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Can subscription retail SMBs strike the right balance between personalization and privacy? Personalization is essential to subscription customer CX and results in more loyalty, higher sales and reduced churn. But problems like data breaches and falling short of regulations like GDPR and CCPA are costly. This article talks through both sides and reveals what SMBs must do to get the best of both worlds.  In this article: What is Personalization? What is Privacy? Can Retail Subscription SMBs Give Privacy and Personalization?  Get It All With One Solution Conclusion A subscription retail SMB needs to grab every opportunity to stand out and differentiate itself.    One of the options that some SMBs choose is giving a personalized experience to their potential and existing customer base. Personalization can be used in anything from marketing to offerings to terms and payment methods.   Though it’s great for the customer, there is a downside. It brings privacy concerns. And subscription retail SMBs must understand the privacy challenge to figure out how to strike a balance.   Without it, they stand to lose both financially and legally.   This article will explore all the issues around the personalization vs. privacy debate, and how it impacts SMBs. It will also give insights on how subscription retail SMBs can enjoy the benefits of both.  What is Personalization?  Personalization is the process of harvesting and analyzing information from customer data to create experiences that are tailored to each individual customer.   It involves data points including:  Website/platform usage: What type of devices they used which features are most appealing, how they navigate the site, what repels them, etc.   Demographics: Age, income, gender, culture, geographical location, family info, etc.  Behavioral data: Purchase patterns, browsing history, what they engage with and what they avoid, preferred subscriptions and terms, etc.   Time data: Seasonal info, active times of day, preferred days of the week, etc.   Psychographic data: Customer interests, lifestyle preferences, and even emotional triggers.  Platforms then take the information, analyze it, and create a unique experience for each customer.   We’ve all experienced this process as customers.   Received an email from a business that has your name on it?  Get products tailored to your likes on a website?  Ever abandon a shopping cart, then get a message that gives you a discount for all the items in the cart?   Get an offer to re-buy something you’ve bought in the past?  See products that you did some research on earlier in the week?  That’s all personalization. And customers want and love it.  81% of customers prefer companies that offer a personalized experience.  -Forbes Customers are far more likely to engage with brands that give them the personalized touch that’s unique to them. This gives subscription retail SMBs a huge opportunity to build that long-term relationship that they need for success.   When personalization is used in the right way, it brings some incredible benefits to subscription retailers:  Better Customer Lifetime Value: Running a subscription model demands long-term customer relationships. Retention is absolutely essential because it’s easier to sell to existing customers. They also spend more money.  Better sales: Because the offerings, pricing and terms are personalized to what each customer wants and doesn’t want, the sales cycle is shorter. And as a retailer gets to know subscribers more, add-ons and cross-selling are more successful because they align with each customer’s preferences at the optimum time. So you’ll eliminate your lost sales opportunities.   Better customer CX and loyalty: It’s not just about the CLV. It’s about what comes with a meaningful customer experience. Tailored loyalty and bonus programs further reward the customer and build the emotional bond with your brand. And happy customers become brand ambassadors. They tell other people through comments, message boards, content, and word-of-mouth in person too.   Differentiation: Retail is so competitive; any advantage helps. When subscription retail SMBs show that they understand their audience’s needs every step of the way, they immediately set themselves apart from retailers that refuse to offer personalization.   Less churn: When customers are engaged and get value from their subscriptions, they’ll stick around. Churn is extremely high in retail. Customers bounce all the time, for the smallest reasons, so it’s important to cut any reasons for them to leave.   And that’s not all personalization does. Personalization brings benefits to customers too:   It saves time and effort: Customers who sign up for personalized subscriptions see the terms and products that are relevant to them. They don’t have to spend time searching for the best prices or something more appealing elsewhere. They’ve already got it right in front of them, when they need it, for the price they’re willing to pay.   Better engagement: When customers feel more attached to a brand, they’ll engage more. They’ll offer feedback. They’ll make suggestions. They’ll seek your brand out more often. They’re invested in your future because you make their present so much more pleasant.   Feeling valued: Customers are bombarded with a million adverts and messages a day. Most of them are generic, and tossed out to the world hoping something will stick. That’s not how customers want to be treated. They want to be valued, not used. Businesses have jumped on the data-driven personalization bandwagon because it makes good sense.   But there’s a downside. Some businesses do questionable or unethical things with their customer data, like selling it on to other companies that have less respect for the data. Or hackers break into systems and cause dangerous data leaks.    And this creates serious privacy issues.  What is Privacy?  Privacy is not the use of customer data, but the protection of it.   Privacy involves businesses not only taking steps to protect data but being completely transparent about how they collect and use the data.   They also give customers the option of controlling whether their data is collected, and what can and cannot be done with it.   Over 120 countries around the world have regulations that deal with customer data. The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) laws in Europe and the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) in the U.S. are just two examples of strict rules that govern how personal data must be handled.   When those rules are broken, there are steep penalties and potential lawsuits. And customers can completely lose trust in a brand overnight. So it’s a serious issue, even for the smallest subscription retail SMB.   Let’s look at some of the specifics of ignoring privacy practices and regulations:   Legal compliance: Data protection laws aren’t flexible or open to interpretation. They’re strict and if you fall out of compliance, it can cripple you financially. For example, if you breach GDPR rules in Europe, you’re liable for up to €20 million or 4% of your annual global turnover—whichever is higher.    Vulnerability to data breaches and mass lawsuits: New reports on cyberattacks are a daily occurrence, even for big corporations. And SMBs that don’t prioritize their security are at clear risk of being targeted. The cost of a breach (both in fines and customer lawsuits) can be in the millions.   Trust erosion and churn: As soon as current or potential customers catch wind that your brand is not to be trusted with their data, they’ll leave for your competition. Why would they stay? Customers are risk averse just like businesses are.   Reputation: As an SMB, your reputation is everything. But customers spread the word about bad brands they don’t like. And legal problems always end up public, which your competitors can latch onto and exploit. On top of that, your reputation as investible might be damaged for good too.  Understanding why they want privacy guarded simply reframes everything into what you can gain, and another level that you can give them that some of your competitors aren’t.   Customers expect to be able to control their data.   To have the ability to opt-out of cookies and data collection.   To veto what it’s used for.   To say no to marketing from your business or others.   To be able to rescind access to data after permission has already been previously given.  They don’t want the anxiety, financial loss, and legal exposure that a hack and breach brings either. Customers look for trustworthiness and transparency. They want to be told the truth about how their data is used.   But here’s the twist. Knowing what both personalization and privacy are, as well as all the issues that surround them, leaves the subscription retail SMB in a precarious position.   Where to go from here, armed with this privacy vs. personalization conuundrum?  Can Retail Subscription SMBs Give Privacy and Personalization?  Is the privacy vs. personalized issue a zero-sum game? Is it all or nothing for SMBs?  The answer is a resounding no! Subscription retailers and their customers can enjoy both. It’s just about finding the right balance.   Given that we work with subscription retailers, we understand what’s needed to get the most from data, but to protect businesses and their customers from those very real data privacy challenges.  First, it helps to be transparent with your customers from the beginning. Be clear about what data you’re using and how you’re using it. This includes more questionable practices like selling data to third parties.   There is no obligation for you to collect every single piece of data that’s out there. You can be selective too. Which data gives you and your customer the most value? What is the smallest amount of data you need to extract the most value necessary to effectively personalize?  Secure the data with encryption techniques. They will be built into better software and platforms. Keep a running order of the steps you’ve taken to guard data privacy and protection too.   Give your customers control over their data too. Let them manage their data preferences. The most common way of doing this is through pop-ups, dedicated data pages where customers can customize their choices, and tick boxes that must be completed to ensure customers read what’s involved.  And always create a clear and effortless process that allows your customers to change their minds about data access and use.  Get It All With One Solution   If you want to get the best of both worlds without costing you more of your time and resources, you need a good subscription management solution that takes care of this for you.   Here’s what you get with the right solution:   It collects the right data while installing strict privacy protection. For example, your solution can gather demographic and financial information to segment customers and create individual offerings without using the most sensitive information. This gives you the personalization you’re after without violating privacy.  Automatic compliance with something as important as data safety and privacy can feel like a dream. But it’s a reality! There are built-in compliance tools that take into account relevant data laws. The process works automatically. Nothing slips into the cracks.   Because the best subscription management platforms provide dashboards and self-service portals, you can make all data information readily available whenever your customer wants to access it.   You can even show how it’s being used and how it feeds into their personalization process. Free-flowing, reliable information builds trust.   Your customers will be happier. Not only are they privy to clear, accurate information about their data, but they know what it’s for. They’re more secure and not worrying about the security of their data either. Plus they’re getting the personalized experience!   That’s better satisfaction, higher incidence of loyalty, better brand reputation, and higher customer lifetime value.   And – bonus – the right solution also brings you end-to-end subscription management to save you time and resources, while boosting your revenue while you scale.  Conclusion  Privacy and personalization shouldn’t be an either/or.   They are both absolutely essential. And they’re both absolutely accessible. You just need the right solution.   If you’re curious about how easily you can get the benefits of both, why not book a free Discovery Call with our team today.

