As AI replaces customer service positions, Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff eliminates 4,000 jobs. Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff recently revealed that 4,000 customer service representatives would be let go, bringing the total number of support people down from 9,000 to about 5,000, an almost 45% reduction.
Why Salesforce Cut 4,000 Jobs?
The move comes as AI agents increasingly manage routine customer interactions and tackle a backlog of more than 100 million uncalled sales leads that has accumulated over 26 years, according to a Fortune interview with Benioff. This development underlines how customer service positions are becoming increasingly vulnerable to automation.
AI vs. Human Workforce: What’s Changing?
About 50% of all client discussions are now handled by the company’s AI-human collaboration system. Human agents may now concentrate on more complex or exceptional instances since routine duties like responding to frequently asked questions, recording client contacts, and following up on leads are becoming more and more automated.
Despite Benioff’s long-standing emphasis that AI would complement human workers rather than replace them, this employment drop shows that jobs involving repetitive tasks are most vulnerable to automation. Approximately 5% of Salesforce’s workforce, which as of January 2025 had over 76,000 employees, will be laid off.
Industries at Risk Beyond Salesforce
This trend indicates wider hazards for customer service representatives in sectors where regular, process-driven jobs predominate, not just Salesforce. As AI technologies become more accurate and efficient, comparable changes may occur in the banking, e-commerce, telecom, and IT support sectors. Long seen as entry-level or stable jobs, customer service positions are now more vulnerable to disruption from automation.
Why AI Cannot Fully Replace Humans?
Even with automation, human control is still very important. Similar to hand-off procedures in other AI-driven processes, such as self-driving technology, Salesforce’s AI system steps in when situations call for judgement, accuracy, or nuance. Only some tasks are safe from automation, according to this approach, which guarantees that AI increases productivity without completely eliminating the need for human expertise.
How Workers Can Stay Relevant in an AI-Driven Economy?
A broader trend in the business sector is reflected in Salesforce’s recent personnel changes: AI is changing job structures and drawing a line between ordinary and difficult roles. At the heart of this change are customer service representatives, who run a greater risk of being laid off if their jobs mostly require repeated duties. Adaptability, ongoing skill improvement, and the capacity to work well with AI technology are now necessary in the evolving nature of work.
This moment indicates that getting ready for an AI-driven workplace is no longer optional—it is necessary for career sustainability for millions of workers in customer-facing roles. The use of AI in customer service emphasises how crucial it is for workers in vulnerable positions to upgrade their skills. Problem-solving, complicated query handling, critical thinking, and AI supervision skills are becoming increasingly important.
While workers who can collaborate with AI systems to handle more complex jobs are better positioned for career resilience, those who only concentrate on repeated interactions may find their chances diminish.
Quick
Shots
•Marc Benioff confirms 4,000 customer
support job cuts.
•Nearly 45% reduction in support staff
as AI agents take over routine tasks.
•AI now handles 50% of client
interactions and manages a 100M+ sales lead backlog.
•Customer service jobs increasingly
vulnerable if focused on repetitive tasks.
You must be living under a cave, if you are still sleeping on the potential for Artificial Intelligence (AI) is rapidly transforming the way we live and work. From chatbots to predictive analytics, Work automation tools are revolutionising various industries by streamlining processes, improving efficiency, and ultimately saving time and money. In this ST guide, we shall go through ways AI automation can help businesses optimize their operations and achieve cost savings.
Artificial Intelligence has emerged as a game-changer in the business world, enabling companies to automate tasks, improve decision-making processes, and enhance overall productivity. One of the most significant advantages of AI automation is its ability to save time and money. By leveraging the best of these technologies, businesses can optimise their operations, reduce manual effort, and improve the accuracy and speed of various tasks.
AI automation excels at handling repetitive and time-consuming tasks that would otherwise require significant human effort. By automating these tasks, businesses can free up their employees to focus on more strategic and creative activities. For example, AI-powered chatbots can handle customer inquiries, while scheduling tools can automatically book appointments. This not only saves time but also improves customer satisfaction by providing quick and efficient responses.
AI automation can also be applied to data entry, document processing, and inventory management. By automating these processes, businesses can reduce errors, improve accuracy, and eliminate the need for manual intervention, ultimately saving time and minimising costs associated with rework.
Enhancing Efficiency and Productivity
Efficiency is a crucial factor in any business’s success, and AI automation can significantly enhance efficiency by streamlining operations and identifying bottlenecks. AI algorithms can analyse vast amounts of data to identify patterns, optimise workflows, and suggest improvements.
