Characteristics of a great logo

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At their essence, logos are made to identify. Using images, icons, marks or symbols, logos identify companies or products in the most basic way, so that when someone views a logo, they can link it with the brand it represents.

Nowadays, with so many logos in existence, it’s not hard to find examples of great or inferior logos in use. What makes the difference? What makes a logo work well? And more importantly, what can your organization do to ensure its logo represents you effectively?

 

Here are the main seven characteristics of a great logo.

A great logo sets itself apart.

In today’s cluttered marketplace, finding a way to stand out amongst the competition can seem challenging, but the idea here is to be different than your competitors. Without a distinct logo design, you may find potential clients and customers having a hard time recognizing your brand, confuse you with another company and most importantly, end up going to a competitor rather than choosing your products or services.

 

A great logo is streamlined.

Because the logo should be easily recognizable, it should be simple – a lightning-fast way for users to notice and remember your brand. A complicated logo will not only be difficult to reproduce and maintain, but it will also fail to engage audience. The logo is the ultimate ‘elevator’ pitch to your potential clients and business partners. You don’t have time to recite your entire business plan in an elevator pitch, and the same concept applies to corporate logo design.

 

A great logo is designed for various applications.

A great logo can be printed in different sizes, across different mediums, and in different applications without losing its power. Graphics must be versatile enough that they can be used in many different mediums. A good logo must work well on the web, on a letterhead, in printed ads and even in videos. What looks great in a site banner might not work on a brochure or vice versa.

 

A great logo considers the industry but also doesn’t need to be obvious.

An effective logo should be appropriate, but that doesn’t mean it has to be as obvious as you might expect. McDonald’s could have gone with a juicy burger next to the name, but instead they took the first initial ‘M’ and created an icon that was both simple and visually pleasing to look at as an asymmetrical element. Whether you follow the example of McDonald’s or its competitor Burger King, who puts a hamburger in the middle of their logo design, your logo needs to be appropriate to your brand.

 

A great logo aims for longevity and is not trendy.

Trends come and go, and when you’re talking about changing a pair of jeans or buying a new dress, that’s fine, but where your brand identity is concerned, longevity is key.

 

A great logo is designed for its intended audience.

As with any business endeavor, understanding your audience is key. Whatever was the targeted industry, the logo needs to be able to connect with the people it is marketing to. The important thing a logo needs to do is to speak to the targeted audience. If you run a children’s toy store, it’s not crucial to have an image of a toy in your logo or to have the word ‘toys’ in there either. What is more important is to use a color scheme or font that is childlike and appeals to kids.

 

A great logo leaves an impression and is unforgettable.

A great logo will remain memorable enough that a person who has only seen the logo once should still be able to recall it enough to describe the logo to someone else. This is not the easiest of qualities to impart, but it is certainly a high ranking one.

 

H.A. Consultancies has been helping clients all over Bahrain, Oman, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE in developing their brand identities and marketing strategies. For help on designing the best logo for your business, feel free to contact us on [email protected] or contact any of our offices.

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Feasibility Study – Why needed before programming

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The feasibility study is the important step in any software development process. This is because it makes analysis of different aspects like cost required for developing and executing the system, the time required for each phase of the system and so on. If these important factors are not analyzed, then definitely it would have impact on the organization and the development and the system would be a total failure. This step is a very important step in a software development life cycle process.

In the software development life cycle after making an analysis in the system requirement the next step is to make analysis of the software requirement. In other words, feasibility study is also called as software requirement analysis. In this phase development team must make communication with customers and make analysis of their requirement and analyze the system.

By making analysis this way it would be possible to make a report of an identified area of a problem. By making a detailed analysis in this area, a detailed document or report is prepared in this phase which has details like project plan or schedule of the project, the cost estimated for developing and executing the system, target dates for each phase of delivery of system developed and so on. This phase is the basis of software development process; since further steps taken in software development life cycle would be based on the analysis made in this phase therefore, careful analysis must be made in this phase.

Though the feasibility study cannot be focused on a single area, some of the areas or analysis made in feasibility study is given below. But all the steps given below would not be followed by all system developers. The feasibility study varies based on the system that would be developed.