The wrong decisions can be disastrous. That’s why subscription retail SMBs feel so much pressure to impactful decisions. The problem is that guesswork and gut feeling aren’t enough of a foundation for consistent decision-making. This article explores the decision-making process, pitfalls, impacts and how proactive decision-making thanks to AI-driven solutions can both avoid mistakes and drive growth and sustainability. In this article: Good Decisions: What’s the Big Deal?  Bad Decisions: Where Do They Come From?  Where Bad Decisions Hit the Hardest The Impact of Bad Decisions on Subscription Retail SMBs The Secret to Good Decisions Is In Plain Sight   AI-Driven Insights: How They Give You Everything You Need  It’s So Easy Even the smallest of retail subscription SMBs requires daily decisions.   Whether it’s deciding on a product, or what kind of social media campaign would work best, or pricing models, all your decisions as an SMB have an impact on the business, and your profits.   There’s not a huge margin for error. But the problem is that many SMBs rely on inconsistent and unreliable methods to make their choices. And that can have serious ramifications.    This article will talk about dangerous decision-making methods, and what happens when people get it wrong. Then it provides one solution that can take care of everything and give you the firm foundation you need to make the best decisions possible.  Good Decisions: What’s the Big Deal?  It’s hard to build a great business without great choices.   The stakes can be very high- especially for subscription retail SMBs that don’t have a lot of wiggle room. Why? Because you need your customer relationships to be long-term versus one-off. But your choices could impact anything in the end-to-end subscription process including:   how to acquire customers   which offerings and pricing models   how to personalize the experience  which method to invoice   what kind of payment options   how   which KPIs to monitor   when to act on problems   Let’s look at a decision about product offerings as an example. Make your offering broad, and you might attract more customers. But that makes logistics challenging. It puts more pressure on inventory management. And you might choose the wrong products.   Customers who don’t like this new direction might leave. You could be stuck with tons of stock. And then you might panic (rightfully so, no one wants overstock!) and send out emergency buy-this-now marketing messages that haven’t been entirely thought through.   In other words, bad decision-making brings huge challenges.   Bad Decisions: Where Do They Come From?   Nobody sets out to make the wrong choice. That’s why it’s important to have what you need to make the right one.   But the resources and time of subscription retail SMBs are already stretched to the limit. How can you make sound decisions consistently?    Let’s look at where bad decisions generally come from:  Gut instinct: There are some brilliant business leaders who talk about creating a long-term career thanks to gut instinct. But they are the exception, not the rule. Feelings change fast. They’re based on fear, or impulse, or information that is flat-out wrong. This system isn’t reliable or scalable.   Guessing: Without any relevant knowledge or intel, SMBs might be forced to guess which way to go. For example, they might guess how many units of a product will be needed for an upcoming holiday season. But they don’t really know what their segments want, what their competitors are doing, or whether current economic conditions will allow people to spend money on these products.   Copycatting: There’s nothing wrong with checking out what the competition’s doing to adjust to it. But just because something works for them, doesn’t mean it will for you. Each business has unique circumstances and challenges. On top of that, what a business is currently doing is the result of past decisions. You’re copying history in an industry where everything changes within minutes.   We’re not saying that these methods never work.  But they’re not consistently good. Or sustainable.   If your SMB is already operating with paper-thin margins, even one bad decision can take your business down.  Where Bad Decisions Hit the Hardest   The ripples of the wrong choices tend to flow the most into these areas:  Customer acquisition and retention: If you don’t really know who your ideal and your current customers are, it will be hard to keep them. And you need them to stick around because you offer subscriptions.  Offering: Your offering shapes your brand and your business. You need to know what customers want, when they want it. And you need to know what they definitely do not want.   Prices: Subscription pricing models can be complex. But it’s essential to strike the perfect balance between affordability and profitability. Mistakes make customers run or cost you your bottom line.   Marketing: Many SMBs don’t really know what will work over the long term. They spend a lot of time and money experimenting, hoping something will stick.   Inventory management: It’s easy to make mistakes in inventory management because it is often the most difficult thing in retail to get right. There are punishments on both sides of the spectrum; overstocking and stock-outs. A nightmare either way.    Whichever part of the business is impacted, it causes trouble.  The Impact of Bad Decisions on Subscription Retail SMBs We work with a lot of subscription retailers. Generally, they come to us already stuck in a cycle of damage control and recovery.   Here’s what they experience the most on a business level:   Churn: When customers face a poor offering and pricing, bad communication, delays in deliveries, and late and incorrect invoices, they leave. Churn forces you to double-down on acquisition and retention costs. You may have to offer steep discounts to either woo customers back or tempt new customers to try your brand.  Operational inefficiency: Manually processing invoices, or using siloed retail software, or not offering a wide variety of payments forces your team to have to work longer and more stressful hours. Your operations can get to a breaking point where they’re riddled with so many delays and mistakes, there’s no coming back without a huge investment that you might not have.  Revenue loss: Losing money is serious for an SMB. Whether you’re overspending on customers, or you have revenue loss or leakage in your operations, you might trigger a debt cycle, or a stream of panic-led decisions that make things worse. And that’s not all. Poor choices personally impact you and your people too:    Stress and burnout: It’s exhausting to constantly put out fires. The more prolonged the stress, the more likely you and your employees will suffer from burnout. That’s bad for their mental health and your bottom line. Self-doubt: No matter how brilliant you are at subscription retail, and no matter how much you care, a series of bad decisions can erode your confidence. Next thing you know, you’re hesitant to make any more decisions.  Turnover: It’s really expensive to replace employees after they quit.   None of these are ideal. Which begs the question, can this be turned around? If so, what’s the key to good decision-making?  The Secret to Good Decisions Is In Plain Sight    As a retail subscription SMB, you can get out of the cycle for good. And the solution’s closer than you think.    It’s in your data.   Most subscription retail SMBs collect lots of data that is woefully underused.   Your sales data will tell you what works when. Which marketing compliments your offerings. How things like seasonability and trends impact you. Why customers say no, and what makes them say yes.    Your customer data will show you who your current (and ideal) customers are. It will reveal all kinds of information from demographics to customer behavior, buying patterns, preferences, and circumstances. That’s the foundation of personalized experiences.   Subscription data reveals lots of information. KPIs will show you how performance levels, and churn and ROI rates. They show what types of subscriptions and pricing models work best too.    Sounds amazing, right? All that is needed is the right tool to consolidate and make the most of the data you have.   But you don’t have to go to those expensive analytics platforms, or consultants. All you need is one solution.   AI-Driven Insights: How They Give You Everything You Need   AI-powered automation turns things around fast. In fact, it can be a game-changer.   It pulls together all the data into numbers and insights that give you a clear idea of what’s going on in your business at any given time. And this works throughout the entire end-to-end retail subscription management process.   Here are just some of the ways data works for you:   Predictions: It looks at historical data, subscriber behavior, trends, and seasonal changes to predict future demand with a lot more accuracy. That cuts back on expensive overstock and stockout crises.   Customer personalization: AI segments your customer base according to demographics so that you understand the kinds of people who are your target customers. It then uses data on behavior, preferences, and purchasing patterns to create a wholly personalized experience for each customer.    Excellent pricing and boosted sales: AI makes the best recommendations for the optimum pricing at any given time. It also crunches the data to give your sales team the add-on, cross-selling and upgrading opportunities that save your sales team untold hours. And it speeds up the sales cycle and even offers self-serve portals for customers that want to manage their own subscriptions.   Inventory management and fulfilment: When you have real-time visibility into your inventory, you stay both proactive and agile. Human error and guesswork are gone for good. You’ll have a better hold on your stock, cutting way back on the recurrence of stockouts or overstocking.  Reporting: Because AI-data crunching brings you real-time financial data and insights, you can make the best decisions where and when they are needed. In an industry like retail where everything changes so fast, this is a huge advantage.   With AI-driven analysis, your retail subscription SMB can finally move away from guesswork and to confidence.   You can be proactive instead of reactive. Confident instead of nervous. On firm ground instead of unstable.   And it scales.   It’s relief from the pressure.   It’s So Easy     People who run SMBs shouldn’t have to struggle through decision-making. The last thing you need is the nightmare that guesswork brings to you, your team, and your bottom line.  These days turning your data into powerful tools that back good choices is a necessity.  Curious to see how fast you can turn things around? Book a free Discovery Call with our team today.

