Daylite for iPad | Mobile Access for Business Users in Australia

Daylite Touch is now optimised for iPad!  This is a fully functional version of Daylite now running native on iPad! Now you really can leave your laptop behind and keep perfect company communications - right from your Daylite iPad application.

The iPad has revolutionised the way we interact in business! The concept of instant communication, instant switch on, complete mobility, mobile ease of view etc -  these are the iPad elements and functions that attract us and are driving our usage.

Now Daylite and iPad are a perfect fit! Daylite is all about instant communication, complete business control, mobile interactivity and ease of presentation.

Now they have all come together in one comprehensive iPad application.

For existing Daylite uses this interface will be a delight to use. For new Daylite uses you can now experience the power of Daylite right from your iPad.

Check out some of the excellent features you can now experience taking full advantage of the beautiful iPad display at Marketcircle.

Retailers building their own iPod touch, iPad POS systems -Apple EasyPay, LightSpeed Mobile

By Daniel Eran Dilger

Published: 06:00 PM EST

Apple's open, third party iOS ecosystem is enabling retailers to build mobile point of sale devices based on the iPod touch independently of the EasyPay solution used in its own retail stores, with new retail applications of the iPad also in progress.

Yesterday, a report published by the 9 to 5 blog claiming that Gap "was piloting Apple's iPod-based POS system at a few of our Old Navy stores" erroneously concluded that Apple was marketing the custom mobile software it had developed internally for its own retail stores in a test pilot with other retailers.

Other retailers are indeed using the same hardware sled Apple uses, a third party product built buy Infinite Peripherals and called the "Linea Pro," which adds a barcode scanner, credit card magnetic strip reader and a rechargeable battery pack to Apple's iPod touch. 

However, the software Apple uses to drive its EasyPay device is an iOS app custom-designed to work with the company's Oracle 360Commerce backend retail software. This highly custom bit of mobile software is of limited value to other retailers, but the retail experience exemplified in Apple's retail stores and delivered by the iPod touch is very attractive to other merchants, who are now working to build their own retail solutions using Apple's iOS devices.

According to Global Bay CEO Sandeep Bhanote, other major retailers are not only commissioning their own POS solutions based on the iPod touch, but are also looking at Apple's iPad as both a retail kiosk and as a tool for delivering personalized shopping services for high-end clients. Global Bay has worked closely with Apple's enterprise team to implement an iOS-based mobile retail system for Guess Jeans, using the same hardware Apple uses in its own retail stores.

There's an app for that

In an interview with AppleInsider, Bhanote described two classes of products aimed at bringing mobile payment systems to businesses. On the low end, the San Jose, Calif. based VeriFone has introduced PAYware Mobile, a service that combines an iOS app, a custom credit card swipe peripheral for the iPhone and the backend support required to bring simple credit card transactions to small businesses.

In September, Xsilva began offering a solution for small businesses called LightSpeed Mobile, which ties mobile terminals using the iPod touch and a Linea Pro sled to a Mac OS X desktop appellation. Similarly, PayPal also delivers a direct payment app for iOS that doesn't require a physical credit card, and Apple is rumored to be working to bring contact-free payments to iOS devices using NFC technology.

For large, established retailers however, mobile point of sale devices must do more than simply ring up transactions; they also need to tie into their existing backend software. Bhanote said major retailers are facing the issue of "how do i take this old dinosaur technology and make it relevant to my store?" Global Bay's solution interfaces the iPod touch with whatever backend system a retailer might be using, preventing them from needing to embark upon a major upgrade of their backend point of sale infrastructure just to make use of new mobile terminals.

The origins of Apple's EasyPay app

It's no surprise that Apple would pioneer the use of its own hardware to modernize retail transactions in its own stores. According to aposting by Oracle's "Insight-Driven Retailing Blog," development of Apple's EasyPay app was originally led by David Francis, a consultant with a decade of experience in building enterprise software for the Mac OS X Cocoa platform.

Apple approached Francis in the spring of 2008, just as the company was releasing its initial software development kit for the new iPhone and iPod touch. "No one had ever built anything like it on an Apple mobile device," Francis stated in an interview about the project.

"Armed with our knowledge of the Apple platform," Francis explained, "we set out to build something that was world class. It had to be fast, it had to be secure, and it had to be sexy. We went through many iterations of the technology and the user interface to give it that Apple look and feel and superior ease of use. Our efforts were rewarded when the system was rolled out. As sales associates started adopting it, they indicated that it was very intuitive and light years ahead of their old system."