  • Feasibility study is made upon the system being developed to analyze whether the system development process require training of personnel. This help in designing training sessions as required in later stage.
  • Does the system developed have scope for expanding or for switching to new technology later on if needed in ease? In other study is made to find the portability of the system in future.
  • Is the cost of developing the system high or does it meet the budgeted costs? That is a cost benefit analysis is made. In other words, an analysis is made on cost feasibility of the project. This helps in identifying whether the organization would meet the budgeted costs and also helps the organization in making earlier and effective plans for meeting extra costs because of the system development.
  • Analysis is made on what software to use for developing the system. This study and analysis would help to choose the best implementation for system and the organization. This feasibility study includes factors like scalability, how to install, how to develop and so on. This feasibility study in short includes the analysis of technical areas. This analysis helps the efficiency of the system developed to get improved. This is because by choosing the correct technology by making analysis on the needs of system helps in improving the efficiency of the system.
  • The above feasibilities are analysis which helps in development of the system. But the scope of feasibility study does not end with this. Analysis or feasibility study also includes the analysis of maintenance stage. In other words, feasibility study is made to analyze how one would maintain the system during maintenance stage. This helps sin planning for this stage and helps in risk analysis. Also, the analysis helps in making analysis about what training must be given and how and what all documents must be prepared to help users and developers to face maintenance phase.

Advantages of making Feasibility study:

There are many advantages of making feasibility study some of which are summarized below:

  • This study being made as the initial step of software development life cycle has all the analysis part in it which helps in analyzing the system requirements completely.
  • Helps in identifying the risk factors involved in developing and deploying the system
  • The feasibility study helps in planning for risk analysis
  • Feasibility study helps in making cost/benefit analysis which helps the organization and system to run efficiently.
  • Feasibility study helps in making plans for training developers for implementing the system.
  • So, a feasibility study is a report which could be used by the senior or top persons in the organization. This is because based on the report the organization decides about cost estimation, funding and other important decisions which is very essential for an organization to run profitably and for the system to run stable.

Thus, before developing a product or software it is an essential step that one does feasibility study in some or all the areas mentioned which would help in developing and maintaining the software efficiently and effectively within budgeted costs.

 

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What is a Feasibility Study?

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What is a Feasibility Study?

A feasibility study is conducted in order to determine the success and minimize the risks related to the project. When it becomes certain that the specific project could be carried out profitably, it is only then it could be implemented. The feasibility study is not merely a project research, but a framework or a plan on how to establish and run business successfully in the long run. A feasibility study contains five essential components including market research, financial research, management research, schedule determination and technical research.

 

The information you gather and present in your feasibility study will help you:

  • Identify all the things you need to have a functional buisness
  • Pinpoint logistical or other business-related problems and solutions
  • Develop marketing strategies to convince a bank or investor that your business is worth considering as an investment
  • Serve as a solid foundation for developing your business plan

 

What is a Business Plan?

If the feasibility study indicates that your business idea is complete, the next step is a business plan.  The business plan continues the analysis at a deeper and more complex level, building on the foundation created by the feasibility study. A business plan gives you an opportunity to find any weaknesses and reveal any hidden problems ahead of time.  It serves two purposes: first, it is an analysis of how well the business will work; and second, it is a written document necessary to obtain a loan.

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Saudi Arabia Announces its VAT Regulations

Saudi Arabia’s Department of Zakat and Income Tax has recently published its Value Added Tax Implementing Regulations. Although regulations in other GCC countries may vary slightly, it is safe to assume that the overall VAT structure will be similar if not identical across all GCC countries.

Main Highlights

  • Companies with “Supplies” exceeding the “Mandatory Registration Threshold” will have to register with the Department of Zakat and Income and get a VAT Registration Number.
  • The VAT rate is 5%.
  • Related party transactions will be taxed at the fair market value of the transaction.
  • VAT payments will have to be made either monthly or quarterly depending on the annual value of taxable supplies.
  • In case of overpayments, refunds will be allowed for any amount of tax above 1,000 SAR.
  • Tourists and other “Eligible Persons” will be allowed to get VAT refunds.