Scaling can be a trojan horse for SMBs with subscriptions or memberships: it looks appealing on the outside, but soon brings serious problems. SMBs often lack the infrastructure, time, and resources they need to keep up with any expansion in the base. This article talks through the most common scalability challenges and the best practices that help overcome them. It finishes with a solution that uses automation to make scalability not only possible, but efficient.  In this article: Scalability for SMBs Scaling SMBs: What Are the Challenges? Scalability Best Practices How One Solution Will Do It For You Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central + Bluefort Are Here to Help The Final Hurdle: Money The problem of scaling is the greatest irony of SMBs.   In every scenario, growth should be good. In fact, it should be crucial.  But for many SMBs, growth puts them in an awkward position because it stretches their resources and infrastructure even more.   Growth might even backfire on an SMB.    All the challenges that come with scaling might feel impossible, but they aren’t insurmountable. Though there are constraints to scaling, there are also best practices that can help.   There is also one solution that can take care of everything for your business.   Scalability for SMBs  There’s not much point in having an SMB that doesn’t grow. Scalability is critical for sustainability.   But if you want to scale your business successfully, you need to be able to expand your operations enough to accommodate it, but not too much to sacrifice how your business performs.  But expanding operations can require more people, more hours, more effort.   What complicates things further is that many SMBs who are desperate to be able to scale assume that they’re priced out of solutions that will enable them to grow. Or that making the change is so expensive that their financial situation will be worse.   So what are the logistical problems that hold SMBs back?   Scaling SMBs: What Are the Challenges?  We work with SMBs, and we’ve heard the struggles.   Here are the ones we see most often:  1. Not enough people: Chances are you and your team or teams are already stretched as it is. They might be tasked with different types of jobs, spinning a lot of plates, and at risk of burnout as it is.  The idea of doing more, longer hours, more tasks to get right simply might not be tenable. 2. Not enough money: You know how tight money can get- especially with how unstable economies have been over the last few years. When your budget is already stretched to the limit, it might feel impossible to stretch it even further for more staff, newer tech, more supplies, or a bigger operations setup.  If this is your situation, you’re forced with a choice. Do you discourage scaling so that you can keep up, which risks alienating potential customers for good? Or do you accept operating while overstretched, which risks alienating your workers and current customers?  3. Not enough infrastructure and tech: There are so many ways that infrastructure can be inadequate for your needs. Maybe you’re operating on a manual or otherwise outdated system, which leaves you experiencing  delays, revenue leakage, and churn. You could also be suffering with other infrastructure problems, like suppliers. You might be treading water with unreliable suppliers, but you can’t sort it out because you aren’t able to invest in more reliable suppliers.  Whatever the problems with infrastructure and tech, the idea of more customers feels like that could push your business over the brink. 4. Not enough operational efficiency: This is a constant problem for SMBs. Most suffer from the curse of manual processes, and processes and workflows that are disconnected, and quite frankly, liabilities.  But without the resources, what are they supposed to do?   What should SMBs that want to scale and help secure the future of the business do to make growth doable?  Scalability Best Practices   Knowing the challenges of growth, what can be done to turn things around?  Here of some of the best practices SMBs can adopt to put their business on the path:   Strategic planning: You can’t scale without a solid plan. The plan needs to include your targets for growth and how you plan to get there, the obstacles you may face, how to overcome them, and contingency plans for emergencies and unexpected events.  Use social media: Social media platforms can give an SMB a real advantage, if they’re used correctly. They do take some time to get the hang of, and time will need to be invested in the creation of content with the right messaging that will engage and grow the customer base. A social media planner like Hootsuite or SocialPilot will help take some of the pressure off and keep things organized.   Partnerships: We know the power of partnerships. SMBs shouldn’t have to go it alone. There are natural partnerships and collaborations that businesses can make to grow into new markets and bases. It’s just about getting creative. For example, a gourmet popcorn SMB could partner with a drinks company or a celeb gossip website because they go naturally.   Optimizing operations: Scalability will demand the most efficient operations possible. Processes and workflows should be cleared of bottlenecks, resources and time waste. Inefficiency will only increase with scaling.  Personalized marketing: Marketing campaigns that bring in growth must be impactful and target the audiences the SMB wants as customers. That means using data to get a clear understanding of existing and potential customers so that marketing, messaging, and offerings can be segmented and personalized. This is what drives engagement and conversions.   Easy accounting: No matter what the size of your SMB, accounting is a massive consumer of your time and resources. But it doesn’t have to be. Automated financial management can take care of everything for you, including invoicing, billing, payment collection, reconciliation, and reports. That avoids expensive mistakes, and lack of compliance.   Some of these best practices might be appealing to you, but the idea of purchasing different solutions to scale might feel like the last thing you want to do.   How are you supposed to find the time to put these best practices into the action that will finally help you scale?  How One Solution Will Do It For You   Many SMBs who try to scale buy one solution after the next, in a piecemeal way, which actually burdens them even more.   However, there’s a simple solution to this problem. And that solution is a unified software platform that automates everything for you.   Cloud computing, automation, and a good ERP will make everything more efficient, and it frees up your time so that you can focus on the strategy and partnerships that will push your growth even more.   Automation can do so much for your SMB.   First off, it streamlines your operations by taking care of most of the manual, repetitive tasks that rob so much of your time. Everything from invoicing, billing, and recognized revenue to sales opportunities, to financial record-keeping, and compliance will be taken care of.   That cuts back on time consumption, errors, and expensive problems that are created when you fall out of compliance. On top of that, there aren’t any silos- information flows in real time between your financial, sales and customer service teams. That’s less revenue leakage, invoice and contract term mistakes, and fines.   And because the right platform will recognize revenue for you, you’ll also get numbers that you can rely on at all times. And the system will create financial reports for you.   Just imagine how much time and pain you’ll be spared with these actions.   But there’s more.   Automation creates the circumstances needed to give your customers an excellent personalized experience. The platform consolidates your customer information, and automation crunches untapped customer data, and segments your customers (as well as creating a singular personalized experience for each customer).   Automation can track customer behavior, needs, and preferences so that you offer tailored packages and products that will appeal to them. It also allows you to create personalized communication and equips you with the information you need for targeted marketing.   Given that strategy is so important for scaling, you’ll be able to utilize data-driven insights for the best decision-making. You get analysis and valuable insights to inform your choices in the short and long-term based on real-time trends.   Everything from pricing to developing new products and offerings will have hard data to back them up. The guesswork is eliminated.   Automation makes all these processes inherently scalable. There is no additional burden because no matter how much you grow, the right solution grows with you.   Your processes will handle the increased demand, with no proportional drain on your resources. Growth is no longer a logistical concern.   But there’s a challenge - with so many software options available, how can your SMB choose the platform that’s right for your situation and needs?  Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central + Bluefort Are Here to Help  Business Central is the perfect ERP system for SMBs. It's flexible and it grows with you.   And Bluefort are the recurring revenue experts. We can implement Business Central for you with all the customization you need to get the most out of it.   We're here to help you:   free your time and resources   cut costs and churn  build your customer base   bring in more revenue   expand your business  make your life a lot easier.   No doubt this all sounds amazing. Who doesn’t want more time and growth, unrestricted by infrastructure? You might be thinking, “Where do I sign up?”  But like many SMBs, you might be worried about cost.  When your money is currently stretched to the limit, it’s important to see the value of something first, so that you can confidently invest in it.   The Final Hurdle - Money   A cloud-based ERP and accounting system gives so much value that your SMB cannot afford to function without it.   Here’s how:   1. Cost/resource savings over time in these areas:   IT and maintenance of outdated legacy systems    Automation of routine tasks   Elimination of mistakes and delays in the invoicing, billing, and payment collection process   Integration of systems so there’s nothing lost or opportunities missed   No guesswork in customer interaction, product development, etc.   Complete revenue recognition, so you get no leakage    2. No big up-front cost: Most SMBs believe that they must fork out tens or hundreds of thousands in an upfront investment. But that’s not how this combination works. It’s on a subscription, so you spread the payments over time. 3. Finding and giving new value you don’t currently have: The metrics from your data will identify opportunities for growth that you wouldn’t currently have access to.   