What Are Some Risks and Issues Around My Company Setting Up a Customer Finance-Leasing Program?

Many firms benefit significantly from either setting up on their own or partnering with a third part to set up a customer financing program for their products. Key benefits are increased sales, cash flow, customer loyalty, etc.But are there also some risks for the company to be aware of also – Of course there are and let’s look at some of those risks.We would also point out that these risks are in fact the same ones taken on by independent leasing firms also.Foremost from a risk perspective is that fact the customer financing program will be viewed by the customers as the one and same as your company. Therefore customer service and financing ability are in fact now part of your firm’s reputation.Companies may also find that the borrowing costs to set up a program are in fact higher than their normal business operating costs. Naturally the method in which the finance division is set up also affects the debt levels of your company. No business wants to fail because it took on higher debt in an effort to in fact help their customers!On a long term basis company lenders might view your firms foray into customer financing as an additional risk factor, which they might try to compensate on by imposing restrictions such as additional covenants, requests for more equity into the firm, etc. The bottom line is simply that setting up a customer financing scenario may in fact affect your own firm’s ability to borrow.If your firm is larger then analysts and firms looking at your firm might in fact be raising issues and perceptions around which business you are actually in, i.e. your products, or the financing of those products. Business owners and financial managers will always want to ensure that ultimately they are sticking to their core business model and philosophies. If your firm becomes too enamored by financing you possibly run the risk of total business failure. There are numerous cases in financial history where firms collapsed because of the shenanigans of the finance division.We have heard the term in business ‘sticking to our knitting’, which of course simply means that management needs unique skills to run a business, and those skills are different in financing. Owners and managers related to the customer financing division must have strong skills in financial sales, structuring, and credit… Naturally we are also inferring that additional skilled personnel ultimately must be hired.No company every wants to look back in hindsight and say that if failed or stumbled because efforts and funds went into financing, as opposed to r&d, marketing, staff, and product growth. Do not let a customer finance program become an obstacle to your ultimate business successBusiness owners should ensure that there is good communications between the main operating company and the customer financing division – clear goals and philosophies should be set out re the function of such a customer finance program.In summary the benefits of offering financing to your customer are very obvious, and proven true by some of the largest and most successful companies in the world – but all you have to do is to do it right! Ensure your firm is aware of the risks and challenges and monitor your customer financing program on an ongoing basis to ensure you are not straying from your core business model.

A Brief History of Home Entertainment

The concept of home entertainment and indoor recreational activities changed when home electronics invaded our lives. One can say that access to numerous electronic products at home has revolutionized the idea of what constitutes a complete home entertainment. Nowadays, anyone can have immediate access to every kind of electronic entertainment via different media within the comforts of their homes. They can have their choice of entertainment which may range from the latest DVD players, radios to the wireless internet connection which offers them the convenience of mobility. Advancement in technology has gifted us with loads of home entertainment options ranging from radio, television, CD, DVD players, home theatre system, games consoles and so on.Music has always been one of the most preferred leisure activities. It found its way into our home through the long playing discs and the gramophone. Of course with the coming of radio a decade later made music a more widespread home entertainment. Before the advent of the CD or DVD player, the radio was the most popular home entertainment system available. Though there were some juke boxes available in the local pubs or salons where one could listen to a song of their choice at home there was only the radio. With radio, the choice of listening was however quite limited as people had to listen to the songs that the radio channels would play, even though some of the stations would at times play the selected numbers based on listeners’ requests. But there were no complaints as there wasn’t anything better for decades to come.Initially, when television had not yet become an everyday part of our lives, the visual entertainment strictly meant those theatres which had large screens to view a movie. Things changed dramatically with the invention of the television in the initial phase of the 1950s. The television was a complete wonder in the days when it was discovered. People did not have to restrict themselves anymore to music as their only entertainment at home. They could actually watch a full length movie in the comfort of their own home.Not only movies, this small wonder box started entertaining people with more and more new ideas, programs and techniques. Television has been considered as one of the pioneers in the history of home visual entertainment. Of course it provided more than just entertainment. With news and special documentaries, TV soon became the most important source of amusement. The long playing discs were also a part of home entertainment which was an early discovery. While radios, LPs and television made a permanent place in everyone’s home, the quality of sound in those times essentially required tremendous development.Good sound systems and speakers stared to develop in the mid 1970s. Various technologies were discovered to enhance the quality of sound. And with the music genres like rock, pop and discos coming into being, there was a specific and urgent requirement for good quality sound systems. Thus the electronic giants did not stop producing recorders and put more emphasis on amplifying and equalizing the sound to give it a new dimension.Good quality sound systems were specially designed and created for homes which produced outstanding music. Woofers and subwoofers along with various amplifiers equalizers and multi channel audio were being used to produce crisp stereophonic sounds.However, this concept took a back seat when CD and DVD players came into existence. During the end of the ’70s and early ’80s some of the electronic giants worked in collaboration to develop the world’s first Compact Disc system. Experts proved that this CD player was quite compact and lightweight with its unique durability. For music lovers it was truly a boon. At the same time this CD system opened a new window in the audio equipment industry.Compact discs were more durable than any other long playing discs or tapes. Thus the CDs removed all other music disc and tapes from the market and held prominent position. The 80s and early 90s saw a vast improvement in the technology of compact disc systems. It became very popular with people because of the crystal clear sound it produced and was affordable. These CDs not only stored music, it was versatile enough to store movies, data, pictures or even software.Along with CDs a much improved device which actually revolutionized and changed the entire system of home entertainment is the DVD or digital versatile discs. These discs are powerful and large enough to hold two movies in one. It stores data digitally and is more durable. The scratch proof technology of the DVD players also makes the DVDs last a long time. Both music and movie buffs felt delighted when the DVD player came into the market. Recent survey statistics reveal that the DVD player is the most successful product of home entertainment. It was introduced in the year 1997 and has reached great heights of success ever since.Nowadays, people can have the same effect of a movie theatre in their homes. With the latest DVD players, LCD screens and the sound systems with woofers, sub woofers and multi channel audio systems, anyone can have a fantastic home entertainment system with high quality sound and spectacular visual effects. The plasma and LCD screens are high resolution televisions which started to develop in the latter half of the 1990s and these sleek televisions enabled the viewers to experience digital sound and vision with fantastic picture quality and various advanced features.With the invention of DVDs and a major development in the visual media such as Plasma and Liquid Crystal Display or LCD in the late 90s gave home entertainment its latest technical dimension. With it, the meaning of home entertainment changed significantly with more and more people installing the home theatre systems with newest gadgets and technologies.

