Intelligent Business Systems celebrates its twentieth anniversary in 2011 as one of the UK’s most innovative EPOS consultancies. Impact online asks managing director Gareth Powell for his reflections on the past and his predictions for the future.
Q: You are celebrating two decades as a market leading EPOS specialist. Congratulations. What are the major differences between now and when you started back in 1991?
GP: The key difference is the huge unimagined changes in technology since the early nineties.
In terms of progress and how far IT has developed, it is the equivalent of a man jumping into a taxi to the moon instead of using the Shuttle.
Of course, it is a double-edged sword. Our clients can benefit from incredible business intelligence and intuitive ultra smart applications but at the same time their expectations have soared.
Everything is real-time. Instantaneous. So as the technology has improved so has the demands for service.
Q: Could you have predicted such a sea change back in1991?
GP: Yes and no. My background prior to starting IBS was in the hospitality sector so we knew all about the need for the industry to have better operational and management controls and greater business intelligence.
And we could see how EPOS was going to be the most important business tool in this process to firstly collect all the data and then to be able to interpret it intelligently.
Ultimately it is this intelligence that empowers people to understand their businesses more effectively and make positive changes to how they do business. But as I said, the level of technological advances has been unprecedented.
Q: What has been your proudest achievement?
GP: There are plenty.
Obviously we work, and have worked, in partnership with some fantastic inspirational people, businesses and brands and we like to feel we have played our part in their successes.
Personally, I am proud of the fact we have made EPOS technology and all the associated benefits accessible to anyone operating in the hospitality, leisure and retail sectors.
Two decades ago an independent pub or restaurant or even a small multiple with half a dozen outlets could not have utilised the same touchscreen, stock control, enterprise management and loyalty applications as massive multinationals with multi-million pound technology budgets.
Today they can.
We have made information technology accessible to everyone who has the foresight and experience to invest in EPOS solutions that can shape the business and give them a more profitable future.
Q: What does the future hold for IBS?
GP: We are entering a really exciting period in our business.
We are introducing a whole range of complementary modules powered by the core EPOS solution.
These include online shopping and loyalty applications, sophisticated kitchen video technology, online stock control and increasingly sophisticated POSLink touchscreen technology.
The benefits are numerous – from saving marketing and promotional costs with a no-waste loyalty solution to ensuring uniform standards in a kitchen by using video screen technology to track performance and give on-the-spot advice and training.
Q: You have a great track record for retaining clients. Is there a secret to this?
GP: There are several reasons for long term client retention.
The obvious one is the capital cost of an EPOS investment stretches over several years. Equally important though is total commitment to a client. We are an extension of their team and help enhance their EPOS capability on on-going basis through after-sales support and consultancy.
Clients are always looking for a competitive advantage and we can help give them the tools to differentiate themselves from their competition.
From our perspective, it is always important to maintain a client dialogue because we are frequently told in demonstrations that “they never knew we did that” – which is a shortcoming we’re looking to fix with regular electronic emails and the new Professional’s Voice section of the www.
Q: What you describe as a single reason for your success over the last 20 years?
GP: I think it really is an ability to think beyond the obvious.
We have built a very strong team with experienced and dedicated project managers, engineers and developers who fully understand and share our thinking when it comes to innovation and redefining the parameters of EPOS.
We also share the love of the challenge when customers ask if we can do X,Y or Z. It obviously helps that we have the skills and the people to match the challenge.
Q: How do your customers view you?
GP: I think we are held in very high esteem by our customers.
They appreciate the additional added value we give them – and our versatility and flexibility.
We work closely with a lot of the leading brand names in the country ranging from a predominantly youth culture brand like Revolution to the EAT ‘food-to-go’ high street brand to innovative pub groups like Peach and Geronimo that have totally changed our perception of the traditional pub and redefined how we use the pub.