For example, Artificial intelligence can optimise inventory levels, ensuring that businesses maintain optimal stock levels while minimising excess inventory. AI can also make the most out of routing and logistics, resulting in more efficient delivery schedules, reduced transportation costs, and improved customer satisfaction.
Additionally, AI automation can contribute to internal efficiency by automating internal processes such as employee onboarding, data analysis, and performance tracking. By automating these tasks, businesses can reduce administrative overhead and improve overall productivity.
Making Informed Decisions with AI
AI automation tools can analyse large volumes of data and provide valuable insights to support decision-making processes. By leveraging machine learning algorithms, businesses can gain a deeper understanding of customer behaviour, market trends, and competitive landscapes.
For example, AI can analyse customer data to identify patterns and preferences, enabling businesses to personalise marketing campaigns and improve customer engagement. AI can also predict customer churn, allowing businesses to proactively address issues and retain valuable customers.
Furthermore, the right automation can assist in financial forecasting, risk analysis, and fraud detection. By analysing historical data and real-time market trends, AI algorithms can generate accurate forecasts, identify potential risks, and detect fraudulent activities, saving businesses from financial losses and reputation damage.
Getting Started with AI Automation
AI Automation
If you’re considering implementing AI automation in your business, here are some steps to get started:
Identify the tasks: Begin by identifying the tasks that are most time-consuming and prone to errors. These are the tasks that are most likely to benefit from AI automation.
Research AI automation solutions: Explore different AI automation solutions available in the market. Consider factors such as scalability, ease of implementation, and compatibility with your existing systems.
Implement the solution: Once you’ve selected an AI automation tool, start the implementation process. This may involve training your employees, integrating the tool with your existing systems, and ensuring a smooth transition.
Monitor and optimise: Continuously monitor the performance of the AI automation tool and make necessary adjustments to maximise its benefits. Regularly analyse data and gather feedback from employees to ensure the tool is delivering the desired results.
The Benefits of AI Automation
Implementing AI automation in your business offers a wide range of benefits, including:
Increased productivity: By automating repetitive tasks, employees can focus on more strategic and creative activities, leading to increased productivity.
Improved customer service: AI-powered chatbots and virtual assistants can provide 24/7 customer support, ensuring prompt responses and enhancing customer satisfaction.
Reduced costs: AI automation eliminates the need for manual labour in certain tasks, reducing operational costs associated with hiring and training employees.
Enhanced accuracy: AI algorithms can analyse data with precision, minimising errors and improving the accuracy of various processes.
Competitive advantage: Businesses that imbibe AI automation gain a competitive edge by leveraging cutting-edge technologies to streamline operations and deliver better customer experiences.
Market Size Share by Industry for AI
AI Automation in Different Industries
AI automation has the potential to transform various industries, including manufacturing, healthcare, retail, and finance. Let’s explore how AI is being implemented in these sectors:
Manufacturing
Predictive maintenance: AI algorithms can analyse data from sensors and equipment to predict maintenance needs, reducing downtime and optimising maintenance schedules.
Quality control: AI-powered image recognition systems can detect defects and anomalies in real time, ensuring consistent product quality.
Healthcare
Medical diagnosis: AI algorithms can also assess medical images, patient data, and clinical records to assist doctors in making accurate diagnoses and treatment plans.
Drug discovery: AI automation can speed up the process of drug discovery by processing vast amounts of data and identifying potential candidates for further research.
Retail
Personalised recommendations: AI algorithms can understand and segregate customer data, purchase history, and browsing behaviour to provide personalised product recommendations, improving customer engagement and conversion rates.
Inventory management: AI automation can optimise inventory levels, ensuring that products are available when and where they are needed while minimising excess stock and associated costs.
Finance
Fraud detection: AI algorithms can go through transaction data and detect patterns indicative of fraudulent activities, helping financial institutions prevent fraud and protect their customers.
Risk assessment: AI automation can analyse financial data, market trends, and economic indicators to assess the risk associated with lending, investment, and insurance decisions.
While AI automation offers significant benefits, some challenges and concerns need to be addressed. Some common challenges include:
Data quality and availability: AI algorithms require high-quality, relevant data to generate accurate insights. Ensuring data quality and availability can be a complex task, requiring data cleansing, integration, and privacy considerations.
Ethical considerations: AI automation raises ethical concerns related to privacy, bias, and job displacement. Businesses must establish ethical guidelines and ensure transparency and accountability in their AI systems.
Skills and expertise: Implementing AI automation often requires specialized skills and expertise. Businesses may need to invest in training or hire professionals with AI knowledge to effectively leverage AI technologies.