You can feel confident that your business will remain secure and compliant.   You’ll get better collaboration between your teams because they all have the information and the time that they need.  4. The competitive advantage: You will automatically have a one-up on your competitors who do not have an integrated ERP with subscription management and recognized revenue. It’s that simple. You’ll be more efficient, and you’ll know how to capture their customers with the customer data insights at your fingertips. When an SMB makes that investment of the first months’ subscription payment, they get to enjoy benefits immediately.   Because the chances are, it’s the inefficient processes that have stretched your budget in the first place. So, getting rid of inefficiency will free up your time and resources.   And all of this is just a few clicks away. Conclusion   It’s clear that if an SMB wants to be successful, it needs to scale.  But it also needs to the circumstances that help build that growth, because growth comes with serious challenges. Challenges like limited money, very little spare time, legacy technology, and resource limitations.   These challenges must be overcome, or an SMB will be at a distinct disadvantage that will hinder long-term growth.   The good news is that when an SMB actions best practices that enable scaling, they can turn things around. Those best practices do require some time and resources, unless the SMB gets a solution that automates nearly all the processes for them.   Scalable solutions like Business Central + Bluefort help SMBs overcome scaling problems because it is a platform that’s integrated and grows with the business.   The platform’s ability to support process efficiency, better customer experience, streamlined accounting and revenue recognition clear the decks so that SMBs can focus on the high-value strategic work that can make growth explosive.   But without any of the baggage that growth brings the unprepared.   And that’s value that no one can put a price on.   If you are ready to take your business to the next level and enjoy scaling, let Microsft Dynamics 365 Business Central + Bluefort help you. Book a free Discovery Call with our team today.

If you're an SMB with a tight budget and stretched resources, you probably struggle to thrive and grow. This article talks through the most common challenges and impacts faced by subscription and membership-based SMBs. It also shows how the right platform can cut operational costs, improve customer experience, boost incoming revenue and growth, and provide reliable financial management.   In this article: The Challenges That SMBs Like Yours Face   How Automation Brings SMBs Major Gains  The Problem of Money  What Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central and Bluefort Does For You   If you run a small or medium-sized business (SMB) with very limited resources and budget, you probably feel like you’ve got both arms tied behind your back.   It can be difficult to take action, improve customer relationships, or strengthen finances because any time or resources spent in one area drains another.   Constantly stretching your money as much as possible can be completely exhausting.   The good news is that you can get more out of what you have, even with just one thing: a little automation.    Curious to see how it works?  The Challenges that SMBs Like Yours Face   A tight budget controls everything.   That means you are stuck making tough choices and cutbacks. You may have to delay important things.   It’s pressure that’s demoralizing and keeps you in a state of frustration. You and your teams work hard, juggle roles and jobs, but no matter how hard you all try, things skip through the cracks.    Here are some of the areas where SMBs feel it the most:   1. Resource allocation - Resources involve trade-off. For example, should you invest in marketing or sales to drive growth, or update the technology you desperately need? Or should you bring in stellar talent to get the job done? It’s all decisions about what can temporarily suffer for the sake of something else.  2. Staff morale - Consistently overworked employees battle low morale and burnout. They’re stuck with tasks that are outside of their talent and expertise. And they’re far more likely to quit. Ánd employee turnover is disruptive and expensive for an SMB.   3. Inefficiency in your operations - Limited resources create operational problems. Everything from data entry, sales strategy, invoicing, reconciliation, and compliance are slowed down and prone to mistakes. That boosts costs and leaves you vulnerable to upsetting customers.   4. Limited tech - Outdated tech creates more problems than it solves. You might have a Frankenstein situation with multiple solutions and none of the information flowing between them. That puts you at a huge disadvantage to any competitor that has their tech solution specifically geared toward driving efficiency and keeping an eye on rivals like you.   5. Struggling customer service - Good relationships with customers is so important because each customer counts. But it’s hard to keep up with all queries, returns, and problems in a timely way. That’s a recipe for churn, which robs you of revenue in the short and long-term.   This cycle can be hard to escape.   But if you’re stuck, how can you get your way out of these challenges, let alone accomplish things that will build and strengthen your SMB?   How Automation Brings Your SMB Major Gains    The more your resources are stretched, the bigger the transformation that automation can bring.   It’s a game-changer. Automation uses cutting-edge technology to do three things:   perform time-wasting repetitive tasks  streamline and integrate multiple processes  boost efficiency and cut costs   For SMBs, the right choice of automation provider can make the difference between treading water and winning gold in the 400m individual competition at the Olympics.   Let’s look specifically at how that works for an SMB:  It streamlines the boring, time-stealing administrative tasks  No one likes doing admin. Data entry, scheduling, tracking and processing usage, invoicing, and emailing take the joy of your day.   They also stop you from doing what makes most of your talent and passion.   But automation takes care of these things for you. Let’s look at invoicing. Automation takes the contract terms, monitors for any changes and usage, creates reminders for your customers, correctly calculates the invoices on time, sends them, and collects the payments for you.    How much time would that save you? And how much of a cash flow situation would that improve?  And that’s just one function.  A better CRM  You know how important customer relationships are to your SMB. And that requires consistent management.  Your SMB might struggle to keep track of all interactions with every customer. Things might fall between the cracks. When a customer feels neglected or ignored, when you reach out with sales tactics, it turns them off.   A good CRM:  manages sales pipelines   creates personalized experiences and offerings  keeps track of communication with customers  constantly pivots to continue a good business-customer relationship.   Without automation, that’s a big ask.   But with automation, you’ll know that nothing’s forgotten. It even spots customers at risk of leaving and creates tailored suggestions for offers and interactions to keep them on-side.  The personalized experience   Customers love and expect personalization. It can be hard for SMBs to even think about personalization because of the resources needed.   But with automation, it’s done for you. It will cater to their individual and collective needs and preferences.   Personalization includes:   customized content and marketing   tailored products and offerings  pricing based on patterns and needs  getting feedback  recommendations  loyalty programs  It also manages emails and lead generation using segmentation filters (that can be as niche as you want) that consider patterns, needs, and demographic information.  And it’s so effective. When SMBs offer a personalized experience, they boost customer satisfaction and loyalty, improve retention rates, and increase their overall Customer Lifetime Value (CLV).   Why? Because most of their competitors can’t bring the same experience to the table. Brings sales opportunities  SMBs with stretched budgets and resources need as many sales opportunities as possible. They simply cannot afford to miss anything.   But keeping track of all your customers, what products they use, what they need, what they don’t want can be a formidable task for whoever handles sales in your business.   Which means that sales opportunities will be missed.   Maybe not all, but some. And that is costly.   Automation is built to combine customer data and CRM to spot sales opportunities, and this goes beyond personalized marketing.   The system will take contract terms, customer usage, competitor offerings, and customer behavior and engagement, to spot what types of products and offering combination would better suit each customer’s situation.   So if the solution noticed the customer wasn’t using a particular product, or there’s a new product that would better meet their needs, the system will create a special offering, and channel it to the customer at the best time.   All sorted out for you.   It’s a proactive approach that not only revs up your sales, but makes customers happier, because who doesn’t love something created just for you?  Better financial management  It’s challenging for an SMB to keep up with the financial side.   With subscriptions, manual invoicing alone takes up a huge chunk of an accountant’s time. And they’re also expected to:  chase sales and customer service for contract terms and usage   create and send invoices  change any incorrect invoices   collect and chase payments  reconcile back to the ledger  recognize revenue  create reports for strategic decision-making   predict cash flow trends   assure financial compliance   prepare for audits   pay inbound invoices   All this accurately and on time.   And take reliable numbers to stakeholder meetings. That’s a lot for a small team with no tools.   But automation can take care of all these tasks and ensures it’s all on time and error-free. And on top of that, you’ve got numbers you can take to the bank. And your business will stay compliant, so those vulnerabilities to fees, fines, and lawsuits are no more.  Automation can completely change how your SMB operates and bring you all these benefits.   But we know you’ve still got one big concern about it.   The Problem of Money   It’s likely that you love the idea of automation, but you’re worried about the cost. After all, your budgets and resources are already stretched.   And making the leap is a lot easier than you think when you consider ROI.   