SB SOFTWARE - VENDMANAGER Solutions AND Choices We ask customers: “what do you want/need right away?” And we
Solutions Choices
make sure Vendmanager does it well. Then we explain: “And when you want something more or different tomorrow, Vendmanager will do that too. Just let us know if you need further support to adapt, when the time comes.” If that sounds like “having your cake and eating it” then that’s fine
with me. I like putting in place the best of both worlds - for our customers. But the way that I prefer to vision our approach for myself is that we are building bridges - bridges to the future (whatever it may be). If you make sure that you are building bridges, not piers, you don’t need a crystal ball. You already have the right software toolset - in Vendmanager - to adapt to whatever the future holds.
Simon Black, MD of SB Software, at the European Coffee, Tea & Soft Drinks Expo in Olympia, London, May 2019: “I am always evaluating how to give key players in vending and OCS the best software tools to make the right choices today - AND tomorrow too. They are not always the same thing.”
Visiting trade shows - in vending, OCS and related markets - is always useful for me. Rarely so for progressing new prospects - we focus on that when
we are exhibiting ourselves or through other targeted means. The key benefits (as well as “borrowing” successful ideas from here or abroad that will be of use to our own clients) are instead in improving my understanding of our sector. I can never know too much on that front, and I always come away appreciating better the: • Opportunities today • Challenges tomorrow • Risks all around. And that has underpinned our obsession at SBS with choices.
Why? Because our clients themselves face key choices every day.
Deciding priorities, setting up initiatives to improve, delivering results, managing the why, what, when and how - these are key to success. And never more so than today, when everything is intensifying and speeding up. By choosing how best to invest and allocate their resources (especially people, time and money), our clients determine the future of their own businesses. Our first job - through Vendmanager - is to put the best solution in
place to fulfil our client’s choices today. But here’s the thing. The right choice today may not still be the
right choice in a year’s time - or further out. Businesses change. The world moves on. New opportunities arise. Priorities shift. And omniscience is a rare commodity. No-one can foresee what the future will bring. And I like that - because it aligns with the way we see the world. We provide: • Solutions today • Choices always. How do we view a really effective solution? As an essential “good start” - a “necessary foundation," not the final destination in itself.
BUILDING BRIDGES, NOT PIERS Since there is no crystal ball, full clarity is not on the menu for our clients long term. In a world of change, “absolute certainty” would be a mirage. And what we put in place instead is better.
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vendinginternational-online.com
It’s essential that key players in vending and OCS can target the results required today - AND adapt targets when needed.
MOVING TARGETS? OF COURSE! Often operators are not sure, for example: • Where payment systems will pay their way? Or how much to invest in them, and when?
• Which payment system(s) provider(s) to roll out? Or how to run evaluation pilots first?
• How much to rely on data to drive your operations (with or without Datakey, deploying Databridge for machines without payment systems, increasing “single walk” or evaluating “visit- on-demand”)?
• Whether to change accounting system today (or next year - maybe)?
• And so on … So what? We are passionate that clients should be liberated, not
constrained, by their VMS (Vending Management System). You don’t need to be hog-tied forever, by the decisions you make now. In the July 2019 edition of our company newsletter I wrote at
length about this power of using the right VMS to underpin choices for operators: you can find the article on our SBS website at
sbsoft.co.uk. Why does Vendmanager offer clients so many choices? Simple.
Because one size does not fit all. One size does not even fit one client, over time. For each, priorities in vending will change. Just like in other arenas in life. So, clients need (and deserve) the flexibility to do what is right today, and then something different 12 months (or more) from now.
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