The Future of AI Automation
As AI technology continues to evolve, we can expect even more advancements in AI automation. The future holds exciting possibilities for businesses, with AI expected to play a central role in driving innovation and efficiency.
Some potential future developments in AI automation include:
Advanced natural language processing: AI-powered systems will become even more proficient at understanding and generating human-like language, enabling more sophisticated interactions and communication.
Enhanced robotics: AI-powered robots will become more capable of performing complex tasks, leading to increased automation in industries such as manufacturing, logistics, and healthcare.
Augmented decision-making: AI algorithms will provide real-time insights and recommendations to support decision-making processes, enabling businesses to make data-driven decisions with greater confidence.
Ethical AI: As AI becomes more pervasive, ethical considerations will become increasingly important. The development of frameworks and regulations to ensure responsible and ethical AI use will be a focus of future advancements.
AI automation tools offer immense potential for businesses to save time and money while improving efficiency, productivity, and customer experiences. By leveraging AI technologies, businesses can automate repetitive tasks, enhance decision-making processes, and deliver personalised experiences to their customers.
As AI technology continues to advance, businesses must stay informed and adapt to the changing landscape. By inculcating machine and technology automation, businesses can position themselves at the forefront of innovation and gain a competitive edge in the digital era.
Remember, successful implementation of automation requires careful planning, research, and ongoing monitoring. By investing in the right AI automation solutions and continually making the most out of their use, businesses can unlock the full potential of AI to transform their operations and achieve sustainable growth. Now, is the time to leverage the power of AI automation and upscale your business for the greater good. Good luck, fellas!
FAQs
Is AI automation going to take away my job?
While some jobs may be automated, AI is also creating new opportunities. The focus will shift towards tasks requiring creativity, critical thinking, and human connection.
What is AI automation and how can it benefit my business?
AI automation uses artificial intelligence to automate repetitive tasks, improve decision-making, and enhance overall productivity. Benefits include increased efficiency, reduced costs, improved customer service, and a competitive edge.
What are the challenges of AI automation?
Data quality and availability: AI relies on high-quality data. Ensuring data accuracy and accessibility is crucial.
Ethical considerations: AI automation raises concerns about privacy, bias, and job displacement. Responsible development and use of AI are essential.
Skills and expertise: Implementing AI may require specialized skills. Businesses may need to train employees or hire AI specialists.
Marketing is a very important aspect of any business. If your marketing efforts are in the right direction it can increase your brand awareness and conversion rate. Marketers do a lot of things from strategizing content, capturing and nurturing leads, managing customer information, creating advertising campaigns, scheduling tasks, and a lot more.
All these tasks require a lot of time and energy. Although if you want to save time and boost your productivity and sales you can use top marketing automation softwares to put these tedious tasks on autopilot.
In 2021, about 51% of companies were using the marketing automation tool and were able to boost their sales productivity by 14.5%.
80% of marketers saw an increase in their leads and 77% saw an increase in their conversion rates.
All these stats show us that you should use this best marketing automation tool in your business. Although finding out a perfect marketing automation tool that matches your business needs is a tough job. Don’t worry we are here to help.
In this article, we will tell you the 6 best marketing automation tools.
When you think of the best marketing automation tool HubSpot comes first to mind. The tool has an immense reputation in the market. Using this tool you can streamline your entire business workflow in a single place. No need to switch between different software!
Using its easy-to-use visual editor you can make targeted workflows for your email campaigns or multi-stage journeys. Its advanced segmentation allows you to decide which audience will get enrolled in which workflows and when.
The tool provides you with customizable email templates that you can use to write personalized emails with no coding skills. Automate your email campaigns, generate more leads and move your prospects further down the funnel. To send emails to the right people at the right time HubSpot gives you numerous triggers, conditions, and action parameters.
HubSpot Marketing Hub goes beyond traditional email or SMS automation and provides you with all the tools and utilities through which you can score leads, rotate leads to sales, set up webhooks, and automate data transfer from one team to another.
Your team will automatically receive notifications if a user performs an important action like putting up a business query in your forum. This will help your team to quickly message the users and convert them into customers.
HubSpot also provides you with a set of SEO and blog tools. You can set up a drip campaign, manage your social media, build Al-powered live chat, and create forms and landing pages all in one place. The tool integrates with other HubSpot solutions which makes it a killer deal.
You will also get access to HubSpot Academy where you can learn how to use the tool efficiently and easily. As you can see HubSpot is a stellar marketing automation tool.
