14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft's actually being nice for a change? In a new push to appease customer's needs, Microsoft's given their small business customers free add-in software to integrate Microsoft Office Small Business Accounting 2006 with either Microsoft Point of Sale or Microsoft Retail Management System.
Thursday, Mike Dickstein, director of retail solutions at Microsoft Business Solutions said, "Instead of having to wait for the next full release of the product we're offering it as a module add-in... It's something customers have asked for."
Small retailers don't have the funds and ability of their larger counterparts. Entering customer information, sales, inventory and anything else by hand feels more like a time consuming chore than running a business. This chore often results in duplicated effort and an increase in data entry errors due to natural human error. That's not to say that this free integration will fix human error, but it will most likely save businesses time and effort that could be redistributed in other fashions. According to Microsoft, the software is bound to increase productivity.
Mike Dickstain added: "Research from the IHL Consulting group tells us that approximately 1.34 million people own fewer than 10 stores, and that nearly 96 percent of all retailers in the United States - about 1.3 million - are single store owners. The market is significant, and connecting point-of-sale data with back-end accounting programs hasn't been easy for the small retailer due to a lack of IT resources. This new plug-in will make the process much easier."
Hopefully retailers from all over will benefit from Microsoft's holiday present.