Exempt Transactions

  • Business gifts under 200 SAR/gift. The maximum annual value of gifts for an entity is 50,000 SAR based on the fair market value of the gifts.
  • Financial services (conventional and Islamic) including:
    • the issue, transfer or receipt of, or any dealing with, money, any security for money or any note or order for the payment of money;
    • the provision of any credit or credit guarantee;
    • the operation of any current, deposit or savings account;
    • financial instruments, such as derivatives, options, swaps, credit default swaps and futures.
  • Life insurance and reinsurance
  • Lease or license of Residential Real Estate (commercial real estate, hotels and inns are not included in this exemption)
  • Goods and services exported/sold outside the GCC
  • International transport of goods/passengers
  • Qualifying Medicines and qualifying medical equipment
  • The first supply of a gold, silver, or platinum with 99% purity by its Producer or Refiner

To many companies, the introduction of VAT will pose significant financial challenges. The accounting policies and infrastructure will all have to be adapted to the new requirements. H.A. Consultancies can provide both the financial expertise and the accounting infrastructure required to have a smooth and successful transition.

For more information, please don’t hesitate to contact H.A. Consultancies at any of its offices in Bahrain, Oman, Saudi Arabia, or Dubai.

 

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Get ready for VAT

Value-Added Tax (VAT) is coming to the GCC in 2018. This will undoubtedly have a direct impact on business operations across the region. Is your business ready for the change?

What is VAT?

A value-added tax (VAT), known in some countries as a goods and services tax (GST), is a type of general consumption tax that is collected incrementally, based on the surplus value, added to the price on the work at each stage of production, which is usually implemented as a destination-based tax, where the tax rate is based on the location of the customer.

 

How to get ready for VAT?

1. Project Plan

Prepare a project plan and be aware that VAT is not just a financial project. It affects all transactions and touches every aspect of your business organization. VAT affects, finance, IT, human resources, legal teams and even inter-organization transactions. Finance and IT teams are the most concerned so they need to be updated to handle the VAT.

2. Impact Assessment

Impact assessment is a must to understand VAT and its commercial effects over your businesses, so then you can prioritize issues and prepare for the implementation. Impact assessment is a key step as it sets the foundation for the implementation. The assessment looks at its various effects on the organizational, operational and financial levels. Typically, an impact assessment needs between eight and 12 weeks to complete and that leaves a relatively short time, no more than nine months, to affect implementation.

3. Implementation and Design

After designing the new systems, you can start your implementation first by training your staff on the process requirements for VAT, then they can implement the necessary changes to systems, controls, reporting and governance. Based on the impact assessment, they need to develop a road map for identifying the changes required, understanding the scheduling requirements and planning for work. Implementing the changes across various levels in the organization usually starts with mapping the transaction footprint to understand the VAT obligations of the business. This should form the basis for making changes across different verticals in the organization such as IT, supply chain and human resources.

4. Testing and Registering

Test your business systems to ensure they are capable of compliance and reporting then you need to register for VAT. Businesses need to integrate the changes made into the operations and train relevant staff about their new roles and responsibilities to achieve the desired result. Testing the VAT system, processes and controls during a “live” phase is important to allow for the complete and accurate completion of the first VAT return.

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Salon Iris Overview

What is Salon Iris? 

 

Salon Iris is a management software for beauty salons and spas. Salon Iris acts as a POS (Point of Sale) and includes customer engagement functions as well, and it will guide your businesses to increase profitability.

Even if the salon was closed Salon Iris will allow customers to book appointments online, and it will send reminders to them to reduce no-shows.

The application also can assist spas and salons in managing their operations with payroll, staff scheduling, and inventory tracking.

Alongside the desktop version, Salon Iris is also available as a mobile version so you will always have access to your salon and spa operations.

 

Salon Iris Dashboard

Salon Iris Dashboard

Salon Iris main benefits

Integrated POS

Salon Iris offers easy clients checkout with its integrated barcode scanning and credit/debit card processing. And if a client wants to pay using coupons or gift cards, the application simplifies their redemption.