Plan
Pricing ($/month)
Starter
$45
Professional
$800
Enterprise
$3200
Oracle Eloqua
Rating
3.9/5
Categories
Email marketing campaigns and sales lead generation
Oracle Eloqua Marketing Automation Tool
Oracle Eloqua is an all-in-one marketing tool using which you can nurture your leads, get detailed analytics, automate workflows and manage cross-channel B2B marketing campaigns. Segment your users based on web visits, specific attributes, interests, and geography.
You can easily create campaigns using its drag-and-drop editor. Get stats on what users are doing on your website in real time. Along with this, you can use SMS messaging to send event reminders, product updates, or to get feedback.
Lead scores are updated in real-time across multiple campaigns based on customer profiles. For accurate lead scores, the tool analyzes the most recent activity of the user and adjusts the scores in real-time.
Oracle Eloqua has built-in Al that suggests what action you should take for each contact. Find your best-performing products and content. Using Eloqua’s account engagement scoring, find the most engaged users.
Automate your email campaigns, improve your subject lines using the Al suggestions and find the best time to send emails. Build responsive emails, landing pages, and forms without the need to learn HTML code. Save blocks of content that you often use so you can use them in future campaigns.
Create dynamic content for your landing pages and emails that adapts and personalizes the messaging based on the user’s behavioral pattern and location. After launching the campaign analyze metrics such as email opens, clickthroughs, form submissions, and more.
To help your brand in increasing sales, Eloqua will automatically identify and prioritize top-tier accounts that show high-buying opportunities. Get detailed statistics on your dashboard and analyze usage metrics like bulk API activity, native CRM activity, email sends, form submissions, page views, and much more. Monitor and compare all your campaigns.
Plan
Pricing ($/month)
Basic
$2,000
Standard
$4000
Pardot
Rating
3.9/5
Categories
Email automation and lead management
Pardot by Salesforce – perfect marketing automation tool
If you are in a B2B business then Pardot by Salesforce is a perfect marketing automation software to handle your business operation effectively. Using this automation tool, you can build relationships with your customers and boost your revenue. Pardot provides you with real-time sales alerts, prospect activity tracking, and sales campaign tracking.
Using the drag-and-drop editor you can build landing pages and forms. Get highly profitable leads using Pardot’s automated lead-scoring functionality. Put your common marketing and sales tasks on autopilot.
Market Automation Tool – Pardot by Salesforce
Create dynamic campaigns that adapt to each customer’s activity and buying signals and move them further in the sales funnel. Using built-in sales alerts and assignment triggers your sales team can contact the prospects at the right time.
Segment your audience based on their preferences and send the right email at the right time using Pardot’s intuitive email editor. The platform has an in-built SPAM analysis tool that will check your email copy against common spam filters.
Personalize your email copy based on the prospect’s score, grade, title, industry, and job. You can also perform email A/B testing to understand which of your content is resonating more with your target audience.
The visual reports help you analyze the ROI of your campaigns and empower you to maximize your marketing efforts. Using the engagement and lifecycle reports you can understand your sales performance and analyze where your prospects are getting stuck in the funnel.
Plan
Pricing ($/month)
Growth
$1,250
Plus
$2,500
Advanced
$4,000
SendinBlue
Rating
4.5/5
Categories
Email Campaigns, CRM
SendinBlue – Best Marketing Automation Tool
Using SendinBlue you can automate all of your tedious marketing efforts, capture leads, segment your audience and send the right message at the right time using email and SMS.
You can set up a workflow and build a set of rules that triggers an action that you want to take for your prospects. This includes automatically sending emails and SMS, organizing contacts into different lists, and updating your database in real time. Automate lead scoring and perform A/B split testing.
Set up a CRM in no time and upload all the information that you have about your contacts directly into the CRM contact profile. Create and assign tasks to your teammates and set up deadlines using the CRM.
Create custom landing pages and forms without any coding skills. Choose from 40+ responsive email templates and easily edit your emails easily using the drag-and-drop editor. Personalize your email copy by adding your prospect’s name to the text.
You can also use prospects database attributes to make your email more personalized. For example, if you know that a particular contact loves the color yellow you can show different product images with yellow color in the background.
Segment your contacts list based on the prospect’s preferences, previous engagement or purchase history, and socio-economic or geographical characteristics. You can automatically update your contacts list based on actions your contacts take on your website and email.
Get detailed email marketing stats and using the in-built Al find the best time to send emails to each recipient. Visually see how your recipients interact with your email using the email heat map functionality.
Send bulk SMS marketing campaigns to your contacts directly from your database. You can also send transactional SMS order confirmations, shipping updates, password reset, and much more.
