4 Factors to Consider When Buying a Smart Security Safe

Many cash intensive businesses are switching to smart security safes from their regular safes to reduce the losses arising due to lack of proper cash management, and to increase the productivity of their employees. Businesses that install security safes are not only able to recover the cost of installation in less than an year, but are also able to save a lot of money over and above their initial investment costs. If you run a cash intensive business and are looking to upgrade your existing cash management system or install a new cash management safe, here are the points you must consider when buying one.

1. User Interface

When purchasing a smart safe choose a safe with a durable and easy to access user interface. User interface is subject to extreme environments such as spills, scratches, impacts,and others. Therefore, it needs to be durable and robust to survive those conditions. Similarly, the user interface must be easy to access so that anybody accessing the smart safes does not need extensive training for using it.

2. Cost of Maintenance

Smart safe maintenance helps  prevent lockouts and keep the downtime as low as possible.It is, therefore recommended that businesses must go for periodic maintenance of their smart safes to avoid any complications that may hamper their operational efficinecy, and might also lead to customer dissatisfaction. Before finalizing a smart safe ensure to find out about the maintenance costs as these may vary from one safe to another.

3. Availability of Parts

Talk to more than a few smart safe manufacturers and vendors, to find out about the availability of spare parts of the safe you are planning to buy. It’s advisable to avoid safes with limited availability of spare parts or if their parts are exorbitantly priced; no matter how less they might cost you. Remember, limited availability of spare parts also means that businesses will have to face a substantial downtime, something that businesses with high volumes can’t even imagine.

4. Savings

Security safes help businesses save money in more than a few ways. For instance, they help reduce cash shrinkage, avoid counterfeit bills, reduce the number of armored car pickups, require a lesser number of employees for cash handling and many more such ways. When buying a cash safe you must check how efficient it is and what are the savings it can provide. For example, higher the counterfeit detection ratio of a smart safe, lesser the number of counterfeit notes that will pass through the system.

Conclusion

Though cost is one of the most important determinants when purchasing a smart safe, it should not deter you from buying a safe that best suits your business needs and fits all criteria mentioned in this blog. The reason is simple, your saving while using the security safe would be much more compared to any other safe that may not be the apt match for your business.  

3 Reasons Smart Safes Are Indispensable for Retail Stores

As customer management plays a key role in driving profitability, retailers always look for options that can free up their staff from less critical activities, such as counting coins and currencies, double checking transaction records, and like, to accentuate their focus on customer satisfaction. Cash management in itself is a mammoth task that requires a dedicated staff. When cash management is done manually, senior management members also need to chip in from time to time. To minimize the need of human intervention in cash management, an increasing number of retailers are turning to smart safes. Starting from accepting cash to validating, recording and storing bills, smart currency safes bring a number of capabilities to streamline the cash handling process in a business. Let’s take a look at three highlights.

1. Security

Various independent studies have revealed that five percent of annual revenue is lost to internal theft, and 80 percent of employees are more likely to steal if they deal with a manual cash handling process. In case of cash handling safes, there is improved accountability of every cashier on each shift and reduction in cash shrinkage, as everything is electronically controlled. 

2. Counterfeit Detection

Smart safes come with sophisticated bill verification systems that offer a failsafe solution to prevent the losses incurred due to counterfeit bills. Integrated with smart technology, these safes validate bills as soon as they are received from a customer. Trusted by banks to authoritatively validate notes, smart safes are a better alternative to UV lights and counterfeit detection pens.

3. Reduced Human Hours

Installing cash deposit safe helps staff and managers save time for collecting and counting cash and reconciling receipts with the point-of-sale system. In addition, smart safes maintain a perfect count of cash deposited, thereby saving time otherwise spent in cash till closeout process. In addition, by installing cash deposit safes, stores can bring down the hassles of transporting cash to the bank and also reduce the frequency of cash pick-ups by the armored-carrier services.

Conclusion

Despite the increasing adoption of electronic and plastic money, cash is far from being out of the equation, especially for retail businesses. Efficient cash management directly impacts the productivity of a business, thereby improving its profitability. Smart cash handling safes enable retailers to free up trapped cash, reduce costs, minimize losses, and get faster access to financial information. However, before putting your money in a smart safe, make sure you know that the safe is equipped with all the features required to ensure complete security of cash. Smart safes are available in varied sizes and specifications, and therefore, you might want to consult an expert when it comes to choosing a suitable option for your business.