Open Solutions EPoS : improving both bottom line & membership services
Focusing on improving the club ’ s bar management and its profitability as an additional income stream , Nick led a project to implement a replacement for the club ’ s tills and operating system and to implement ‘ smart ’ membership cards . The project team considered a number of options but ultimately selected the market leading and highly versatile EPoS system from business solutions provider Open Solutions in the Summer of 2016 .
The club ’ s goals for the new EPoS were to enable the issue of perpetual membership smart cards ( sourced from another local company , Ashley Forms ) which are loaded with funds and provide discounts to members . In addition , the club wanted to bring the bar stock-keeping , financial reporting and records up to date and improve the service offered to members . The club can now identify the percentage of members using the Club regularly , along with their typical bar spend per visit and over a season , and get a better idea of the highest spends and what the actual and average spend was .
This meant replacing the club ’ s three old stand-alone tills with four of the latest EPoS tills that would run Open Solutions ’ EPoS software . Members were issued with their own smart loyalty cards , so that they could place money on their own bar accounts and spend it accordingly when they came to the club i . e . on training nights and match days , along with other social occasions and events . The cards themselves offered an opportunity for promotion of one of Dorking RFC ’ s very supportive Partners , whose financial contribution was earmarked for the project in return for their logo being featured on the reverse of every membership card .
The only full-time DRFC employee is bar and facilities manager Nicky Brown ; the new EPoS meant she could set up differential pricing , so that a ) members received a 10 % discount on production of their club loyalty cards , while b ) the club ’ s many visitors paid the going RRP for drinks and snacks . Dorking RFC members aren ’ t asked to place a minimum amount on their cards , yet despite the 10 % discount on drinks ’ prices and with only 25 % of the membership using their loyalty cards , the amounts placed still generate £ 2,000 to £ 3,000 positive cash flow in the club ’ s bank balance and account for around 50 % of bar takings .
The smart cards will also soon allow online top-ups to be made by members via DRFC ’ s website or an App , so that they can always make sure there ’ s enough in their bar accounts before they set out to the club . While only 25 % are using their loyalty cards , the EPoS technology and card readers allow the growing use of debit cards , helping the club become increasingly cashless . That in turn is reducing the number of visits to the bank and the amount of cash carried each time , another advantage when the UK ’ s retail banks are closing local branches all around the country .
Installation and training ‘ very smooth ’, just a couple of days
The switch from old stand-alone technology to new EPoS technology and all the product and pricing data uploading that entails , was in fact very smooth . Cabling for the new tills had already been installed making it straightforward to set them up . In fact with Open Solutions setting up all the products and pricing for the club , installation only took a couple of days .
This included training which Nick described as something that went very well , given that bar manager Nicky Brown has a squad of up to 10 temporary staff to run the bar , take orders and serve drinks . Nick noted :
“ The new EPoS system has proved easy for temporary staff to learn and use . The only difficulty is when committee members step in to help !”
In practice , taking orders and serving drinks has also become significantly faster , essential on match days when a bar goes from empty to maximum capacity the minute the game ’ s over .
Special promotions by suppliers
The EPoS system also helps the club set up special promotions whenever these are made available by suppliers . As Nick says : “ We ’ ve had a number of special promotions and these have proven successful and , better still , easy to set up and analyse . It means that whenever we choose to take advantage of a supplier promotion , it ’ s much easier and simpler for us to do it .”
Support : ‘ Very responsive ’
Once a club ’ s purchased a system and it ’ s up and running , effective aftersales service – in other words , support – is crucial , especially for the bar manager and staff in the evenings and at the weekends . Nick comments : “ The support we get from
Open Solutions is very responsive , given the bar ’ s usually operating late or out of hours compared to the normal nine to five . All we need to do is pick up the ‘ phone and we ’ re talking to an expert who sorts things out for us there and then .”
Summary : flexible , good support delivers improvements , strengthens the bottom line
The acid test of any technology is : would you be happy to recommend it to other clubs ? “ Yes !” says Nick Smith . “ GMS is pretty flexible and has improved our administration in many ways . We ’ re very happy with the Open Solutions ’ EPoS system , it ’ s strengthening our bottom line and the support from both providers is very effective .”
Smith summarises : “ The integration of these two systems is much anticipated , as it should facilitate all sorts of new and additional advantages from our operational perspective . Staying ahead of the game both on and off the pitch is exactly where Dorking RFC needs to be .”
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