Install a chatbox on your website and answer your user’s questions via Sendinblue Chat Inbox. You can even see on which page of the website the user is currently on directly from the chat box. You can directly use the Facebook ads tool inside SendinBlue.
Plan
Pricing ($/month)
Lite
$25
Premium
$65
EngageBay
Rating
4.6/5
Categories
Email Campaigns, Sales Automation, CRM
Engagebay automation marketing software
Most of the tools on this list focus on automating marketing and sales efforts. But, EngageBay automates your support system as well. This allows you to provide top-notch after-sales service to your customers.
You can set up live chat software on your website. Whenever users initiate a chat your sales team would be instantly notified. Find all the tickets raised by your customers on your dashboard. You can set up standard responses for the tickets. Create support groups based on department or skills and direct your support tickets to the right support groups.
From the live chat itself you can find out customers’ locations, total pages visited and time spent on the website. Get powerful stats on support tickets and understand what common problems your customers are facing.
Using EngageBay’s CRM you can send leads from marketing to the sales team, automate your workflow and data entry, schedule meetings, create follow-ups for each lead, and do much more.
Every interaction with your customer like emails, calls, and meetings gets automatically recorded in the system and presented to you in a timeline format.
Using the drag-and-drop visual builder you can create marketing and sales workflows. Automate lead scoring based on email opens, link clicks, website visits, etc.
Create drip email campaigns and personalize emails with contacts’ names, companies, locations, interests, and more. Get notified when users open your email or click a specific link and engage with your customers at the right time to increase the conversion rate.
Landing pages and forms can also be created easily. You can also send push notifications. Set up pop-ups on your website and show them to your customers when they are about to leave the website.
Automatically segment your customer’s list based on what actions they take or do not take. Tag customers based on behavioral patterns and run smart personalized marketing campaigns.
Plan
Pricing ($/month)
Basic
$11.99
Growth
$33.99
Pro
$79.99
ActiveCampaign
Rating
4.6/5
Categories
Email Marketing, Automation, and CRM
ActiveCampaign- Marketing Automation Tool
ActiveCampaign is a customer experience automation (CXA), which combines transactional email, email marketing, marketing automation, sales automation, and CRM categories.
If you are specifically looking to automate your email marketing efforts then ActiveCampaign is for you. Most of the marketing automation softwares on this list will help you in automating your email campaigns but, Active Campaign takes email marketing to the next level.
ActiveCampaign allows you to send a wide variety of emails to your customers: broadcast emails, triggered emails, targeted emails, transactional emails, scheduled emails, and email autoresponders.
Using the drag-and-drop editor you can create beautiful email campaigns within a few minutes. Segment your audience based on their personal interests, job function, geographic location, website visits, email clicks, products purchased, quiz results, and time since the last purchase.
You can automatically add tags to your list based on what pages or links they clicked on your website or email.
Set up forms on your website and collect customers’ personal information, preferences, and more through standard and custom fields. Show forms at the right time based on the user’s behavioral pattern and interests. You can automate email sequences so that as soon as the form is filled the customers will get a series of emails that will nurture them to buy your products.
Send personalized emails with customers’ personal information like name, city, preferences, purchase history, and a lot more. Active Campaign has 6 email deliverability best practices to ensure that your email lands in the subscriber’s inbox.
To achieve the highest email deliverability the tool will automatically review and remove inactive email addresses. It has pre-built automation and re-engagement campaigns that help you in engaging with your customers constantly. The tool has an in-built spam checker as well.
You can easily send double-opt-in emails to your customers to make sure only the interested ones get added to your email list. Notify your team to follow up with high-value leads.
Plan
Pricing ($/month)
Lite
$29
Plus
$49
Professional
$149
Conclusion
As you can see all of the tools will help you in automating your work but, you shouldn’t choose a software randomly. You need to understand your business needs, budget, and technical expertise to find out the right tool. Since most of the tools come with a free trial, you can use and test them first and once you are satisfied you can buy them.
FAQs
What is the difference between marketing automation and CRM?
Marketing automation helps you to generate and score leads and automates your digital campaigns and email marketing efforts. On the other hand, CRM helps you to track leads and convert them into customers.
What is the most common use of marketing automation?
Marketing automation tools are majorly used for generating leads, automating email marketing, social media posting and ultimately increasing the conversion rate.
What is marketing automation software?
Marketing automation software streamlines the marketing processes used to support digital marketing campaigns.
Are there any free marketing automation tools?
Some market automation tools that offer a free trial or free plan include MailChimp, HubSpot, and Zoho.
