Thursday, September 15, 2016

Top 10 reasons when choosing a system for your PawnShop – #3 Your system must be on the Cloud


The dollars saved in upfront costs alone pay your expenses and can result in a net ZERO cost forever.
 
The dollars saved in upfront costs alone pay your expenses and can result in a net ZERO cost forever.  I know I typed that twice, but I wanted to make sure you see what I’m saying. 
There is no business in the world other than pawn where cash is so important and so critical. 

Cash in the stores register to make loans to individuals is the mainstay of the pawn business.  So often, pawnbrokers run into a wall while growing the business, so you end up turning away a customer’s loan because you ran out of money.  

The pawnbrokers yield of dollars lent to a customer for their collateralized assets is between 110%  - 240% per year.   There is no lending business in the world that offers up an opportunity like this.  At the end of the day, every dollar that you save on costly up-front fees and put into your loan business as quickly as possible is the mission critical everyday effort.
  
The Cloud saves you big money.  Cloud systems offer today’s big solutions for a fraction of the price.  Does the company have experience developing a Cloud Platform?  A Cloud platform is a major investment. On average, a Cloud Platform takes 3-5 years to develop and $10 - $50 million dollars invested. The business model is predicated on lots of people using the platform at the same time to share the overall cost.

Cloud platforms should not require proprietary hardware.  They should not require a server.  They should not require special printers.  They should not require special routers and network.  They should not restrict where you can access the system. 
Cloud platform should be easy to use from anywhere from day one. It should be a snap to transfer. 
  
Today, the internet’s dependability is amazingly robust, secure, and has gotten really fast, which has also reduced the on-site hardware cost.  A quality Cloud product should reduce your hardware requirements.
  
A reduction of upfront dollars for hardware required by traditional server-based vendors when implementing a store is eliminated. A start-up fee or one-time “unit price” should be eliminated. The Cloud doesn’t demand software licensing fees, like Pawn Master’s $4,000 - $12,000.  Never again should you have to lay out these dollars.  

For a pawnshop that makes a minimum of 110% yield on their money, that in itself pays for the Cloud services free forever.

Read the fine printNot all Cloud offerings are equal.  There are no short cuts that some vendors take.  Some providers host their cloud in public shared facilities.  Sarbanes Oxley Federal Regulations prohibits the use of these facilities and offerings for data storage.  Why do you think they require this?   This is a basic requirement.

Pawnshop business requires a mission critical product.  You cant afford to be down.  Not only should the Data Center be located in a Private Cloud, but the technology needs be advanced commercial quality.  Microsoft, Oracle, and IBM are the best in the tech industry.  You need to make your bet on a technology that will be around for the next 30 years.

Quality Cloud providers update their systems routinely, in short cycles, and will continuously improve and add features.  When was the last time your current product was updated?  This is a basic requirement.

Be wary of “products videos of the future”.  See the product, use the product, require your vendor to allow you to try out the product.  See it and use it before you commit. 

Take advantage of the Cloud... Move your store to the next level.