5 Tips to Integrate Automated Cash Management in Hotels

Hotels have a large number of point-of-sale that are either fixed or mobile. All of these touch points receive a bulk of cash through endless transactions every day. If hotel managers and owners can automate their cash management at these points, they can enhance productivity, improve cash flow, and ultimately provide more time to their staff to concentrate on core business activities. However, there a few elements hotel managers need to consider to optimise their automated cash management systems. Here are five tips that will help them a lot in the long run. Take a look. 

1. Identify Weak Points

The first step you need to take as a hotel manager is to identify all those weak points for which you may need an automated cash management system. Are they increasing counterfeit bills, slow transactions during the peak hours, or some other issue? Analyzing these issues will help you in choosing an optimal automated cash management system. 

2. Prioritise the Transaction Points to be Automated

We understand that a business may not have enough capital all the time to install a smart safe or other cash management machine at all of their touch-points. Therefore, find out the weakest point and install the first automated cash management system there. 

3. Decide on the Type of Solution

There are endless number of automated cash management systems available in the market from smart safes to bill validators and currency counters. Ideally, as a business owner or manager you should look for a solution that can help in cash counting, detecting counterfeit bills, and also provide provisional credit. 

4. Train Your Employees

Installing a smart safe or other cash management machine is not going to help alone if your employees don’t have hands-on experience with the system. To ensure that you are able to take complete advantage of your investment, your employees should be trained to effectively use the machine. That’s why it is wise to look for a cash management provider that also provides training services on using their equipment. 

5. Monitor Progress Regularly

To ensure that the installed automated cash management system is delivering its desired results, it is essential to track certain business results. For instance, check how big an increase has there been in the operational efficiency of and inflow of cash in the business after installing the machine and if there are any areas that may need improvement. 

Conclusion

It isn’t uncommon to see hotel managers struggling with accurate cash counting and detecting counterfeit bills. Automated cash management systems can help them overcome these challenges. Simultaneously, an automated cash management system can streamline the entire operation and enhance productivity by simplifying cashier checkouts and eliminating internal shrinkage. 

Cash Dispensing Safes: A Wise Investment for Cash Intensive Businesses

USA’s first ATM, the first-of-its-kind cash dispensing machine, made its debut in the year 1969, and revolutionized the banking industry by eliminating the need for customers to visit the bank for withdrawing money. The use of cash dispensing feature, however, did not remain limited to ATMs, as soon the market witnessed the introduction of cash dispensing safes. These automated cash management solutions helped cash intensive retail businesses streamline their cash handling process and making it more secure and safe. On that note, we discuss a few reasons that make cash dispensing safes a beneficial proposition for cash intensive businesses.

Overcoming Common Cash Management Issues at Grocery Stores

Grocery stores deal with a lot of cash on a daily basis, and as a result, there is a need to address the cash management challenges to optimize operational efficiency and profitability. Until stores address their cash management challenges, it is difficult to achieve high profitability. The blog discusses cash management issues in grocery stores and how introducing smart safes is always an effective solution. Let’s begin.

Currency Manipulations and Preventive Mechanisms: A Brief Guide for Retail Businesses

Cash is the king and where there is cash there are always chances of cash shrinkage. Retail businesses face the challenge of handling a large cash volume on a daily basis. Dealing with a large amount of cash increases the probability of manipulations and leads to internal and external thefts. The blog post discusses cash shrinkage challenges faced by the retail stores along with possible preventive mechanisms.

1. Cash Theft

Internal cash thefts take place as a result of discrepancy in the cash handling process. A cashier can collect money and not make an entry in the cash register, which makes it easy to remove the cash at the end of the shift. Such cash manipulations are often unnoticed due the absence of an automated process to record each transaction.

Using an automated cash safe can prevent such instances of theft. A cash safe not only stores money but creates an electronic record of every cash transaction. Automated cash management systems provide real-time reports to audit the cash transactions. Cash safes eliminate the need for handling cash manually, minimizing the possibility of manipulations and reduces the instances of internal and external thefts.