The hardware behind Apple's EasyPay iPod touch

The development of Apple's EasyPay software began just after Apple was approached by Infinite Peripherals, which was already in the business of building magnetic strip readers for Palm Treo, Windows Mobile, and RIM BlackBerry devices.

According to a report by ifoAppleStore, Infinite Peripherals' chief executive Jeffrey Scott approached Apple's retail team in January 2008 at the National Retail Federation conference, saying, "I noticed you are using a competitors product in your stores."

Since 2005, Apple had been using hardware devices built by Symbol (now a subsidiary of Motorola) and running Microsoft's Windows CE, but that hardware was fraught with problems, including frequent crashes and flakey WiFi support that required regular reboots.

Following its first contact with Apple, Infinite Peripherals began development of the iPod touch hardware sled that would later be sold as the Linea Pro. By early 2009, the design of the new hardware peripheral was nearly complete but it was running into a limitation of iOS that was fortuitously shattered by Apple's release of 3.0, which debuted new support allowing hardware peripherals to communicate with iOS devices via their 30-pin Dock connector.

Production of the new hardware began mid-2009, with about 10,000 devices reaching stores for training and and inaugural launch that occurred last November. The combination of the iPod touch, Francis' custom internal app, and the Infinite Peripherals sled greatly enhanced the experience of Apple's retail store employees. "It’s like going from a tricycle to a Lamborghini," Scott said of Apple's response to the EasyPay upgrade.

Opportunities for expansion

Francis, Apple's original EasyPay development consultant, has since started his own venture, named Touch2Systems. It offers iOS mobile point of sale systems for retailers, restaurants, hotels and inventory management.

Beyond retail applications, the Linea Pro sled for the iPod touch is already designed to read "all three of the industry-standard magnetic stripe tracks used by financial, transit, telecom and driver’s license agencies," according to the ifoAppleStore report, enabling third parties to expand the applications of the iPod touch-paired unit in a variety of new directions. Apple's own EasyPay system, as well as products from Global Bay and Touch2Systems, tap into a software development kit Infinite Peripherals created for the Linea Pro to enable iOS developers to read bar codes and magnetic stripes across a wide variety of applications.

Third parties are also looking at the iPad for a variety of enterprise applications, with retailers particularly interested in its ability to captivate shoppers' attention as an informational kiosk they can directly interact with, but also as a handheld tool sales staff can use to deliver personalized experiences.

Developers also note that Apple is listening to their needs and feedback concerning its enterprise deployment tools, used to roll out, update and manage custom software across a company's fleet of iOS devices. Bhanote said Apple's support for enterprise deployment was good, particularly when considering "the short time they've been doing it."

LightSpeed POS Web Store - Email Quote with Web Link - Direct your phone sales to your online store

Like no other Point of Sale on an Apple Mac, LightSpeed's Integrated Web Store offers a unique "Email Web Store Link" feature which allows shop attendants to send by email a link to a pre populated web cart to a client with a single button click.

How would you like to be able to create a quote for a customer, then with one click email the quote with images and a web link that will immediately take them to your web store with a pre-populated web order ready to be completed and purchased!

Not only does this impress your customer, it also allows you to complete a sale through your secure web store interface. From a financial security point of view it is always better to have customers initiate their online payment through your secure payment gateway rather than through a telephone credit card transaction.

LightSpeed Web Store for Australia now integrates seamlessly with eWay to provide an effective integrated payment gateway. An integrated payment gateway is the most effective way to transact online, providing your clients with a secure and simple way to complete their online purchase with confidence and without having to ever leave your web site.

We recently had the opportunity to demonstrate this feature and many others to Australian Business Solutions at the Retail 2010 Trade Show.

Use ‘Related Items’ in LightSpeed POS to create value-add bundles and up-sells at the till

Good retailers understand the benefit of offering value-add’s instead of discounting price.  One easy way you can achieve this in LightSpeed is by setting up Related Items.  

Related Items can be used in a number of different ways:

• A Jeweler may recommend a matching necklace or bracelet of a collection when a particular item is sold
• A Bicycle Retailer may offer a service plan when a particular bicycle is sold
• A Fashion Retailer may bundle in clearance stock to add value to a sale
• An Electronics Retailer may recommend the printer cartridges when a particular printer is sold or an extended warranty program.