New Technology News: Video Games to Watch for

The month of May is not just the time the annual Cannes Film Festival will be held as well as the Monaco F1 Grand Prix, this month also holds a few surprises for video gamers and enthusiasts. With the hundreds of labels that will be released during this month (hoping that none of these hundreds won’t have delays), we have gathered must have titles that you would want to add on your shelf in this new technology news.

New games to be released in May in new technology news

Blizzard Entertainment has proven itself to be one of the best game programmers today. A couple of years back, they released the sequel of Starcraft, one of the most successful and most popular RTS (Real Time Strategy) of all time. This May, another Blizzard game will have its 3rd installment. The Diablo parts I and II have become a hit during the late 90′s. This May, former Diablo players will again enter the world of the Sanctuary and once again meet their old friend Deckard Cain in Diablo III. This game will be released for PC and MAC formats.

If you have a PS3 and would want to have a Death Race type game, then Warhawk’s sequel will be good for you. Starhawk, which is scheduled to be released on May 8, will sure satisfy players who were avid fans of vehicle destroying games popular in PlayStation such as Twisted Metal and Vigilante.

Max Payne’s pain, apparently, has yet to be resolved. This time, the Max Payne 3 game will bring us to the land of Jiu Jitsu, Brazil, and on the city of Sao Paolo. We all look forward to more bloodshed terror that makes the whole excitement of this game.

Capturing the audience in books and television, the medieval themed series A Game of Thrones game will be released this mid May on platforms PS3, XBOX 360, and PC. MAC users might have to wait for further announcements if the developers are planning to include a compatible format.

The Japanese anime, Prince of Tennis, have become a total craze among a large audience. And the Mario brothers were in no exemption. On May 20, Nintendo 3DS users will have the chance to see our favorite video game uncles play tennis in the Mario Tennis Open.

Guns and high tech weapons of mass destruction will also have its own introduction in Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Future Soldier. It will be more than just your average modern warfare, but expect to play a few toys like optical camouflage and battle drones.

Point Of Sale Software For Restaurants

When we discuss restaurant POS software, we are referring to the checkout counter transactions within a fast food environment or at the server station within a sit down restaurant environment. A hardware terminal is loaded with application software and programmed with menu items, price points and delivery information for the preparation team to help complete these transactions and works like an electronic cash register. This terminal manages the total selling process through a particular salesperson-user interface, often with a touch screen device for the salesperson to interact with.

Hospitality, lodging and the restaurant sectors are increasingly making use of computers for running their businesses better and controlling costs. Highly advanced POS system software is an integral part of retail inventory management for most businesses and is being used by most restaurants these days to stay ahead in the business and manage proper inventory tracking of dry goods, perishables and liquor inventories. Therefore, it is only logical that they would be looking to buy the best restaurant POS software for their diners. The right point of sale software for an operation can be the difference in saving a few dollars per day to saving hundreds of dollars per day for a small business restaurant.

Features that POS System Software Must Have:

* Flexibility is the basic requirement. The software should be easy to install and easy to maneuver by a novice server. A trustworthy vendor must offer restaurant software POS that comes with a “demo” version for guidance. The supporting hardware and software needed for this to run should not be expensive.

* Ideal restaurant POS software must give management the customized reports most important to his operation presenting this information in tables, graphs or best combinations of these formats.

* A fail safe security, password protection and data backup procedures that are fool proof.

* The restaurant software vendor must be reputable in the industry and have excellent track records for customer care, automated software upgrades and technical support.

* The terms and conditions should be user friendly and not too one side in favor of the vendor.

* The software must be flexible enough to adapt to your changing business needs as it grows.

* The selected restaurant POS software should allow for payroll integration, multiple hardware configurations, and data exports.

* The software support team must be accessible through telephone or via a VPN and offer the support team remote access to your system to overcome technical challenges outside the users own capabilities.

Restaurants today believe in faster transactions and optimal resource distribution. Regardless of how many years you may have run your business with a simple cash register, you cannot dream of being successful today without intelligent restaurant POS software. Most efficient retail organizations are totally reliant upon their POS system software especially if it is tied to retail inventory management that helps businesses maintain low overhead through just in time inventory tracking.

To successfully manage an inventory in the retail sector, you need to keep a close eye on your stock levels because when there is not enough inventory, customers may choose a different vendor. When there is a surplus, liquid assets get too tied up in unsalable goods. A properly configured restaurant POS system automatically updates inventory levels whenever there are sales and helps in the retail inventory management process.

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