3 Ways Smart Safes Boost Business Productivity

Cash transactions in retail businesses happen in a jiffy and the focus of cashiers always lies on cutting down queues, as soon as possible. Ironically, in the race of reducing queue numbers, the efficiency of cash handling is often compromised. Reckless human intervention increases the chances of accounting errors, whereas any loose end may may result in cash shrinkage. Any discrepancy in the sales and collection at the end of the day is questionable and may cause problems for the cashiers.

A cash management safe helps in counteracting such challenges faced as a result of manual cash management and improves the productivity of the employees. Let’s discuss three ways cash management systems boost the productivity of the employees.

3 Effective Ways to Protect Your Business Revenues

The risk of fraud and internal theft is a harsh reality for most businesses that need to deal with loads of cash every day. Dishonesty on the part of employees is a major concern that organizations have been facing for long. Often resentful employees cause businesses incur huge cash loss. This is why an increasing number of companies are opting for commercial safes. They are indeed the safest way to secure your cash.

A report by ACFE or Association of Certified Fraud Examiners in 2014 reveals the following statistics:

• 77 percent of frauds involve staff working in seven departments including accounting, sales, operations, executive/upper management, customer service, purchasing, and finance.
• 4 percent of all the studied fraud cases occurred due to asset misappropriation, which consists of cash theft, defalcation, and so on.
• Only 14 percent of businesses fully recover from fraud losses.
  

4 Key Features to Seek in Modern Cash Handling Safes

In today’s fast paced environment, cash intensive businesses need to adopt reliable and efficient cash handling safes in order to streamline operations and optimize profitability. Businesses that process a large number of cash transactions on a day-to-day basis are always vulnerable to external and internal thefts, possibility of human errors, and data management glitches - all of which impact the overall productivity and profitability of the business, and the level of customer satisfaction. That explains the reason why an increasing number of businesses are incorporating automated cash handling safes. Now, the question is: how to select one?

To help, here are four essential features you must look into, when it comes to buying smart cash handling safes:

Real-Time Tracking

The traditional practice of managing multiple registers and maintaining tills is a time consuming process and affects the productivity of employees. Innovative cash handling safes automate counting, coin collection, and various other aspects of the cash handling process, thereby minimizing the need of dedicated professionals. These safes maintain an accurate count of the cash deposited and automatically records the data, ready to be printed at any given point in time. Each deposit inside the safe is electronically recorded and can be securely transmitted to all stakeholders. Besides, offering real-time tracking and comprehensive audits, smart safes provide seamless cash transfer from the point of sale to the bank.

Built-in Counterfeit Detection

Considering the free circulation of fake money, counterfeit detection should be one of the primary concerns when looking to buy smart cash handling safes. All direct sales businesses lose an incalculable sum of money in counterfeit currencies, which may have a notable impact on their profits and growth. State-of-the-art smart safes come with a sophisticated built-in counterfeit detection system to save businesses from forgery. Look for a manufacturer that is known to use advanced counterfeit technology in safes.

Coin Acceptor

If your business deals with small value transactions and has to accept a large number of coin, make sure the cash handling safe you buy is equipped with a coin acceptor and dispenser. A coin acceptor and dispenser makes it easier for business to count and sort the received coins according to their value. It sorts coins by denomination and pour coins into a collection bag to be transferred to the bank.

High Security Locks

In addition to advanced cash management features, the smart safe you select must have a robust locking mechanism. An advanced locking system not only minimizes the possibility of burglaries, but also eliminates internal thefts, to a large extent. It is better to install a safe with a key that cannot be duplicated; better yet, go for a safe that also has an electronic locking system as well as a high security lock.

Conclusion

Cash intensive businesses need to optimize their operations by embracing progressive strategies and technologies, in order to gain a competitive edge. Handling cash manually brings many challenges and that’s the reason why an increasing number of businesses are turning to smart cash handling safes. Smart safes not only streamline start-to-end cash flow but also reduce the risk of internal shrinking and robbery. But when it comes to buying one, make sure you consider all the aforementioned factors before making the final pick.