Tag Archives: managing
Managing SQL Server Docker containers in macOS
In the first part of this article series, you learned the basics of SQL Server containers for macOS, starting with a brief definition of what Docker is, how it works (architecture) and how to install it on macOS. Finally, I gave you a quick example on how to pull a Docker image from Microsoft Container registry to create a SQL Server container using the Docker command line client.
In this second part, you will learn in detail about the Docker command line client. My goal is to help you understand how all these commands can help you to manage your SQL Server container through its life cycle.
Container Life Cycle
You may have heard these words before: Containers are ephemeral. Let me tell you, that phrase is absolutely true. Containers are created one day for a specific task and the next day stopped or even deleted to be rebuilt from a recent version of the image that includes minimal changes in the configuration or functionality of the containerized application. That is why you want to become very familiar with the Docker command line client. The better you learn and understand all the command line client instructions to interact with the Docker daemon, the faster you will start developing, shipping and running containerized applications. In this specific case, we are looking forward to becoming proficient managing SQL Server containers.
The life cycle of a container starts by identifying the base image version you want to use for the containerized application. In the previous article, I explained the meaning of the SQL Server image tag (SQL Server Version – build number – operating system). This is the first thing you want to look for when choosing the image from Microsoft Container Registry repository.
Then, the next step is to create the container using the docker run command (see part 1). The problem comes when you don’t want to keep this container up and running all the time. You need to learn how to stop it, modify it or even delete it.
In summary, the container life cycle is basically performing some or all of the following actions:
- Stop
- Start
- Delete
Take a look at how Docker client can help perform all of these container life cycle actions.
Docker Container Management
At this point you should understand that a Docker image is required to create a container. When working with containers, it is pretty common to end up with multiple local copies of Docker images laying around in the local image repository. Probably, these images are from previous test efforts performed using different versions of the same application. SQL Server is not an exception to this problem; you can have multiple images of SQL Server 2017 from the RTM version to the latest CU.
Listing Images
The best way to understand what images are available in the local repository, is using the docker image ls command. This command simply lists all existing images including the repository where it came from, the tag, image ID and its size.
|
$ docker Image ls |
Here is what the output looks like:
As you can see, I have a significant number of images in my local repository, probably because I have been testing several versions of SQL Server 2017 and 2019. If you look closely, you will note I have different images for different operating systems (Ubuntu & RedHat).
Deleting Images
At the time I’m writing this article, SQL Server 2019 is already in GA (General availability), so there is no point for me to keep using the “2019-RC1” (Release candidate) in my local repository. Therefore, for this example I will proceed to remove that image from my local repository.
I need to use the docker image rmi command to help me with this container management action. A requirement for this container management action is to know the docker image ID beforehand, and I already have this information from the previous example:
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$ docker image ls |
Using the highlighted image ID above, I will proceed to remove the image as follows:
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$ docker image rmi e3be04ae2efd |
As you can see from the output, the image ID e3be04ae2efd (2019-RC1) was deleted and untagged from my local image repository.
Checking the Container Status
The Docker client provides many ways to check the status of a container. You can easily find the current state of a container and understand what is going on from within the container by checking the logs or simply learn about its CPU and memory utilization.
Now it’s time to put all these theories in practice using the Docker client commands.
docker ps
The docker ps command is a great way to find the current state of all your containers; however, you need to understand how to make the most of it. For example, if this command is executed without any options, it only shows running containers by default.
|
$ docker ps |
The output provides the following information:
- Container ID
- Image
- Command (Last command executed when this container started)
- Creation date
- Status
- Ports
- Container name
This is a good starting point; however, what happens if you want to learn more about all the other containers that are not actually running? Or filter by name or status? Don’t worry, the docker ps command provides that information and many options more.
Speaking about options, I will focus just in two:
|
Option name |
Command |
|
All |
docker ps -a |
|
Filter |
docker ps -f |
There are many more options of course; however, the two options listed above are the most useful for finding the status of the container quickly and easy.
All (docker ps -a)
This command requires to combine the docker ps command with the -a option. It will list all containers regardless of their states (running | paused | stopped). This is better than just running the docker ps command without any options, so take a look at the output:
|
$ docker ps -a |
As you can see, the command returns too much information. You may be asking yourself if there is a way to see this output cleaner or make it readable for everybody.
Many Docker client commands have an additional argument called --format just for this purpose. The format must be specified using the “Go” language which is translated to a JSON object to produce the desired output.
Imagine you want to know more about all your containers, but you are interested to see a customized output including just the container name, the image and the last known status. Here is an example based on this need, where the output will be displayed as a tabbed table displaying just the columns included in JSON format:
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docker ps -a <a id=“post-86135-_Hlk29456354″></a>–format “table {{.Names}}\t{{.Image}}\t{{.Status}}” |
095d6d460cd Exited (255) 9 months ago
master_ag2 4095d6d460cd (137) 12 months ago
This customized output looks way better than the default one, the three columns {{.Names}}, {{.Image}} and {{.Status}} are tab (\t) separated making the text clean and easy to read.