Are you planning to buy a restaurant POS or you’ve already bought one but want to know more about how to use it efficiently? Then you are at the right place. Here you will get an insightful overview of using the restaurant POS effectively.
POS has become an essential need of every restaurant business to perform its operation efficiently. Restaurateurs are heavily investing in this system. Since there are a lot of POS providers available in the market, you have the flexibility to choose the desired provider which best suits your needs.
Restaurants have to go through some repetitive tasks, like taking orders from customers and sending them to the kitchen, then serving the prepared meal to customers, and finally billing and payments. You can easily manage this activity if you have a decent amount of customers, but the same situation becomes hectic and confusing when suddenly a restaurant becomes crowded.
No matter how efficient employees you have, the whole process of taking orders billing and pay becomes cumbersome when there is a crowd in your restaurant. So you need a system that simplifies the whole process and manages every situation seamlessly. Here comes the role of restaurant POS.
POS empowers your employee to take orders using handheld devices, and that order is directly sent to the kitchen and displayed on the kitchen display system(KDS). Once the customer is done with their meal and ready to pay, then they can easily make payment at the counter or at the table.
If a customer asks for the bill at the table, you can use your handheld POS device to generate the bill and take payment using cash or a card. Also, customers can pay the same bill at the counter because everything is interconnected. Apart from these basic services, restaurant POS also helps to manage your employees, run a loyalty program, look into the insight of your business via reports and analytics, online delivery, and much more.
So restaurant POS removes the burden of managing the customers and helps owners to focus on the different important things like business growth, inventory fulfilment, etc.
Ultimate Guide to Use Restaurant POS
There are so many POS providers that provide their software and hardware to manage restaurant operations. Some popular POS providers are Toast, Upserve, Square, Lavu, Micros, Harbortouch, Cake, Revel, Clover, and Touchbistro. You can consider any of the following to boost your restaurant business. Now let’s proceed further with our guide to using restaurant POS. This guide is more familiar to square POS but it is quite common in all POS providers.
Software and Hardware Requirements
Restaurant POS is a combination of software and hardware that smoothen the process of running a business. So before proceeding further to understand the software part, let’s have a quick overview of essential hardware components in the restaurant POS.
Countertop POS Terminal
You can put this POS terminal at your counter to monitor and manage everything regarding your POS system. Some POS providers provide their terminal hardware while some use iPads to work as a terminal. POS Software works perfectly fine on this terminal and you can easily manage the devices in your restaurants, payments, billing, and everything.
Handheld Device
The handheld device is used to serve the customers at their tables, this device is equipped with features like taking orders, billing and payments. You can also split the bill as per the customer’s request based on the item ordered. Since everything is interconnected with each other all the orders are sent to KDS in no time.
KDS(Kitchen Display System)
A kitchen display system (KDS) is a digital screen that is placed in the kitchen which gives order information to the chef. Every order that is created, whether through a handheld device, self-service kiosk, or at the counter, is seamlessly synced with the KDS in real-time. It replaces the traditional paper order ticket which was difficult to modify.
Printer
I’m sure you are aware of the functionality of a printer. In the POS system, it is used to print the receipt of the bill. It is directly connected to the POS terminal or through the wifi, for printing.
Payment Terminal
A payment terminal is a device used to receive payment via debit or credit card. It is mostly used at the counter. The handheld device comes with an integrated payment mechanism to collect payments at the table.
Self-Service Kiosk
Self-service Kiosk is a great tool to reduce the workload of your employees. This is a kind of machine attached to the restaurant that empowers the customers to make orders and payments. Since this is also connected to your POS, every device is synced with the order and payment details in real time.
Menu Management
Once you have your software and hardware from your POS provider, now it’s time to configure your menu. After logging into your account, you need to add the food items after clicking on the tab “menu”. There are a lot of options and modifiers available to configure the menu effectively. You can also customize your menu based on how it will look in the POS layout.
Modifiers in the menu help you to add extra information like item size and preferences. Customers can easily order any food item based on what size and elements they need in the dish.
Creating a Floor Plan
The floor plan is basically a layout of the tables in your restaurants. You can create a floor plan for your restaurant and assign the table number to each table. Tables may be of different sizes, shapes, and dimensions, you can create your table layout easily with drag and drop. This floor plan helps you identify which table is booked, which is vacant, what is the order and bill amount, and whether the bill is paid or not.
Employee Management
Now you need to add the team member to the POS software. You can assign their roles and permissions, which can be administrator, bartender, cashier, accountant, etc. While adding the team member to your POS, you also need to assign the passcode for each employee. This passcode will be used while assigning the device to the employees.
