Is your data connected? Does you website automatically update from your internal database and vice versa? Do your branch systems talk to one another?
Integrated systems can save so much time re-keying and manually transferring information, let alone the potential for incurring errors during this process. Have you been told there’s “no way” of getting the data from that 20 year old bespoke payroll system into the new accounting system?
There’s always a way.
Do you publish your raw data on your website? Why not? If your customers could directly check your stock levels and pricing through their own systems, rather than having to manually visit your website and check, wouldn’t that benefit them? Would that then benefit you? Surely if your customers do well, so do you.
Offering direct access to your products, services or schedule using XML, JSON or SOAP would allow your clients to build their own software to check stock levels, availability and even place orders without having to do it manually.