Here’s what you get in both the short and long-term (insert links to relevant articles on the site):   Lower costs - Automation reduces the need for additional staffing related to the automated processes (even if you scale). It minimizes payroll and sales expenses. It spots cost-saving opportunities thanks to data analysis.  Efficiency gains - everything runs more smoothly, and all repetitive tasks are taken care of.   An end to revenue leakage - because invoicing is correct and timely, you’ll never suffer from the revenue leakage caused by forgotten invoices and under-invoicing.   Better sales - opportunities are spotted and created, so your inbound revenue is higher   Higher customer satisfaction and retention - personalization and data insight give your customers the experience they want and stick around for. You won’t have to rely on high-cost acquisition because your churn will be lowered.   Saving money and boosting inbound revenue in both the short and long-term is an irresistible prospect.   If you can see the value, which solution should you choose?  What Dynamics 365 Business Central + Bluefort Automation Does for You   Business Central is the perfect ERP system that automates so much for SMBs. It's also flexible and it grows with you.   Bluefort are experts in automated recurring revenue. We can implement Business Central for you with all the customization you need to get the most out of everything the platform automates.    We're here to help you:   free your time and resources   cut costs and churn  build your customer base   bring in more revenue   expand your business  make your life a lot easier.  D365 Business Central and Bluefort are a comprehensive solution that delivers the best that automation has to give to your SMB.  By implementing these powerful tools, your SMB can not only reduce churn but also foster long-term customer loyalty and growth.  Conclusion   The constant pressure of running an SMB with stretched budget is stressful. There are so many challenges you must solve, without the resources that you need to do so.   But it doesn’t have to be like this.   You can get so much out of automation. Like enhanced efficiency, cut costs and churn, higher customer satisfaction, optimized processes, and better productivity.   You’ll get a sense of predictability and stability, and the time you need to focus on the future.   If you’re ready to take the next step and find out how Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central + Bluefort can change your SMB for the better, book a discovery call today! 

Customer churn is dangerous problem, particularly for SMBs with memberships or subscriptions. It can cause substantial financial loss and damage that an SMB could struggle to recover from. This article covers what churn is, what causes it, and how it impacts a business. It then gives seven strategies SMBs can action to cut churn. It also shows a step SMBs can take to have these strategies performed for them.   In this article: What is customer churn?  Causes for churn specifically for SMBs  Dangers of churn for SMBs  7 strategies for tackling churn   How Dynamics 365 Business Central and Bluefort can help For a subscription-offering small or medium-sized business (SMB), every customer counts.   That’s why every time you lose one, it feels like a big deal. And when you lose a few? You can go into damage control mode.   It’s no wonder; churn can cost you both money and growth.   Customer churn is something that an SMB will always have to worry about, unless they have the right strategies and tools to tackle it and turn things around.   This article will talk through what churn is, the causes, the impacts and strategies you can use to negotiate churn once and for all.   Let’s dive into the details.  What is Customer Churn?  Churn is a measurement of the loss of customers over a certain amount of time, usually annually or quarterly.   Here’s how it’s calculated: Choose a time period to evaluate and find the original and end number of customers over that time. Then use this formula:   Number of Lost Customers / Total Customers at the Start of Time Period) × 100 = Churn Rate   An SMB needs to keep an eye on the rate, because churn is like a leak in a boat. First it can feel like a little dribble. But eventually there's a tipping point and it's too late to stop.   The first step to tackling churn is understanding what it is. And the second step? Knowing what causes churn.   Causes of Churn Specifically for SMBs  Why do customers leave SMBs?  We work with SMBs of all kinds. 9 times out of 10, churn isn't technically their fault. They just lack the resources to avoid these problems.    Here are the most common causes from the circumstances we hear:   They don’t see the value: You know the value of your products and business because you’ve worked so hard to build it. But that value isn't obvious to customers. They act only if they know they’re getting value for money.   They’re not engaged with you: When customers don’t talk to you (through social media or staying in touch with questions or feedback), chances are they don't feel attached to your brand.   They notice your competitors: SMBs often don’t have the resources to study competitors or fight them off. But better-equipped competitors can swoop in and poach customers with temporary offers and discounts, or better service.   Mistakes and bad customer service: When an SMB’s resources are stretched, mistakes happen in things like invoicing or contract terms. Customer service might be stretched, or not available 24-7.    Their reality doesn’t meet the expectation: We can fully intend to fulfil promises when we make them. But circumstances change. And then you’re stuck, unable to fulfil, which breaks trust. According to YouGov, 31% of consumers have switched brands because a company was lying about product performance   The good news is that all of these problems can be tackled and solved. But before that, it’s important to look at the impacts of churn. If these causes of customer churn aren’t tackled, what are the problems your SMB is vulnerable to?  Dangers of Churn for SMBs  Churn can damage your SMB’s health and sustainability.   Churn makes your customer acquisition cost go through the roof because you miss out on the benefit of repeat purchases. This forces you to acquire new customers, which costs five times as much as retaining a customer you already have.   This demands you beef up your already limited marketing budget, which means less budget for another part of the business, like product development, training, infrastructure, or employee quality.   And there’s no guarantee it’s going to work either.   Churn wears away your long-term inbound revenue streams. You need a predictable income; it’s absolutely key to your financial stability.   But when a customer leaves, you lose the Customer Lifetime Value too. That’s the amount you would get from them over a long period of time.   That lost revenue will force you into hyper-work mode, struggling to catch-up and find that inbound revenue money somewhere. You may struggle to be able to focus on anything else.   In fact, it can impact your overall operational efficiency because marketing, sales, and customer service now must scramble and figure out what to do, then spend extra time doing it. That’s less time and focus on building a strong customer experience and long-term relationships with them.   It can also siphon off mental and emotional energy, so you haven’t got the ability to problem-solve and make decisions. SMB workers are particularly susceptible to burnout so it’s important to be careful about anything that can cause it.    You’ll also be vulnerable to reputational damage. When customers leave a business, they have a tendency to tell friends and family, and write online reviews.    Without a good reputation, you’ll get stuck in a loop where you can’t attract the new customers you need to help improve your reputation.    Any of these impacts can have a big effect on the stability of your SMB. And if you’re suffering from multiple impacts, you probably already feel unstable.   What can you do to put your SMB back on the path to stability and cut down customer churn for good?  7 Strategies for Tackling Churn  As an SMB, you need to be able to take action to solve a problem fast.   Here are the 7 most important strategies you can use to improve your customer churn rate:  1. Don’t ignore your data. Use it. Customer data sits there in your system waiting to be used. It can provide invaluable insights into customer behavior, buying patterns, segments, and engagement levels.   And specifically, it helps predict churn by spotting at-risk customers (and larger patterns) so that you can proactively take care of issues before customers go.    2. Make it personal: Customers both value and expect a personalized experience. They will give loyalty to a brand that makes them feel valued and understood. Using that data, you can create entirely unique in everything from communication, offerings, pricing, customer service, loyalty programs and everything in between.   3. Roll out the red carpet: Customers should feel beyond valued and appreciated. Invest in your customer service rep (or team). Give them the training and resources they need to make sure that every customer problem is either anticipated or sorted out right away.   And tap into the value of customers’ feedback - that information is gold because they’re telling you what they want. It also reinforces brand positivity.   4. Mean what you say: Sometimes black swans happen. Unexpected events can stretch your SMB’s resources, push back deadlines, etc. That can’t be helped. But when it comes to regular communication about your products and services, mean what you say.   Don’t overpromise on product offering, launch dates, performance, or whatever else. It instantly destroys trust and once they leave it can be hard to get them back.   When you treat trust as something that’s non-negotiable, it will never backfire on you. So when things go wrong, communicate with your customers and offer solutions. Don’t wait till they contact you wondering what’s happening.   5. Reward loyalty: We live in a world where we don’t see a lot of loyalty. And when we do, there isn’t a lot of reward for it. So be different from most SMBs. Reward your loyal customers with specialized discounts, exclusive offers and products, and early access to your new offerings.   The more special and appreciated you make your customers feel, the more likely they are to stay. Why would they go anywhere else?  6. Stay flexible with subscriptions: Subscriptions are a great way to build long-term relationships with your customers (link) because you stay in constant communication with them. They’re regularly exposed to the value of your products and brand.   