Electronic appointment booking and management

Even if the salon was closed Salon Iris will allow customers to book appointments online, and it will send reminders to them to reduce no-shows. This will increase business profitability since bookings can be accepted even outside working hours.

Reports

With over than 200 kinds of reports, Salon Iris allows managers to monitor how well their businesses are doing, so they know which aspects they need to improve or take advantage of.

Salon Management

Salon Iris allows businesses to manage their payroll process within the system that also takes into consideration commissions and bonuses. It will also help in managing staff scheduling.

With Salon Iris, you can keep track of your inventory. No more missing key products so the business will continue offering services without any disruption.

Mobile version

Alongside the desktop version, Salon Iris is also available as a mobile version for both android and iOS platforms, so you will always have access to your salon and spa operations.

 

Salon Iris Features

  • Standing Appointments
  • Color-Coded Appointments
  • Room Availability Notifications
  • Mobile Management Access
  • Real-Time Reporting
  • Inventory Modifications
  • Service Detail Updates
  • Payroll Management
  • Client Purchase Tracking
  • Credit Card Processing
  • Coupons and Gift Cards Support
  • Dashboard
  • Data Analytics and Reporting
  • Automated Marketing Campaigns
  • Customized and Targeted Promotions
  • Inventory Tracking
  • Staff Scheduling
  • Automatic Data Back-Up
  • User Access and Controls
  • Loyalty Program
  • Salon Appointment Booking
  • Digital Invoices
  • Barcode Scanning
  • Quick Appointment Confirmations
  • Appointment Reminders

 

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Salon Iris Backbar Feature

Managing a salon comes with a unique set of challenges. Booking appointments, managing inventory, tracking sales, and scheduling room bookings are all part of the day-to-day activities of a salon. Perhaps one of the most difficult aspects of a salon business to manage however, is the control of consumables used to perform services.

Consumption of such shampoos, creams, and cosmetics can be difficult if not impossible to track. Consumption can vary depending on the beautician and the nature of the skin and hair of the client. An additional complexity would immerge if the same products used in the services are also sold to clients. Inventory would have to be separated into two classes, those for sale and those for internal use.

It is clear to see that things can get complicated fairly quickly in a beauty salon. Without a capable salon management software, it would be difficult even to differentiate between sales and internal consumption of products.

Salon Iris is an award-winning salon management software. Amongst its other features, it includes the “backbar” option which allows salons to segregate inventories of products that are on sale to customers from products that are intended to be used internally.

Backbar represents the amount of the business’ supplies that are used to perform services. For each service performed by an employee, that employee may earn a commission based on a formula of (price minus backbar) times commission percentage. For example, a salon charges its clients 50$ for a haircut and pays its employees a 50% commission for performing the service. The salon owner estimates that during a typical haircut, 10$ worth of gel is used. The salon owner may create a service in the software called haircut with a price of 50$ and a backbar of 10$. Based on the above formula, the employee would earn (50$-10$) x 50%, or 20$ in commission.

Additionally, if consumption varies depending on the employee, this can be easily configured through setting up different backbar amounts for each employee.

For more information on Salon Iris and other business management software, please don’t hesitate to contact any of our offices in Bahrain, Oman, Saudi Arabia, or the UAE. Feel free to visit our website for more information or fill out our contact form so one of our customer service representatives can respond to your inquiry.

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Why use Point of sale systems?

Obtaining and utilizing a point of sale system may seem like a hectic mess that would cost you a substantial amount of money that may be used elsewhere, however, upon further evaluation, the point of sale system will benefit you and your business remarkably.

To begin with, there are two categories of systems, one which is aimed towards retail stores as well as the other category which caters for restaurants and hotels, which is commonly known as the hospitality category.
Point of sale systems provide several benefits, some of these benefits lie within scanning accuracy, which means that scanning a product’s barcode to identify what it is and display the unit price is considerably more accurate than punching numbers from a sticker on the product or for the employee to memorize most if not all product prices, which reduces employee errors.

 

Moreover, POS systems allow the user to view and manage their inventory, flag items that are on demand to be reordered with the next shipment, and analyze sales patterns.

 

Furthermore, point of sale systems reallocate the back-office labor by having the employees work with customers, fulfill omnichannel orders and improve throughput at registers.