The Related Products drawer, opened by clicking the Related button on your Product Card window, lists the Products that have been related to the open Product. When the open Product is quoted, ordered or invoiced, a popup window listing the related Products appears, prompting the user to double-click the related Products to add them to the sales document. Related Products are a convenient way to remind salespeople to upsell an item with related accessory or warranty products. 

By configuring related products to recommend or auto add items in your Point of Sale, will make it easier for your staff to sell the right items and increase the number of items per sale.

Adding a Related Product 

To configure your related items, open the product card of the item you would like to assign related products to.


Click on "Read More" for instructions on how to set up related items

Xsilva Systems releases LightSpeed 3.3 | PCI Compliance & Multi-Store Labelling

New measures for PCI compliance and Multi-Store labelling among highlights

Montreal, Canada – November 9, 2010 – Xsilva Systems Inc., maker of a comprehensive suite of easy-to-use tools for retailers, has released LightSpeed 3.3, providing retailers with user management enhancements for PCI compliance, a new solution for Multi-Store labelling as well as numerous improvements and optimizations.

"With the new 3.3 version, LightSpeed introduces enhancements to user management in order to become fully PCI compliant," said Dax Dasilva, founder and CEO of Xsilva Systems. "Xsilva is committed to offering retailers a business solution that keeps transaction data secure and guards against the growing threat of credit card fraud."

Upgrade Information

LightSpeed 3.3 is a free upgrade for all 3.x users. For downloads and release notes, please visit www.xsilva.com/en/downloads.html

Existing users of LightSpeed 2.x can receive upgrade license keys forLightSpeed 3.3 if they had a valid Support and Upgrade Subscription as of Oct. 1, 2009, or can upgrade by renewing their subscription. For more information, please contact your local LightSpeed reseller or emailsales@xsilva.com.

For more information on LightSpeed, please visit www.xsilva.com/explore

Evernote-Livescribe integration now available on Mac

October 18, 2010 | Posted by Andrew Sinkov in Friends and Partners

We have some exciting news for all of you Mac-using Livescribers. The latest release of Livescribe Desktop for Mac comes with a hard-to-miss Evernote integration.

As you’ll see, there’s now a big Evernote icon in the Livescribe Desktop menu bar. Select the handwritten notes that you’d like to send to Evernote, click the icon and watch as they immediately sync to your Evernote account.

Livescribe smartpens

In case you missed last week’s post, Livescribe smartpens bridge the analog-digital divide by letting you handwrite your notes and then upload them to your computer. Now, all of those notes can be sent into Evernote, where they’ll become searchable and accessible from any computer or phone you use.

You can pick up your very own Livescribe smartpen through the Evernote Trunk.

Our say:  Evernote is already one of the more popular apps we like to rant about and part of the reason why its so popular with us is because they have thought of many different ways to easily add content into Evernote which syncs seamlessly across all your devices.  This is just another integration which adds a bit of extra functionality.

Quite frankly, we still like the idea of taking hand written notes in meetings and this gives us a clever way of saving those notes and the recorded audio file into Evernote so we can find them easily when we need to.

Speaker Dock Turns iPad into Tiny iMac

By Charlie Sorrel 

October 15, 2010  |  

8:12 am  |  

Categories: Accessories and Peripherals

There’s pretty much only one thing I don’t like about my iPad. While the speaker is strong and clear when it comes to iTunes and most other movie and music apps, when you watch films and TV shows in the Apple-supplied “Videos” app, the sound sucks. It’s just way too quiet. Combine that with the fact that most movie soundtracks are mastered to bring up the sound FX over the vocal track and you can see the frustration.

The PadDock 10 might fix this. It’s an iPad speaker dock with a pair of 3-Watt speakers, a dock-connector and a pair of sockets at the back for charging or syncing (via AC or USB respectively). It also lets you spin the iPad 360-degrees, and when it’s in landscape orientation it look like nothing so much as a tiny wee iMac, complete with the single aluminum foot.

As the folks at LaptopMag point out in their great video review, the PadDock 10 has no remote, but then, when will you be more than an arm’s length away, anyway?

The PadDock costs $100 and is available now.