When you do offer subscriptions, give control to the customers who want it. Flexible subscriptions allow them to change or pause when they need it so that  they won’t have to cancel outright. It’s an extra that helps avoid churn.   7. Keep an eye on your competition: It can be hard to cut down on churn if you don’t know what your industry landscape is like. What are your competitors doing? What advantages do they have over you? What are weaknesses? And how are you different to them.   Competitors can be ruthless. They’ll comb through your social media and the comments people leave on it. They’ll study your reviews. They look at message boards to find what people are saying about you. Then they scoop down and poach those customers with what they’re looking for. Can you do the same back?  After looking at this list, you might be thinking, “My resources are already stretched to the limit. How on earth am I supposed to add all these to the pile of work we already have?”  And you wouldn’t be wrong. It is a lot of work. Unless you have a tool that can do everything for you.   How Dynamics 365 Business Central and Bluefort Can Help  Imagine a little fairy who can swoop down, wave their wand, and take away the work for you and your team.   Sounds impossible. But that’s what the right cutting-edge solution will do.   Business Central is the perfect ERP system for SMBs. It's flexible and it grows with you.   And Bluefort are the recurring revenue experts. We can implement Business Central for you with all the customization you need to get the most out of it.   Here's what the combination brings:   Better analytics: Reliable, in-depth analytics to pinpoint customers who are at-risk of leaving your business. Then it creates tailored suggestions for offers and interactions to keep them on-side.  Complete revenue recognition: No matter what the terms, how often customers change their contracts, or how fast you're scaling.   Personalization: Customers are analyzed and segmented giving an experience that's as personalized as possible. Each customer gets the pricing models, offerings, and communications that they want, when they want it.    Feedback and loyalty: Feedback collection avoids nasty surprises. You won’t have to wonder what they want or what they’re thinking. And you can give them the bonus of loyalty programs specifically created for them and their needs. That puts you in a proactive instead of reactive position.  Customer service that stands out: The tools will integrate the personalized customer experience with what your customer service teams need to ensure that any problems that arise can be dealt with fast.  Flexible subscriptions and memberships: Easy subscription management, giving customers the flexibility they need to stay with your business.  Accurate, timely, and optimized processes and operations: Silos between sales, finance, and customer service silos are gone. So are the delays and mistakes they cause. In their place you have streamlined and automated information flow and operations- from contract terms, to invoicing, payments, reconciliation, reporting, and compliance.   You'll finally have the time to focus on creating more amazing products, building relationships, and creating collaborations.   It’s not often that something that is complex, like customer churn, can be made simple with one decision.   But with the right tools, you can end up working less and in a much better position with your customers.   And it can get better as you scale too.   Conclusion  Cutting customer churn is about more than just hanging on to your customers.   It’s about building the types of relationships with your base that last the test of time by consistently demonstrating the value of your products and your brand.   That comes down to seeing what causes the churn in your SMB, and getting down to those strategies before too much damage is done.   You can have growth. You can enjoy excellent relationships with your customers.   You just need the right tools. And the D365 Business Central and Bluefort combination equips you with the way to cut churn and thrive against your competitors.   Curious to learn more? Ready to tackle churn head-on? Request a Discovery Call with our team today! 

The article talks through what small-to-medium-sized businesses (SMBs) have to gain from bringing a subscription model onboard. It also highlights some of the obstacles that transitioning to a subscription model can bring, as well as advice on how to overcome them. And finally, it makes recommendations for solutions that can take care of these stresses so that SMBs avoid overburdening themselves.    In this article What Subscriptions Can Bring Your SMB  How to Get Ready for Subscriptions One Thing Can Do It All For You  What Dynamics 365 Business Central + Bluefort Does for You It can be extremely challenging to run a small-to-medium-sized business. Stretched resources, competition, and a host of other problems can contribute to shaky revenue.   And that’s the last thing an SMB needs.   Most of the time, a great product offering isn’t enough. You need to be able to offer your products in the way the customer wants to buy them.   And for a lot of businesses, that means subscriptions. But if you aren’t used to a subscription model, it might feel a little overwhelming. How do you know where to begin? Or figure out which type of model is right for you?     That’s why we’ve written this article. Not only are we a subscription company, but we work with SMBs that offer subscriptions. We understand the issues and approaches that can work best.   We also know how subscriptions can enhance your business and boost your bottom line.   Keen to find out more? Read on.   What Subscriptions Can Bring Your SMB  You might suffer from the most common problems SMBs face, including unstable revenue, high customer churn, a lack of predictability, and not connecting with your customer despite your best efforts.   Fortunately, these are things that subscriptions can help solve.   Here are some of the benefits that subscriptions can bring to your business:  1. Customer insight that will help you reach them where they are: Sometimes understanding what customers want feels as easy as throwing darts blindfolded.  Customers can be fickle. They can be easily poached. They cost money to get or keep.   But there is a cheat code- your customer data. Harnessing data helps your business because it gives insights on demographics, preferences, buying habits and behavior, and feedback. It puts you in your customers’ minds.   Data gives the information you need to personalize your offerings and effectively communicate with them.  2. Customer convenience, loyalty, long-term value: Subscriptions also bring value and convenience. Customers don’t have to remember to nip to the store, or re-order, or try to remember which website they bought what from. The products just show up.  And subscriptions bring even more convenience with self-service customer portals, which give them the opportunity to control their accounts, what they have, what to order, and what to add-on. That relieves pressure off your sales team.   You can also offer a loyalty program that will keep your customers feeling engaged and appreciated.   Because subscriptions have a long-term customer relationship built into the concept, it’s a great chance to show them the value of your products/services and your brand. There’s a far better chance of lengthening your Customer Lifetime Value, which will bring in a lot more revenue.  3. Stable revenue: Inconsistent sources of revenue, like the kind you get from one-off purchases, make it really tough to predict when money’s coming in. And that has multiple knock-on effects. It’s harder to rely on your numbers and future projections. It makes strategic decisions tough. It can create supply chain problems, because when you can predict what you’ll sell, you’re vulnerable to over and under-selling.   But with subscriptions, you’ll have a revenue stream that is consistent and much easier to predict. That means better cash flow management.   That guaranteed income makes it more possible (and easier) to meet your own bills and reinvest in your business.  You’ll be far more likely to get off the financial rollercoaster.  4. More selling opportunities: Subscriptions give additional opportunities for revenue that you don’t see in one-off purchases.  There’s a wide range of options you can offer your customers including upselling and cross-selling, upgrades, changes in plans to better meet needs. All of these are great opportunities to continue to show the value of your brand, and to boost your CLV.  5. Scalability: You know what it’s like to be pinched if too many customers make too many one-off purchases at the same time.  It’s not like that with subscriptions, as long as you have your subscription management down. Though there might be small changes like upgrades or add-ons here and there, for the most part you’ll know where you stand.   So when new customers jump on board, you’ll know what’s expected of you and your teams. You can expand offerings across your country, greater regions, and internationally without needing a huge amount of investment.    And you won’t get that panic caused by stock problems.   These benefits sound great, right? And this is just the beginning.   But if you’re now more interested in bringing subscriptions, your thoughts will probably turn to how to get your SMB ready to bring in the model.   How to Get Ready for Subscriptions     There are a few things you can do to prepare for subscription success   To confirm that your SMB is ready, discover what your customers want. You can do this through personalized messaging, wider surveys, and even focus groups. These can help you find out what types of product offerings, terms, and subscription models will appeal most.  No matter how small or large your SMB team, they’ll need to be prepared and ready for change. Subscriptions operate in a different way, and although they are more stable and predictable than one-off sales, they will require some adaptation. So have a closer look at:   inventory management and fulfilment   ability to scale  subscription management including sales, customer service and finance teams ready   billing, payment, and reconciliation processes  reporting and strategy processes   knowing which types of pricing models will work best with your products and customers.   It’s important to be aware which subscription models you’ll choose. And whatever the nature of your products and services, your customers will need to know about them.  Whether these customers are in your fold already, or you’re aiming to acquire them, they will need to be confident about your offering’s value. That means that even if your SMB is smaller, you’ll need a strong strategy for marketing and customer support on hand.     Of course, it’s also important to check what kinds of regulatory and compliance issues will arise. And not just for your industry; the recurring billing and customer data protection guidelines have to be clear, understood and heeded.   