Published Thursday, 01 March, 2007 at 10:15 AM
Minister for State Development, Employment and Industrial Relations
The Honourable John Mickel
RETAIL TECHNOLOGY BUSINESS TO ADOPT SMARTER BUSINESS PRACTICES
A Logan-based company supplying its retail technology and supermarket software throughout the South Pacific has been awarded a Smart State grant to plan for future growth.
Minister for State Development John Mickel and Member for Woodridge Desley Scott today visited Scanning Systems Australia (SSA) to congratulate the company on a $49,980 Queensland Industry Development Scheme grant, awarded to help SSA expand with guidance from expert business consultants.
“SSA creates specialised point-of-sale (POS) software for supermarkets and service stations,” Mr Mickel said.
“As customer items are processed on the touch screen registers, SSA’s successful flagship product PROFIT TRACK displays colour images of products to ensure correct identification and price.
“The software generates sales and profitability reports as well as statistical information to help the retailer make management decisions. It can also automatically prepare and send orders electronically to replenish stock.
‘PROFIT TRACK, which was released 10 years ago, is today used by grocery stores, service stations, pharmacies and other retailers throughout Australia, as well as Fiji, New Zealand, Kiribati and Samoa.”
SSA Managing Director David Hagen said the Queensland Government funding would be used to revise business management and develop new growth strategies.
“Hiring a business consultant will help us refine the way our business functions and provide a greater focus on achieving our goals, which includes introducing new products in our priority markets of pharmacy and petroleum retail sectors,” Mr Hagen said.
“The expected growth could see us add another 20 employees in sales, programming and technical support positons over the next three years. It should also lead to an 80 per cent increase in profits during this time.”
Mr Hagen said a new security software program SSA had been developing for the past year was expected to be released in the market in July 2007.
“The software enables images from security cameras to be displayed on the same point-of-sale screen used to process transactions at retail checkouts. The operator can pick any camera to zero in on, and view live feed straight to the screen, rather than seeing a possible theft on the back office computer after it has happened,” Mr Hagen said.
“The software was developed with feedback directly from retailers, especially smaller independent stores, who identified the need to have security images more readily available at the pay point. We believe there is no other such technology on the market for this, and that it could help store owners cut retail theft down to half.
“Since a prototype was demonstrated at the Metcash 2006 expo on the Gold Coast, and the Retail Business Technology 2006 exhibition in Melbourne last year, we’ve had a substantial number of advance orders mostly from independent supermarkets in Australia.”
Member for Woodridge Desley Scott said the local company has invested more than $1 million in research and development for security systems and point-of-sale in the past two years.
Since starting out in 1997, the company has gone on to support a team of more than 30 technology specialists including Logan-based staff and customer service employees throughout Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia.
“Scanning Systems Australia is living proof that great products, coupled with excellent management skills, passion and support from the Queensland Government, can go a long way to business success,” Mrs Scott said.
“Scanning Systems Australia is among 116 businesses in the Brisbane Southside region to share more than $4.1 million in Queensland Industry Development Scheme funding since 1998.”
For further information contact the State Development Centre Brisbane Southside on 3884 7860.
Company contact details:
Scanning Systems Australia Pty Ltd
Managing Director, David Hagen
13-23 Mayes Ave. Logan Central Qld 4114
(07) 3387 5555
Media contact: Elouise Campion 3224 6784
1 March, 2006
Minister for State Development John Mickel and Member for Woodridge Desley Scott today visited Scanning Systems Australia (SSA) to congratulate the company on a $49,980 Queensland Industry Development Scheme grant, awarded to help SSA expand with guidance from expert business consultants.
“SSA creates specialised point-of-sale (POS) software for supermarkets and service stations,” Mr Mickel said.
“As customer items are processed on the touch screen registers, SSA’s successful flagship product PROFIT TRACK displays colour images of products to ensure correct identification and price.
“The software generates sales and profitability reports as well as statistical information to help the retailer make management decisions. It can also automatically prepare and send orders electronically to replenish stock.
‘PROFIT TRACK, which was released 10 years ago, is today used by grocery stores, service stations, pharmacies and other retailers throughout Australia, as well as Fiji, New Zealand, Kiribati and Samoa.”
SSA Managing Director David Hagen said the Queensland Government funding would be used to revise business management and develop new growth strategies.
“Hiring a business consultant will help us refine the way our business functions and provide a greater focus on achieving our goals, which includes introducing new products in our priority markets of pharmacy and petroleum retail sectors,” Mr Hagen said.
“The expected growth could see us add another 20 employees in sales, programming and technical support positons over the next three years. It should also lead to an 80 per cent increase in profits during this time.”
Mr Hagen said a new security software program SSA had been developing for the past year was expected to be released in the market in July 2007.
“The software enables images from security cameras to be displayed on the same point-of-sale screen used to process transactions at retail checkouts. The operator can pick any camera to zero in on, and view live feed straight to the screen, rather than seeing a possible theft on the back office computer after it has happened,” Mr Hagen said.
“The software was developed with feedback directly from retailers, especially smaller independent stores, who identified the need to have security images more readily available at the pay point. We believe there is no other such technology on the market for this, and that it could help store owners cut retail theft down to half.
“Since a prototype was demonstrated at the Metcash 2006 expo on the Gold Coast, and the Retail Business Technology 2006 exhibition in Melbourne last year, we’ve had a substantial number of advance orders mostly from independent supermarkets in Australia.”
Member for Woodridge Desley Scott said the local company has invested more than $1 million in research and development for security systems and point-of-sale in the past two years.
Since starting out in 1997, the company has gone on to support a team of more than 30 technology specialists including Logan-based staff and customer service employees throughout Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia.
“Scanning Systems Australia is living proof that great products, coupled with excellent management skills, passion and support from the Queensland Government, can go a long way to business success,” Mrs Scott said.
“Scanning Systems Australia is among 116 businesses in the Brisbane Southside region to share more than $4.1 million in Queensland Industry Development Scheme funding since 1998.”
For further information contact the State Development Centre Brisbane Southside on 3884 7860.
Company contact details:
Scanning Systems Australia Pty Ltd
Managing Director, David Hagen
13-23 Mayes Ave. Logan Central Qld 4114
(07) 3387 5555
Media contact: Elouise Campion 3224 6784
1 March, 2006