Read More http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2010/10/speaker-dock-turns-ipad-into-tiny-imac/#ixzz12bt95eWb

Digital Pen Gives Boring Note-Taking a Modern Kick

• Livescribe Echo Smartpen
 
• Tablets and eBook Readers
 
• · $200 
• · Livescribe

Reviewed by Bryan Gardiner   ·  September 2, 2010

Looking for a way to give your note taking routine a 21st-century kick in the ass? Have a gander at the Echo.

Livescribe’s latest smartpen comes with all the insanely cool tricks of its predecessor — the Pulse —albeit in a slightly redesigned package. Packed with the same ARM 9 processor, an infrared camera, a built-in speaker and mic, the Echo lets you write, record and then seamlessly transfer all your notes (with the help of the company’s free desktop software) to your Mac or PC. Of course, you’ll still need that dot-speckled smart paper to perform this magic trick. But with a huge variety of notebook sizes and bundled options, the average student shouldn’t have to part with much beer money to get a semester’s worth of high-tech scratch pads.

While the overall system remains the same, there have been a few design tweaks to the pen itself. The Echo now comes with a smooth rubber grip plus flattened surface. This, presumably, is for added comfort and to keep your $200 super pen from rolling off your desk. Livescribe has also packed the Echo with either 4- ($170) or 8-GBs of flash memory, a much-needed boost as there’s now a host of apps to choose from in the company’s app store (many of which eat up a significant amount of space).

In lieu of the Pulse’s charging dock, the Echo now has a micro-USB connector at the top of the pen. This lets you both charge and sync your notes and recordings with your computer using the included cord. There’s also the ability to name and password protect your pen.

But the real allure of the Echo remains the way the software and hardware work together to make your life easier. Yes, there’s something immensely satisfying in seeing your deranged scrawlings rasterize onscreen. And for college students and journalists in particular, the Pencast option is quite simply a Godsend. Simply hit the record icon on the included paper and start taking notes as you usually would. Once you’ve finished the lecture/meeting/interview, you can not only replay the entire recording, but also instantly move from one section to another by simply tapping on a specific note. The pen will automatically play back the audio from that precise moment. This has the obvious benefit of helping you navigate long, meandering lectures, but it also frees you up to write random or tangential thoughts without the fear of missing important information.

Once your notes have been transferred to the Livescribe desktop software, you can choose to export them as PDFs, audio, or as a .pencast file, a hybrid format that combines both audio and video. Livescribe says that iPad, iPod Touch and iPhone apps are in the works that will allow for Pencast playback, too.

Tips for Investing in Customer Relationship Management - Entrepreneur.com

Every once in a while a piece of technology so completely revolutionizes how we do something that we nearly forget how we ever got by without it, or even what we used to call it. For example, e-mailing used to be called "writing letters." And internet searches used to be called "going to the library."

Well, the same is true of customer relationship management. Though this sounds like something businesses have been doing for centuries, the term "customer relationship management" actually refers to a category of software that is specifically designed to organize and automate sales, marketing and customer service. It's more economically known as CRM, and it's fast becoming the technology solution that businesses big and small can't do without.

Big companies have been using CRM solutions for decades. They spend millions on them in the hopes of identifying and pursuing sales leads, improving customer retention, refining marketing efforts, and serving customers better. But many a story has been written about how these big CRM implementations have gone horribly wrong. How the software didn't integrate properly with existing databases. How it was too complex to implement and use. And how end users failed to adopt the new software. In fact, the technology research firm Gartner Group once estimated that a billion dollars a year is spent on CRM software that didn't get used.

Fortunately, the risks and costs associated with adopting CRM technology for small businesses are far smaller. In fact, many small-business solutions are Web-based and charge users a monthly subscription fee rather than requiring a huge outlay of capital up front, thanks to the pioneering service offered bySalesforce.com. But even though these online services allow you to dip a toe in the CRM waters, there are many other steps a small business must take to make good on its CRM investment.

Choose it. CRM comes in many shapes and sizes, and there are thousands of services tailored to specific types of companies. It's important to choose a solution that is best for your business. For example, a magazine publisher may be interested in a service like Magazine Manager, which not only organizes and automates ad sales, but integrates with the production and circulation sides of the publishing business as well.

Use it. The No. 1 failing of CRM implementations is not convincing staff to use them. These can be very powerful tools, but they take advantage of what's called the "network multiplier effect," which is a fancy way of saying that the more people use them, the more valuable they become. Actively encourage all employees to contribute to the data and use the analyses to their benefit.