Clarity is a non-negotiable. Contract terms, including cancellation policies, need to be as transparent as possible to avoid legal complications.  And similarly, subscriptions bring the complexity of recurring billing and consistent recognized revenue. It piles on to the responsibilities of your finance person/team because they will have additional processes like different billing cycles, keeping track of changes to subscriptions, issuing correct and timely invoices and handling payments.   For SMBs this can be a big issue, especially if your team is stretched already.    Before you go any further. We’d wage that your brain might be scrambled; after all, this sounds like an immediate drain on the already-stretched resources you have.   And we agree. At first glance, it’s a huge amount to do.   The good news is this. You can get all the benefits that subscriptions have to bring WHILE not draining your SMB of the time and resources it already lacks.   It really can be done. And easily. Curious to find out how?  One Thing Can Do It All For You  You need a simple software solution that takes care of everything for you.     Here’s what the right automated subscription management can do for your SMB:    Operations optimized: It covers the end-to-end from marketing, to recommending the best subscription models and offerings, integrating with your supply chain system to ensure a reliable flow of products, and ensuring streamlined delivery where relevant. The silos between your sales, finance, customer service, and any other operations teams are gone for good. Information will free flow. No more chasing or errors.   Data crunched and customers put front and center: AI-driven advanced analytics make the most of the customer data sitting in your system. You'll learn your customers’ wants, needs, and behavior so that you can give them the experience they want. It can also segments your base so that you know who you’re targeting and how. This creates a personalized experience for each customer with no additional time required of you.    Sales sales sales: You and your workers won’t have to get frustrated over lost sales opportunities. Automated marketing campaigns (built on segments) will send personalized offerings, combinations, loyalty programs, etc. It will also spot areas that are ripe for improvement and track contracts and terms to recommend renewals, add-ons, and upgrades at the best time.  Revenue and finance sorted out: You need a system that can handle recurring billing and recognized revenue. Without it, subscriptions could break you and your team! Subscription management automates billing, payment reminders, collection, and reconciliation. And you’ll have the reports you need to get ready for audits, strategy, and decision-making.  Know how you’re performing: SMBs don’t have the time to monitor Key Performance Indicators. But with software you’ll get a consistent monitoring of how your products and business are doing. You’ll get reliable insight into what you need to change to get better results.  Security and compliance: A good solution pulls together financial, data and regulatory compliance. The last thing an SMB needs is to fall out compliance, vulnerable to hefty fines, and loss of customers and trust.  It’s a great list to start. And you end up with a new revenue stream, and more resources and time.   What Dynamics 365 Business Central + Bluefort Bring   Business Central is the perfect ERP system that automates so much for SMBs. It's also flexible and it grows with you.   Bluefort are experts in automated recurring revenue, which is essential for a successful subscription model. We can implement Business Central for you with all the customization you need to get the most out of everything the platform automates.  We're here to help you:   free your time and resources   automate subscription financial processes   cut costs and churn  build your customer base   bring in more revenue   expand your business  make your life a lot easier.  D365 Business Central and Bluefort are a comprehensive solution that delivers the best that subscriptions have to give to your SMB.  You get end-to-end subscription management, which pulls everything together for you and your workers.   That means you bring in all the benefits of bringing in the subscription model, with less work involved.   If you’re ready to bring subscriptions into your SMB, why not learn more about how it could help your unique SMB and circumstances?   

Addressing Inventory Challenges with Subscription Management Tools Retailers must continually contend with the complexity of inventory management. But when they also operate on a subscription model, they must navigate the intricacies of subscription management, which further compounds the difficulties. Is there a way out? This article explores these issues, highlighting the pitfalls of manual processes and the costly consequences of inefficiencies. It then talks through how automation can turn inventory obstacles into opportunities for customer satisfaction and growth.Retailers who have a subscription model understand the benefits it brings. But without the right tools, it brings challenges too. Especially when it comes to inventory. If you’re suffering with this scenario, you’re probably nodding your head because you understand how difficult things can get. But you don’t have to worry because we understand your dilemma. We’ve worked with subscription companies for a long time, and we know what works. This article will plunge into your biggest inventory problems, and then shed light on the best solutions about how to deliver lower costs, operational efficiency and sustainable growth. The Problems With Inventory Though subscription-based retailing gives a business a reliable revenue stream, it ups the pressure on inventory management. There are some of the biggest hurdles in the manual processes we see out there: Accurately predicting subscriber demand: Subscription retail is not like the one-off purchase of traditional retail. This is about anticipating continual demand for products/services over a long time. And this requires forecasting the number of new and existing subscribers, their needs, AND predicting how much customer churn there will be. When subscriber demand is miscalculated, that means overstocking or shortages. Personalising: Customers expect personalised experiences, which demands that retailers keep inventory that’s diverse enough to please all individual customer behaviour and preferences, but not too much that they suffer from overstock. Delivery management: Recurring deliveries require good, consistent coordination from stock to fulfilment. What makes it tricky is that customers change their agreements- they add things on, the change their orders, they downsize, they push back their renewals, or cancel early. That’s like walking a tightrope without a balancing pole. Supply chain disruptions: Everyone’s vulnerable to supply chain problems. But it’s much more difficult for subscription retailers, because their customers expect fulfilment on time, over and over. And when there are delays, no matter how legit the reason, customers run to the competition. Why wouldn’t they? Returns and exchanges: Hear that? It was a collective scream from every subscription retailer out there at the mention of those words. They’re not so bad in real life. But with subscriptions, it can have a knock-on impact on not only stock, but a yearly or monthly fee. Trends and seasonality: It doesn’t matter how steady the stream of revenue subscriptions bring in - if the retail offering pays no attention to seasonality and trends, it spells trouble. Change is the name of the game in retail, so subscription offerings need to be as agile as possible. Scaling: The idea of growing the customer base can be terrifying for teams that are barely keeping up as it is. Scaling means expanding product offerings and warehouse space. That’s more risk. More time. More chances for mistakes. More financial loss. Each of these problems leads to higher costs, inefficient operations, unhappy customers and churn. If this sounds like you, and you need to tackle and eliminate these inventory challenges, you’re going to need the right subscription management tools. It’s the only way to grow full steam ahead with your customers. Here’s the only thing you need Though there are multiple tools that can help you with your subscription retail inventory woes, they’re all powered by one thing - automation. Here's what the best automated subscription management solutions can give you: Advanced complex demand forecasts: AI-driven analysis looks at historical data, subscriber behavior, trends, and seasonal changes to predict future demand with a lot more accuracy. That cuts way back on expensive overstock and stockout crises. Customization capabilities: An automated CRM helps you track individual customer preferences and purchasing history, create micro-segments, and customises and personalizes the offerings your business gives to each customer. Management of recurring delivery: Streamlined and automated scheduling and tracking of recurring deliveries clear the decks for you. This includes adjusting inventory levels based on renewal dates, frequency of deliveries, and term changes. Cut back on human error. Let your customers get their products on time, every time. Supply chain visibility: Real-time visibility helps your business stay agile and proactive, instead of reactive. Monitoring stock levels at different stages and locations helps you negotiate any disruptions before they impact your subscribers. Simplified returns/exchanges: When this is automated (and integrated with your inventory) you will always be able to efficiently handle returns and exchanges. Inventory levels and subscriber accounts will be updated. Customers will be a lot happier. Scalability: You’ll welcome growth because logistically it won’t matter how much or how fast you grow. Boost your warehouses and offering. Integrate with your other business systems and get the seamless end-to-end operational flow. It’s the one all-encompassing solution to overcome inventory challenges. You get everything when and where you need it. You’ll cut operational and error-related costs. You’ll stabilise your supply chain and delivery process. You’ll crush customer churn. And you’ll have the time and ability to scale as much as you want. Conclusion The business of retail subscriptions is not for the faint of heart. That’s why you need more than just a great product offering. You need more than an excellent product offering. You need things to run themselves instead of letting them run you. Why not use automation to turn your inventory obstacles into opportunities? Leverage the technology that’s waiting for you so that you’ll have the time to take your subscription retail business to the next level.

