INSIGHTS
February has certainly been an exciting and busy month here at Clarity! Our rebranded website is in full swing and our team has been hard at work on updates and new features to enhance our software offering and add additional support to customers. We’ve made some improvements to existing features to make them even easier to use, and we’ve listened to your feedback, adding in new functions so Clarity Software is always working for *you*.
Read on to find out more about what we’ve been up to in February and find out how we’re working to always bring our customers the best in business management software.
Goods Rentals
We have been working with key clients to improve goods rental functionality within Clarity Pro. This enables you to rent products from stock – buying parts or materials in, renting them directly, or making finished parts to rent. Keeping track of rental items can be difficult, especially for items you hold in stock. So we’ve made it easier with our Goods Software module.
Whilst doing this, we have also enhanced Clarity’s Projects functionality, benefitting all Clarity customers working on projects (defined as a collection of jobs to complete a customer order). Whilst we fully appreciate that exhibitions and events are currently on hold, things will undoubtedly get back to normal soon.
To use this functionality, you will need the Goods module. You don’t need to run a full stock system, just a requirement to manage stock on rental items.
Clarity Pro in Azure
We have been working hard on a solution for hosting Clarity Pro in Azure. Clarity will look after this for you, meaning you won’t need to learn any new IT or employ a third party.
Early signs are showing that the software is running much quicker than when deployed on our own office server. This can not be guaranteed for all installations, but it will be interesting to observe as we continue testing.
There are substantial process, operational and cost benefits to hosting on Azure:
You don’t need expensive servers in your office.
You don’t need IT services to look after your servers.
Your Clarity IT infrastructure is always up to date.
Your system will run on a full SQL server.
Data backups are guaranteed and automated to an off-site location (no fire/theft worries) ensuring business continuance.
You can dynamically scale your server if you grow your business or occasionally need less hardware to run in times of downsizing.
Working remotely becomes very simple.
The cost is scalable and is working out at excellent value compared to the cost of owning servers.
The whole system runs in the cloud so all your users need is an internet connection.
We are currently looking for companies who are in need of flexibility with occasional or permanent remote working to test the solution. Please get in touch to see a demonstration.
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Marketing and Sales Pipeline
Sales and marketing are the bloodline of any business. Never before has it been so important to market your business, to streamline your costs and keep an eye on enquiries and income stream.
Clarity Go has been leaping ahead in functionality over the last 12 months. Key core functionality has been vastly enhanced making it more like the user workflow principles of Clarity Pro in a browser interface. Core modules including the ability to quote and sell on the move are available, with functionality planned to be added to other modules in the near future.
We have added Mailchimp integration with the ability to export contacts for email campaigns. Success and fail triggers then come back to Clarity and, coupled with our dynamic list builder, ensure you are always promoting to a GDPR-compliant list of prospects and clients. We added data cleansing functionality to ensure your data is always correct for your next promotion.
We will shortly be adding the first stages of HubSpot integration which will allow synchronisation of Clarity contact data with HubSpot. Following this, we have plans to take this to the next level by reading information back from HubSpot. Automation and lead scoring triggers will make attracting and nurturing new clients easy, enabling salespeople to work smarter, not harder.
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Clarity Go Sales Module
Modifications to the powerful Sales module will be rolled out over the coming months. The first stage is to switch our focus from sales activities to processing opportunities. We have taken the processes of much larger software products and added key functionality for the small business market; all included within your package.
It will also be possible to review sales opportunities for individual salespeople, across teams and the entire business. This will make the entire sales machine visible to whoever is authorised to view it.
Sales people will be able to work on their leads, progressing them seamlessly with drag-and-drop kanban boards. This will allow them to keep track of every conversation and know who to call next in order of priority.
With the new updates, setup is tailored to your sales structure, process, type of products and sales channels. We can advise on the best setup for your business. Having Quotes and Jobs (including projects) within the same system makes it easy to follow a contact from prospect to customer order to invoice.
For sales management, directors and owners can easily adjust filters to see what is in the sales pipeline at every stage. Live conversion rates are shown on screen and can be reviewed over any time period. Setup is so simple and the sales system so visible that it will change the way you sell in the modern world.
Clarity Go Mobile App
We have completely rewritten the much-loved Clarity Go mobile app to be even better. This was previously only available for iOS and now works on Android too.
From your mobile or tablet you can access your entire customer base of contacts, your activities and sales opportunities. There is also Google Maps integration with directions mapping to locate client premises.
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POD App
The POD app is being completely rewritten from the ground up to work on Android and iOS. The whole application will use simpler technology, meaning previous communication complications will be eradicated.
VAT Domestic Reverse Charge
Following a crackdown on VAT fraud, the government has changed the way that VAT is charged on fitting and installation jobs. We are working on updates to the software which will be ready by 1st March, when the VAT Domestic Reverse Charge (T21 tax code in Sage) becomes a legal requirement.
We, like other software providers, have been hit by this quite recently. The documentation from the government explains the legal requirements, but doesn’t cover how IT companies should implement the changes. Please bear with us, but be assured we are working hard behind the scenes to have the updates ready before the deadline.
The greatest impact for our clients will be on jobs that contain fitting or installation works. The software will zero VAT value jobs containing T21 tax code items, segregate VAT values and clearly state to customers that they are responsible for paying the VAT. You can read more about the Domestic Reverse Charge and how it will affect your business here.
Please note, we are not qualified accountants and as such we are not responsible for data that must be entered for VAT returns.
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Calc Wizard Speed
We are working hard to improve click to screen response across the whole software. We have noticed that Calc Wizard response times are currently slow in some customer cases. We are currently reviewing this and will update you as soon as we know more.
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My Account Area
Remember you can get lots of information about Clarity in your “My Account” area on the website:
Support – log a support call or view the status of your support contract
Customer Referral Scheme – refer business and be rewarded
Software Upgrades – download installers for the latest software upgrades
Price List Downloads – download the latest Price List for import into your system
Other Utilities – download useful tools to enable compatibility with specific products
Videos – view recordings of Clarity products being demonstrated by our team
My Details – update your contact details or change your password.
Do you think we missed anything? If anything you’ve read here has sparked your interest or left you with an unanswered question, please get in touch with a member of the team today. We’re always happy to hear from our customers and we value your feedback.
