With the beauty salon industry, in the US alone, now being worth USD 42 billion and growing, it is only natural for existing salon owners to actively consider scaling their operations and transforming the enterprise from a single store brand to a multi store brand. However, as an owner you may already be donning the many hats of being the book keeper, the marketing manager, the HR manager and sometimes the appointment manager and as a result, you are likely to hard-pressed for time and thus may not be finding time to work towards your goal of expanding the business. However, with business digitization penetrating into every aspect of operations, your dreams of expanding your business do not have to suffer. Your dreams can now turn into reality if you transform your business by leveraging technology, often known as a salon accounting software. Read along to know the advantages of using a salon accounting software and how these advantages can be utilized to scale your business.
Save Time with Automation
Salon businesses generate a lot of data and a result precious number of hours are spent only in recording and managing the data. From client details and appointment booking to invoicing and book keeping, the days of manually handling all the data long gone. A salon accounting software eliminates the need of manual handling of all such data. By streamlining the processes, and ensuring complete traceability the system automates all such tasks and ensures that there is no duplicity of data, no loss of data and that the data is recorded free of any errors. As a result the business owners and managers can spend more time doing the high impact tasks, such as improving sales and marketing, and maintaining cash to improve revenue and business metrics.
Data Security & Accessibility
One of the major advantages of using a salon accounting software is that you will have complete peace of mind when it comes to security of your business data. Nowadays, quite a few salon accounting software come with a host of features such as role authorized data access and operate on a cloud based server. A cloud based data storage system effectively eliminates the need of having a local server and adding to the hardware cost, and ensures that data is not lost due to system failure. The role based data access authorization ensures that you can control what data can be accessed by each employee. Some of the renowned salon accounting software such as the one from Zenoti comes with additional feature known as geo-fencing, which creates a virtual fence around the store and eliminates the chances of data theft by rogue employees. An employee moving out of the range of the virtual fence instantaneously loses access to the data.
Financial Reporting
Possibly, the best advantage of using a salon accounting software, is the fact that it helps you keep a constant tab on your cash flow. The system keeps a complete record of all incomes under the head of accounts receivable and all expenses under the head of accounts payable, to enable you comprehend your business in numbers and take informed decisions. Salon accounting software such as the one from Zenoti, comes with features such as on-demand reporting, and has about 100 pre-set reporting templates to choose from such that the reports can be generated in the format that is easy for you to comprehend. With state of art interface which incorporates a dash board, the Zenoti salon accounting software works seamlessly for both single store or multi store operations. The digital dashboard can be easily toggled to see the overall business ratios and go through the granular data of each individual store. Thus, the salon accounting software enables you in making data driven decisions.
Prompt Invoicing & Accounting
A salon accounting software module working in tandem with a POS tool and appointment management system is like a match made in heaven. It truly transforms the way your business operates and how your business interacts with clients. By working in handshake mode with appointment management system, the salon accounting software is able to generate invoices in single click and save precious time for both you and your clients. Further, by extending this handshake operations logic with POS hardware, the system can easily capture payment details as soon as the client settles the invoice. Some accounting software can also work in tandem with third party apps to instantaneously create your book keeping records. For instance Zenoti works in complete synchronization with both Quickbooks and Xero to record all transactions with complete accuracy and in real time. Thus, saving precious hours for your business.
Centralized System
A salon accounting software is not a standalone solution. It is designed and equipped to give a holistic solution for all business processes. From appointment management and inventory management to payroll solutions and financial reporting, a salon accounting software can do it all. Its features are limited only due to your business process requirement or your imagination. A well designed salon accounting software includes multiple other features such as inventory management and customer relationship management modules such that you can streamline and automate all the repetitive processes.
In order to cite an example of one such robust and holistic salon accounting software we recommend Zenoti Salon & Spa Management Software. With its brilliant and interactive user interface and modules designed to work in plug and play mode, this salon accounting software is a long term work horse.