Streamlining Operations: How Subscription Management Solutions Ease Retailers' Administrative Burdens Retailers face a unique combination of challenges. They must perform despite operating in one of the most competitive industries, and customer demand that can shift day-by-day. Stakeholders need some sense of stability, and subscription-based models offer that, by creating revenue potential while easing administrative burdens. This article discusses the top retail administrative burdens and how a subscription management solution brings relief while boosting growth and competitiveness. In this article: Complex Inventory Management Inefficient Billing Processes Customer Management Challenges Regulatory Compliance Reporting and Analytics Difficulty in Scaling Operations How Subscription Management Solutions Can Solve These Burdens Let’s face it - between the competition, economic instability, and constantly shifting customer demand, retail is one of the most challenging industries out there.   That’s why retail businesses operating on a subscription model, are always looking for ways to cut operational costs while boosting customer experience and loyalty, especially when it comes to admin.   The best retail administration is important because if it’s inefficient, it will cause a chain reaction in everything else in operations. And the end result?   Best-case scenario? Stifled growth. Worst-case scenario? Competitors close in, costly mistakes are made, and the business potentially closes.   No one wants either of those scenarios. So what’s the picture like?   What are the Top Administrative Burdens?  If you asked anyone working in retail admin what their biggest challenges are, they’d probably ask “How long have you got?”.   And when your retail business has a subscription model, it can magnify the burden on your admin team.   But these are the ones we hear about the most:  1. Complex Inventory Management Cause: Manual tracking methods and lack of real-time data. Anyone who worked inventory through the pandemic knows how everything can change at the drop of a hat. It’s difficult to continually maintain accurate stock levels across various sales channels (online, brick and mortar), throughout different seasons, launches, new competitors, and keeping up with trends. That’s why both overstocking and stock shortages are fairly common, and both are costly because there are lost sales opportunities, higher storage and depreciation costs, and disappointed customers turning to competitors. 2. Inefficient Billing Processes Cause: Reliance on outdated systems and manual data entry. We’re shivering just thinking about it. Thousands of hours are wasted thanks to handling recurring billing, invoicing, and payment processing manually. And the more the transactions, the more errors are likely. According to findings by Ascend, almost 40% of manually processed invoices have errors in them. And errors are costly- each paper invoice error costs a business around $53 to fix. And it snowballs. When there are errors, that means customer disputes, late payments, and worst of all - damaging customer trust. Imagine the overall costs if the retail admin team is processing hundreds or thousands of invoices a week or month. 3. Customer Management Challenges Causes: Fragmented data and lack of automation and analysis. With growth comes complexity in managing all your customer information and the subscriptions you have. It’s exhausting to manually keep customer records up-to-date. But if they’re out of date, you risk inefficient communication as well as problems with service and product delivery. When the customer experience is subpar, sales opportunities are missed. Customers get frustrated. And churn can go through the roof, no matter how hard the admin team is working. 4. Regulatory Compliance Cause: Evolving regulations and manual compliance processes. It’s a nightmare to have to ensure compliance to regulations and guidelines with data protection, financial reporting, and buying/selling across regions, countries and continents. No matter how efficient a team, it’s nearly impossible (and very expensive) to keep up. But it’s costly not to. Non-compliance means hefty fines, legal problems, and damage to your reputation. 5. Reporting and Analytics Cause: Disparate data sources and lack of integrated analytics tools. Good forecasts are absolutely essential to a retail business. Leveraging business data to help decision-makers is one of the most important ingredients to competitiveness. When siloed data is stuck in manual and legacy systems, you can’t get the actionable insights you need about your business performance or customer behavior. That means you can’t plan. You miss opportunities for growth in your base and efficiency in your operations. You can’t figure out how to capitalize on trends or get an advantage over your competition. And you won’t be able to tailor your offerings to meet collective and individual customer needs. 6. Difficulty in Scaling Operations Cause: Manual processes that do not scale efficiently with business growth. Everyone wants their business to grow. But it adds another layer of challenges for those manual processes. It’s hard to avoid bottlenecks once orders and/or the customer base. Delays in processing orders and subscriptions. Missing out on market opportunities. Missing customer demands. It all, painfully and ironically, damages the very growth you’re building. All of these are serious problems. They cost your business money, chase customers away, and wreak havoc on your brand. Fortunately, there are plenty of things you can do to turn things around. 7. How Subscription Management Solutions Can Solve These Burdens We’re going to cut to the chase because we see this all the time. There’s one umbrella for all the subscription management solutions that can turn things around for the retail admin team: automation. Here are all the ways one automation solution works: Inventory Management: This ensures reliable, real-time tracking of stock. Automatic restocking (or alerts) minimises the risk of both overstocking or stock shortages. You get better accuracy, lower overheads, and happier customers who get what they need. Streamlined Billing and Payment Processing: Cut the time and effort that’s wasted in manual processes. Automation delivers invoicing that’s consistent and accurate. No more manual errors. No more putting out fires. No more delayed payments. You get better cash flow AND as a bonus, your customers enjoy better (and easier!) payment options. Centralized Customer Management: When legacy data is centralised in a single system, it’s a strong foundation for efficiency and service quality. Not only can you automate personalised communication, but you personalise the experience of each customer too. Customer relationships get a lot stronger because they’re happier. And upselling and cross-selling customer opportunities are no longer lost. Compliance Management: Quite simply, automation keeps track of all the changing guidelines and laws across as many locations as you serve. Everything’s monitored and customer data is secured. No more penalties. No more damage to your reputation or your ability to legally trade. And you build customer trust because of your commitment to secure and ethical practices. Reports and Analytics: Untapping the data with automation gives you valuable insights into sales, customer behavior, and operations. That’s how to get the best information for the best decision-making. You’ll know where you can improve, plan, optimise your operations, beat your competitors, and spot the opportunities for growth. Scaling: Automation facilitates the growth you want, because when a system is scalable, it doesn’t matter how many new customers or transactions or complexity you have. You’ll always be able to adapt and grow in response to market demands. When you get to tackle these areas with automation, you and your team will finally overcome all the costly problems that have been plaguing you. Sounds fantastic, right? Conclusion We can all agree- retail’s tough. That’s why you need as many advantages as possible. It isn’t often that one solution can handle all your retail admin problems. So why not take advantage of it, and knock out your biggest challenges in one go? When you ease your administrative burdens, you’re finally allowed to focus on what you want to - giving your customers the best products and experience.