If I can bring together existing solutions I will. If the support and features are there its the best option for the client. But sometimes its not possible and there will be some specific requirements that just can’t be met with the standard offering. Naturally providers will cater to the mass market first and then add more specific functionality later, often this will include support for features such as multi-currency and international shipping and this was exactly the case I was faced with recently.
Lets go International
I was introduced to a business selling pocket golf towels, already established in the UK they were planning to launch their product in the US. The website maintained by their webdeveloper was in the process of being updated for the launch and needed multi-currency support and the ability for all online orders to be created in Xero.
The shopping cart as standard did not support multi-currency and with the launch date approaching there was no desire to redesign the site, so the search was on to find a solution. A third-party add-on was found and after testing the functionality/support I was confident it could do the job.
The next stage was to pull the customer records and orders processed via the website into Xero, with increased sales volumes, entering these into an accounts package manually would almost become a full time job in itself. However with the added functionality of multi-currency there was no off-the-shelf solution available so a custom solution was required.
Collaboration
One of the big advantages of cloud computing is it has enabled remote working. If you have a problem to solve you are not restricted to the talent in your local area. With the website and Xero accessible from anywhere with an internet connection there is a large pool of talent available to find a solution. In this case working with the developer of the multi-currency add-on with his knowledge of the additional fields in the database combined with my knowledge of the Xero API enabled us to quickly produce a cost effective solution for the client.
Problem Solved
System integration allows for the automation of tasks which can ultimately make businesses unprofitable. The client now has a process working 24/7 with manual intervention only required where necessary. The customer completes the purchase on the website which records the customer and order details. When the goods are shipped the order is marked as complete and the customer record and invoice are automatically created on Xero. With Xero’s automated bank feed in place the payments are pulled into Xero. On the reconciliation screen within Xero, payments are matched with invoices (with Xero suggesting matches) with the user just needing to press OK to confirm. With two button presses all online orders are recorded successfully in the sales ledger and the payment marked as reconciled on the bank statement.
SMB’s today have the ability to have cost effective automated systems which could mean the difference between business failure or success.