Configuring POS Devices
Setting up the POS device is very easy, you only need to click on devices and then click on add a POS device. It will provide you with the device code which is used to connect the device with software. The app of the POS provider should be installed on your device to configure it. In Square POS, you can use your iPad to connect with software by installing the Square app and then entering the device code.
If you want to connect the handheld device, then simply add this device code to your device. After adding the device code, you might need to configure some basic device settings, and then you need to enter your employee passcode which you’ve created while adding an employee to the POS. Once you log in to your handheld device you can see your floor plan and menus, which you’ve created. Now your device is ready to take orders.
Configuring KDS (Kitchen Display System)
Just like you’ve added a POS device, you can also add KDS to your software. You need a KDS device code to access the KDS, the device code is generated once you add a new KDS device to your software.
Use your device code to log in to the KDS and view the orders. Manage each order from your kitchen and mark the order based on its status. If the food item is ready, then click the food item, and if the whole order is ready then click the order to change the status to completed.
You can play with other settings and gauge the appropriate setting that suits your needs. Configure the KDS to show the urgent order in red color and similarly other orders in different colors. Whenever an order is placed it will automatically pop-ups on the KDS.
Billing and Payment
Once the customer is done with their meal and asks for the bill, create a bill in a single click with your handheld device and take payment at the table. Customers can also visit the counter for billing and payments because everything is interconnected with POS software.
The handheld device comes with an integrated payment mechanism to collect payments, this device may differ from provider to provider. Since billing and payment is the most important aspect of POS, it is found in every POS, no matter which provider you choose.
Overview of Analytics and Reports
Within the dashboard of your POS software, you’ll find Analytics and reports. This report provides insights and figures on sales, inventory, labor, and much more. Various filters you can use to analyze the report more efficiently and accurately.
The clear and concise stats of your restaurant business will help you to make data-driven decisions. You can easily identify the best-selling item in your restaurant, whether promos and discounts are working or not, employee performance, the payment received, profit margin, and much more.
Loyalty and Marketing
The loyalty program feature for the POS software is just amazing, it empowers you to create loyal fans for your restaurant. You can create a loyalty program through the POS software and set the rewards that customers will get after the completion of certain tasks. Like if a customer signs up for the loyalty reward, he will get certain points, and if he spends a certain amount in the restaurant, he will get cashback. Points can be redeemed for future purchases.
Creating an email marketing campaign is just another great feature to use. You can send a customized email to your subscribers and keep them engaged with your business through discounts, offers, and cash backs. There are a lot of options available in loyalty and marketing that you can easily configure according to your need.
Conclusion
The POS system is a great tool to handle your restaurant and you become familiar with the interface of the software, once you start regularly using it. But when you are just starting, then this comprehensive guide will help you to understand the hardware and basic features of the software.
FAQ
What is a Restaurant POS System?
A restaurant POS system is software that helps restaurants to manage their business and it includes features such as inventory, menu management, guest tracking and floor management.
How does a POS System help Restaurants?
A restaurant POS manage all of the business operations and it POS simplifies restaurant processes, from order entry to payment and reduces errors. It captures data to maintain inventory and revenue numbers in real time and generates reports to manage the business.
How to choose the right restaurant POS system?
The best restaurant POS system depends on a variety of factors but the most important is what kind of your restaurant is and the features you need in your POS system to manage and scale your business.
What is the best POS System for restaurants?
The best POS system for restaurants must include features like good third-party integrations for smooth delivery, pickup, and tracking of customer reservations, menu management, customizable layouts and strong reporting capabilities.
Automation is the term that seems to fit in almost every work situation these days. In this fast pacing time, it is important for people and businesses to automate as much of their work as possible. This not only saves time and energy but also makes the processes more efficient.
When it comes to customer service, some businesses view it as a necessary evil, while others see it as an opportunity to stand out from the competition. Whether you fall into the former or latter category, there’s no denying that automating your customer service can save your business time and money.
For example- Chatbots are a great way to automate customer service as it provides the customers with instant responses 24/7. In the case of the airline industry, customers can look for all the flight information, find the best option, and book a ticket with the help of chatbots. In this way, customers get to have all the necessary details in an easy conversation.
There are a number of ways to automate your customer service. One of the most popular is to use a chatbot. Chatbots are computer programs that can mimic human conversation. They can be used to answer common questions and help direct customers to the right resources. One can also automate customer service using an interactive voice response system. This allows customers to get the information they need without having to speak to a live agent.
The following are the seven ways to automate your customer service process:
How do customers perceive chatbots?