 

Other benefits include but are not limited to performing reconciliation functions easily and efficiently. In other words, if you have multiple POS systems in one location or in several locations, all the data can be automatically transferred to a single database, which in turn reduces reconciliation labor.

 

 

In addition, point of sale systems are in their very basis cash registers, however, due to being built upon a computer, it allows the user to enter a new world of data related to their business.

In summary, the added flow of detailed information in terms of sales helps business owners to come up with more effective business ideas and gives them the tools to evaluate their efficiency. To learn more about our POS systems and services that we offer in Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Kuwait and the UAE, please visit our POS services page.

 

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Aldeo POS Software at a Glance

aldelo bahrain pos logo larg

Point of sale software, or POS software for short, have revolutionized the restaurants industry, particularly the fast food sector. Aldelo is one of the best POS software which contains many features that restaurant owners will find useful in running their business.

One of the best features in Aldelo which sets it out amongst other restaurant POS software is that it is user friendly, intuitive, and easy to learn. This means less time and money will be spent on training your team and more time utilized to tending to your customers.

Aldelo makes managing orders easy. Your servers will be able to transfer orders from one table to another or divide bills with just a few taps so they can accept payments as soon as customers are ready to pay. Moreover, Aldelo will you to process discounts and, if needed, you can limit the use of the discount feature by setting permissions and authority levels to each employee.

With Aldelo’s Enterprise Cloud subscription, you will be able to access your Aldelo restaurant management software’s back-end features from your tablet or any computer that has a browser and an internet connection. This will allow you to get all kinds of reports, including sales, voids, discounts, and more. Aldelo surpasses several of the best restaurant POS systems in its scheduling tools, a feature that many of its competitor’s lack. Another feature worth mentioning is its countdown list, which shows managers and servers a list of the menu items the restaurant is running out of.

Through the Aldelo Touch subscription, your servers will be able to take orders using an iPad. You can add images of your menu items on the app which is a useful feature for overcoming any language barriers between your customers and servers.

Aldelo Restaurant POS software includes the ability to add order modifiers, which helps you deliver orders to your customers’ custom specifications.

H.A. Consultancies are proud to be an Aldelo partner extending services to clients in Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Oman, and Kuwait. To learn more about Aldelo and our other restaurant POS solutions, please visit our POS solutions page.

 

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Sell More With These Point of Sale Tactics

While you are waiting in queue at your favorite supermarket, rather than looking at the back of the customer in front of you, you try to find something interesting around you.

 

The perfectly displayed chocolate bars remind you of your hunger, so you decide to grab one. And that pack of 16 AA batteries looks interesting, and you remember how many remotes laying around in your house that will need couple of batteries. Finally, you reach the cash teller to complete your purchase only to find a receipt filled with extra items you did not wish to purchase in the first place.

 

The scenario above is called point of sale marketing. Point of sale marketing is all the efforts that will help you increase sales at the point of the actual sale. The most popular method is by displaying items alongside signage, and suggestive selling by the cash register teller.

 

Here are some ideas to help you sell more at your point of sale:

 

M&Ms Display

M&Ms Display

 

  • Grasp attention

Colorful and bright designs will attract the customer eyes. Use bold and large fonts that will match the design of the item to let the item shining from the display stand.

Try me Smart Lock

Try me Smart Lock

  • Feature Based

Try to communicate the benefits of the product to the customer in a clear and fun way. Also, add motivating call to action like “Buy Now” or “Try me” to create a desire.

 

  • Value added features

Adding coupons or immediate promotion such as buy one get one free will create that desire needed to help make the purchase.

 

  • Showcase your product

Visualize the use of your product or show a happy customer enjoying your product with a photo, video or a person in action.

 

QR Marketing

QR Marketing

 

  • Online integration

QR codes will allow customers to interact with the product using their mobile phones. Try to print a QR code into the product to enhance the experience of the buyer.

 

Here at H.A. Consultancies we help you set your marketing goals and implement them. Start your business right by requesting a meeting with our marketing consultants and our ICT consultants to provide you with the best POS hardware and software in Bahrain.

 

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