GOVERNMENT FRASER COAST OPPORTUNITIES CASE STUDY

Driving Tourism into the FutureFraser Coast Opportunities (FCO) is the Fraser Coast region’s main body for regional marketing, investment attraction, event and tourism development. They’re a not-for-profit with a big vision - to make the Fraser Coast known internationally as the most desirable place to visit, live and work in Queensland.

And big visions require big thinking, innovation, and great management, including having a world-class IT system. So, FCO engaged with The Rype Group, a Vend Expert and systems integration specialist, to implement a unified cloud-based solution across its key business units. This also included their visitor centres, which needed a point-of-sale solution that could communicate seamlessly with the rest of the business.

What.As a government agency, FCO wanted to challenge traditional processes and systems in their industry. They saw the cloud as a way to allow operations to grow and innovate into the future. And, given the distance between each visitor centre and the separation of the individual departments, having a unified system was the best option. They needed software that would allow:

• Seamless flow of data across departments • Real-time sales monitoring• Integrated inventory management across all outlets • Mobile capabilities

Country: Australia Industry: GovernmentIntegrations: Xero Expert Partner: The Rype Group Customer Since: December, 2014Website: frasercoastopportunities.com.au

GOVERNMENT FRASER COAST OPPORTUNITIES CASE STUDY

They also needed a much simpler way of sharing data between retail outlets and their head office. Andrew Ellis, Visitor Services Coordinator at FCO, knew that Vend could mend this disconnect. Trialing Vend and Xero while still running their old systems allowed him to see how their communications and operations could be transformed by the cloud

How.Over the course of a month Andrew worked with Tony Chadwick, Co-founder of The Rype Group, to implement Vend alongside their new suite of cloud-based platforms. The Rype Group handled the entire set-up, especially the workflows across Vend and Xero, to ensure all the capabilities were delivered as promised.

VEND-XERO INTEGRATION:

FCO wrestles with a constant flow of data from multiple visitor centres every day, which can result in a lot of double handling of information. It was incredibly important that their point-of-sale system could talk to their backend accounting. The Vend-Xero integration created a bridge between their retail and accounting operations. Whether managing the business at the retail outlet or monitoring sales performance back at the office, the FCO team can now share the same information in real-time.

VEND REGISTER IPAD APP:

As well as visitor centres, FCO takes part in many regional festivals throughout the year, so being able to take their operations mobile is important. For this, they set up the Vend Register iPad app. The app allows staff to make sales and process transactions no matter where they are - even if there’s no internet access. If used offline, all transactions can be easily synced directly to Xero through Vend once the system is back online. This has saved FCO huge amounts of time, as they no longer need to manually reconcile sales post-event - something which previously took hours, or even days of paperwork back at the office.

“I saw Vend as the perfect bridge to share data between the customer facing systems and backend operations at Fraser Coast Opportunities. Seamlessly connected to Xero, Vend was the obvious point-of-sale component to our all inclusive solution. It’s so intuitive and easy to use, we knew it would be perfect for FCO with their many volunteer staff who need to be able to pick up and use the system quickly.”

TONY CHADWICK CO-FOUNDER THE RYPE GROUP

GOVERNMENT FRASER COAST OPPORTUNITIES CASE STUDY

Results. FCO has seen a major transformation in their operations since their transition to the cloud, including improvements across their retail operations:

Their new system means their productivity has increased, and their operations run much more smoothly. Now, the FCO team can focus on more important things - like growing their business. And with less time spent on administrative work and travel, Andrew and the FCO team have more time to discover new opportunities to drive tourism in the Fraser Coast region.

Saved 2 days of paperwork per week: The flow of real-time data across Vend and Xero has eliminated double handling of information between visitor centres and the office.

Saved 1 day of work travel per week: With accessible real-time sales and inventory data in the cloud as well as the ability to troubleshoot remotely, there’s no longer a need for weekly visits to each centre.

Minimal staff training: As the majority of FCO’s staff are volunteers, Vend’s ease of use means new staff can maintain the pace of business with minimal technical training.

Improved inventory management: Real-time stock tracking and stock replenishment prompts help centralise inventory management across all locations.

“Before, even simple things would cause us issues and take up a lot of our time. But since using Vend in our visitor centres, our organisational culture has improved out of sight. It’s a relief not to feel that sense of stress when reporting periods are due.”

ANDREW ELLISVISITOR SERVICES COORDINATOR FRASER COAST OPPORTUNITIES