Automate Customer Service Processes with a Chatbot
A chatbot can help you automate customer service by providing answers to common questions, routing customers to the right support agent, and even handling simple tasks like scheduling appointments or placing orders. You can create a chatbot using a chatbot platform like Chatfuel or Botpress, or you can use a chatbot builder like Manychat to create a chatbot without any coding.
Use an AI-Powered Live Chat Tool
An AI-powered live chat tool can help you automate customer service by providing instant answers to common questions, routing customers to the right support agent, and even handling simple tasks like scheduling appointments or placing orders. Live chat tools that use AI include Zendesk, Drift, Intercom, etc.
Take Advantage of Automation Tools
One can always take advantage of automation tools. For example- Zapier is an automation tool that lets you connect different apps and automate tasks between them. You could use this tool to automatically add new contacts from your CRM to your live chat tool or to send a follow-up email after a customer support conversation automatically.
An e-commerce CRM can help you automate customer service by providing a central place to manage all your customers’ data, contact information, and support conversations. Plus, e-commerce CRM tools can automate tasks like shipping and order tracking, making it easy to keep your customers updated on the status of their orders.
A help desk ticketing system can help you automate customer service by organizing and tracking all your customer support conversations in one place. A help desk ticketing system can also automate tasks like assigning tickets to the right support agent and sending notifications when a ticket is updated. Popular help desk ticketing systems include Zendesk, Freshdesk, Zohodesk, and Help Scout.
Use Social Media Automation Tools
Social media automation tools can help you automate customer service by posting updates, responding to comments and messages, and even monitoring for keywords and hashtags. Automated customer service on social media can help you stay connected with your customers and resolve issues quickly.
Customer service reporting can be time-consuming, but tracking metrics like customer satisfaction and first-contact resolution are important. Automating your customer service reporting can help you save time by always generating reports on a schedule to have the latest data. Reporting tools that can automate customer service reporting include Zendesk Insights and Helpshift Analytics.
Pros of Automating Customer Service Process
73% of customers consider good Customer service Experience is the key factor in Brand Loyalty
The customer service process is extremely important and automating it can be really effective for a whole lot of businesses. The following points show the pros of it:
One of the pros of automating your customer service process is that it helps to improve efficiency and productivity within your organization.
By automating certain tasks, you can free up your staff to focus on important tasks that require more attention.
Another advantage is that it can help improve the quality of your customer service by ensuring that tasks are completed correctly and in a timely manner.
It can also help to reduce the overall cost of your customer service operation by eliminating the need for manual labor.
Finally, automating your customer service process can help improve your customers’ overall satisfaction by providing them with a more efficient and effective customer service experience.
Automated customer service definitely ups the game for many businesses, but it might just not be the perfect thing for others. The following are some of the disadvantages of automating your customer service process:
One of the potential drawbacks of automating your customer service process is that it can lead to a more impersonal experience for your customers. Automation might not be the right solution if your goal is to create a more personal relationship with your customers.
Another potential drawback is that automated systems can sometimes be less reliable than human customer service representatives. If your system goes down, or if there are technical issues, your customers will not be able to get the help they need.
Automated systems can also be more expensive to set up and maintain than traditional customer service solutions. If you are on a tight budget, then automation might not be the right choice for you.
Finally, automated systems can sometimes give customers the impression that they are talking to a machine rather than a real person. This can lead to frustration and even cause some customers to take their business elsewhere.
If you consider automating your customer service process, carefully weigh the pros and cons. Automation can offer many benefits, but it is not right for every business. Make sure to consider all of the potential drawbacks before making a decision.
Conclusion
Automating your customer service can provide a better experience for your customers while freeing up your team to work on more important tasks. However, in some cases, automation might just not be the right thing for some businesses. The above-mentioned are some of the most important points that will guide you to automate your customer service process.
FAQs
Can customer services be automated?
Yes, it can be automated. More businesses are now keener to automate customer services as it improves customer experience and employee satisfaction.
What are automated reporting tools used for?
Automated reporting tools are used by professionals to make and share organizational reports at particular intervals without updating the information each time.
Which are the top software to automate customer service?
The Best tools to automate customer service are:
Zendesk
Freshdesk
HelpScout
Agile CRM
Groove
Zoho Desk
What is a help desk ticketing system?
A help desk ticketing system is software used by customer support teams. It is used to create, maintain, and manage lists of customers’ problems.
What are examples of automated customer service system?
Some examples of automated customer service system are:
Self-service portals
Standardized email replies
Live chat and Chatbots
Virtual Assistant
Ticketing tool to assign tickets to the relevant team
