The world today lives online. The digital transformation has truly and completely made the fast paced lives easier and changed both our ways of interaction and our expectations from businesses. From food and groceries to beauty and wellness, the world today avails almost every service online. Thus, for salon and spas having a digital presence is no longer an option, but a necessity. Consequently, the question that salon owners now ask has changed from, “Whether or not to adopt technology?” to “Which technology should I choose to stay ahead in a highly competitive market?” In order to solve the riddle, we spoke to multiple salon owners to gauge their recommendation and they all recommend going with a cloud based software solution. So, here are the top 5 reasons why almost every salon owners prefer cloud based salon software.
Agility
Amongst, the primary reasons why most salon owners now prefer to go with a cloud based salon software is because of the agility and flexibility that the system accords to their business. In a stark contrast to traditional salon software systems, a cloud based salon software quickly adapts to the dynamically changing needs of the business. The cloud software works on a common platform, thus changes incorporated at the developer’s end is available for use, almost instantaneously. As a result, you no longer have to worry whether to run the latest software do you need to upgrade your IT infrastructure. To operate a cloud based salon software all you need is internet and in some cases browser. Optimized to work on any device, the cloud system eliminates the need of having a physical IT infrastructure, other than devices such as tablets, phone or laptops.
Affordability
A cloud based salon software belongs to the set of products also referred to as SaaS (software as a service), and nowadays most SaaS products run on a subscription based method i.e. you are required to pay either a monthly or a quarterly fee for use. The subscription based model has few key inherent advantages over the one-time payment model with the very obvious being that you are no longer required to cough up a handsome amount upfront. Secondly, since the subscription of the features of the cloud based salon software can be selected based on your business requirement, it means you don’t have to pay for the features you do not wish to use. Thus, you have a cost-effective technological solution.
Enhanced Productivity
If you have ever dreamt of a paperless office, a cloud based salon software is your go to tool to accomplish it. While you cannot completely eliminate day to day task of entering the data, what you can certainly do is streamline all the tasks associated with running your salon. Tasks such as guest registration, appointment booking, scheduling of work, invoicing and payments, running payrolls, and plenty more can all be achieved without having to touch pen and paper. Since, the cloud based salon software is a centralized database system, all it requires is for the stakeholder to log in and every relevant information is available as a personalized dashboard. As a result, you and your team can spend more time attending to the requirement of guests than dealing with the system. Furthermore, since the cloud software is equipped to handle large volume of data you do not have to suffer from hardware lags, also known as system lags.
Multi Location Convenience
Businesses are created to grow. It is imperative that the technology implemented to support the business operations also support in the growth process, and do so without any glitches or shortcomings. Consequently, the salon software chosen for your business should be able to handle multi location operations and this is where cloud based salon software wins hands down. As all the data of your business is stored online on the remote server, all you need to do is tap into the data (for guests, service menu, pricing plans etc.) of your existing location and you are ready to run the operations for the new locations.
Central Dashboard
A cloud based salon software, at all times, helps you keep abreast with your business. As the system can be accessed from anywhere and anytime, it eliminates the need for you to be physically present at the store(s) to figure out what’s happening. In a marked departure from the legacy systems, the cloud based salon software, can tap into its centralized database and generate on-demand reports for appointments, sales, inventory, cash flow, employee performance to give you both micro and macro view of your business. With the need to juggle between reports eliminated you can take faster decisions to steer the course of your business.
A cloud based salon software is a logical leap over the legacy systems. It has all the functions of the legacy systems such as appointment management, billing and payments, inventory management, employee management, and marketing management etc. without the need to worry about data security, maintaining and upgrading of IT infrastructure. No wonder why more and more salons are choosing to deploy cloud based salon software to manage their operations. If you’re someone who’s looking to upgrade their salon or someone setting up a new business look no further than the award winning Zenoti salon software. A complete end to end solution, which is extremely easy to use and has very prompt service support, Zenoti salon management software is a highly popular product that has proven its mettle in the industry.