Protect it. Nothing undermines the usefulness of a CRM implementation faster than a security breach. This is customer information you're collecting here. Treat it like gold. Take all security precautions recommended by the software, and double-check the security of your network. After all, if your customers don't think you can be trusted with their personal information, they won't be your customers for long.

Maintain it. These solutions require constant care and feeding. They must be updated. Their data must be scrubbed (meaning old, inaccurate data must be removed). And they should follow a regular upgrade path to ensure maximumperformance.

If you follow these relatively straightforward rules, chances are you'll have a rewarding CRM experience. And if you don't, well, you'll be in good company.

Our say:  A CRM is only as good as the information that is being added to it.  No matter which CRM you choose, it is worth taking the time to develop your business practice and train your staff on how to use the system.  Proper training can teach users how to work more productively and if the information being shared is consistent throughout the work group there is a greater opportunity for your staff to adopt the software.

Tips for Investing in Customer Relationship Management - Entrepreneur.com

LightSpeed Mobile - A revolutionary way to manage POS in Australia on your Apple iPod Touch

Soon, Australian retailers will have access to the most innovative and exciting new POS interface in the world: LightSpeed Mobile!

LightSpeed Mobile is the mobile retail extension to the next-generation LightSpeed Point of Sale system for Mac that transforms the way retailers sell to their customers using the same mobile hardware employed by Apple in its highly-acclaimed retail stores. It offers stores a true advantage over competitors with an alternative to traditional retail systems and long, impersonal line ups at the register. Retail sales staff can use LightSpeed Mobile to connect to a LightSpeed database and process sales anywhere in the store with an iPod Touch.

What will this mean for the Australian retailer?

Like no other retail system before it, LightSpeed Mobile enables your sales staff to bring the retail experience to your customer.

You can now meet your customer in a whole new way by sparking personal relationships that cultivate customer loyalty wherever you may find your customer in your store. You get to know them in one-on-one interactions, learn best how to meet their needs, and capture their excitement by making purchases a breeze - right there in front of them without having to go back to queueing at the cash register.  Sales staff will no longer be able to hide behind counters away from customers who require assistance. You never loose the personal interaction with your customer at the same time as increasing your sales efficiency. 

Your customers are more happy and you increase your cost efficiency and consequential profit all at the same time!

LightSpeed Mobile is currently available in the US and Canada. Australian registration is currently being finalised. It is anticipated that full payment integration will be available shortly.

http://www.xsilva.com/mobile

Xsilva Systems releases 'LightSpeed Mobile' iPhone / iPod Touch POS App

LightSpeed Mobile is the mobile retail extension to the next-generation LightSpeed Point of Sale system for Mac that transforms the way retailers sell to their customers using the same mobile hardware employed by Apple in its highly-acclaimed retail stores. It offers stores a true advantage over competitors with an alternative to traditional retail systems and long, impersonal line ups at the register. Retail sales staff can use LightSpeed Mobile to connect to a LightSpeed database and process sales anywhere in the store with an iPod Touch or iPhone.

The Complete Solution

Invoices and payments are saved in LightSpeed, which includes backend retail management features like purchasing and reporting in a comprehensive and easy-to-use Mac desktop application. LightSpeed is Xsilva’s next generation Point of Sale system that combines Mac innovation with powerful business logic to offer comprehensive and easy to use tools for retail stores. Its streamlined interface gives a clear overview of your single or multi-store operations, saving you time and giving you absolute control over your business.


With a back-office Browser that simplifies purchasing and inventory management, a touchscreen-optimized POS for fast front-counter sales, and a tightly integrated Web Store for selling online, LightSpeed is the complete retail solution. And now with LightSpeed Mobile, you can offer your customers a revolutionary new personal retail experience that will enhance interactions and help them find and purchase the products they need faster than ever before.

New LightSpeed Mobile POS TV Ads - Meet Your Customer - Fresh In

Here's the first of two new LightSpeed TV Ads introducing LightSpeed Mobile.  

Get moving with LightSpeed Mobile, and introduce a revolutionary new personal retail experience to your store or chain.
Like no other retail system before it, LightSpeed Mobile enables your sales staff to bring the retail experience to your customer. Meet your customer in a whole new way by sparking personal relationships that cultivate customer loyalty. Get to know them in one-on-one interactions, learn best how to meet their needs, and capture their excitement by making purchases a breeze. Meet your customer, decrease transaction times and improve your bottom line with LightSpeed Mobile.