency. Software provides skin care professionals with the ability to manage the various aspects of running a business in one easily accessible place. The purpose of software is to make working life easier, and to make businesses more manageable and profitable. Where once was memory and stone tablets, then cards and ledger, there is now a complete database that holds an entire skin care faciliy’s data.

Instead of spending time looking up clients in a card catalog, and seeking paperwork through filing cabinet after filing cabinet, businesses can now look up clients with a few simple keystrokes. But more importantly, the client information that’s stored is more detailed, including a history of client treatments and purchases, allergies and medical conditions, favorite services and employees, and forms and documents. It allows spas to market directly to client needs by narrowing specific results and targeting precise demographics. The ability to market to a demographic isn’t anything novel or revolutionary in business, but what was once a daunting research task now only takes a few seconds.

Spa software gives businesses complete control over the back-end of management. It will not only count inventory, but it also will sell and assist with ordering inventory. Software will not only help schedule employees, but it also will track working hours and calculate payroll. It will help you market your business, and then track the effectiveness of the marketing campaigns.

Having one software to do everything can save a business time. Having one software that handles inventory, one that handles payroll and another that handles appointments is inherently inefficient. Not only is the information kept in separate places, but the cost of maintaining multiple types of software also will be higher. Well-designed software should handle every need that a business requires: reduced paperwork, inventory management, employee and payroll maintenance, appointments, client information, marketing and promotions, business analysis and accounting.

With more time to do the important things, the workload is naturally reduced. Less time is spent jotting down information and updating forms, on calculating totals, digging through files … less time is spent on the numbingly laborious. The added value of time can’t be measured by conventional means, but it can be measured in concept when payroll is run and checks are printed from the same program that just received a new shipment of hydrating serum. They say time is money, and software has taken time and turned it into a negligible value. The ordinarily time-consuming processes of business have been rendered down to minute operations simplified by computer software. With efficiency handled by software, employees have more time to spend with what really matters in the spa industry: the clients.

Thom Boersma worked as a corporate trainer for Borders Group, Inc. for more than five years, and is now the marketing and advertising coordinator for DaySmart Software, the makers of Orchid Medical Spa Software, as well as a writer and a photographer. He can be contacted at 248-491-0183 or via e-mail at [email protected].

 

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