Of course, this is just an example. You are free to customize this output the way you like as this is at least a good starting point.
Filter (docker ps -f)
The filter option is just like a WHERE clause for a query; it will look up a key value to be paired with one of the supported filters:
|
Filter |
Description |
|
id |
Container’s ID |
|
name |
Container’s name |
|
label |
An arbitrary string representing either a key or a key-value pair |
|
status |
One of created, restarting, running, removing, paused, exited, or dead |
In simple terms, it allows you to search for all those containers with certain ID, name, label or even status.
Here are a few examples of the use of the filter option for different scenarios.
Filtering by Name
Imagine you want to list all those containers that start with the word “Simple.” We add the filter key name to the docker ps -f command assigning the lookup value. Let’s see how it works:
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$ docker ps -f “name=Simple” |
The output returned is just what I expected. I can see a container with name “SimpleTalk” is listed, which by the way is in “running” status. Note that I didn’t have to specify the exact name; it just found a name that matches with the specified pattern.
Filtering by Name Regardless of the Status
The previous example works well; however, there is a problem with this filter. The results are being limited by the docker ps command because it will list only active (running) containers. In case you want to make sure all containers are listed regardless of the status, you must add the “-a” option to the previous example. This is how it works:
|
$ docker ps -a -f “name=master” |
Note that all the containers with the name “master” are listed. This is good but not quite perfect yet. What about combining everything learned so far? I mean, listing all containers regardless of the state filtered by name and limiting the output to show just the container name, image, port number and status in a tabbed table form.
Here is the command:
|
$ docker ps -a -f “name=master” –format “table {{.Names}}\t{{.Image}}\t{{.Status}}” |
The output looks good now, clean and easy to read. Importantly, it lists all containers with the word “master” in the name, regardless of its status.
Stopping the Container
The docker stop command is what you want to use to stop one or more containers; you just need to specify the container name. This is very similar to the previous example; however, there is something else that you need to understand, especially when stopping a SQL Server container.
There are multiple termination signals in Linux, used for slightly different purposes. Docker containers uses the SIGTERM and SIGKILL termination signals, but what they are?
SIGTERM
This is a generic signal to terminate a program, it is the traditional way to ask a program to terminate its process.
SIGKILL
This signal causes the immediate termination of a program. This signal cannot be blocked or ignored; it simply kills the program.
Putting all this together means: When the docker stop command is issued, the main process of the container in question–in this case SQL Server–will receive a SIGTERM, giving the program enough time to gracefully shutdown. After this grace period finishes (10 seconds by default), the container will receive a SIGKILL to immediately terminate SQL Server.
Run this command to stop the container:
|
$ docker stop SimpleTalk |
How cool is that! Using just a single line of code you can stop a SQL Server instance. You don’t need to worry about stopping the services anymore when using containers because everything is handled by Docker using the SIGTERM and SIGKILL signals as explained before.
Starting the Container
Booting up a VM or waiting for all the SQL Server services to be started is something from the past. Trust me, containers really change the way to ship and develop applications because of its simplicity. If you are one of those people that likes to get things done quickly and efficiently, you are going to love the container technology.
Starting up a container, requires running the docker start command followed by the name of the container. That’s so simple, right? Take a look at how it works in practice:
|
$ docker start SimpleTalk |
The command returns the name of the container as an indicator that the container called “SimpleTalk” was successfully started.
Deleting the Container
This is the last step in container management, and the obvious step when you are done with the life cycle of your container. The docker rm command has a few options It can remove a container regardless of its status (stopped | running), and it can also remove all containers including its volume.
I will focus on the traditional way, removing a container regardless of its status. Combining the docker rm with the --force option will send a SIGKILL then the container will be immediately removed.
First, check the status of the “SimpleTalk” container:
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$ docker ps -a –format “table {{.Names}}\t{{.Image}}\t{{.Status}}” |
As you can from the output above, this container has been up and running for the last 4 minutes. Now delete it using the docker rm --force command:
|
$ docker rm –force SimpleTalk |
The command returned just the name of the removed container. To make sure it happened correctly, check the status of all the containers again:
The “SimpleTalk” container is gone from the list, which means this container was successfully removed.
Conclusion
Understanding the container life cycle is important, it really helps you to understand better what exactly you are doing when interacting with the Docker daemon through the Docker client commands.
At this point, you should be able to perform all the following actions using Docker for macOS:
- Pull an image
- Create a container
- Check the status of a container
- Stop, start and delete a container
Please join me in the next article series, where I will focus on examining the Docker container to learn more about its metadata and to connect using a database productivity tool like SQLCMD or Azure Data Studio for macOS.
Managing Experience And Costs On Retail’s 2020 To-Do List
Apparently, in the early 1900s, the various products of the earth could be ordered quite easily, if one were “of above-average capacity or character,” middle class, and happened to live in London. For recipients of my 2019 Christmas presents, the good news is that I could choose gifts originating far beyond the shores of the UK without a capacity, character, or class test.
Although this was good for my nearest and dearest (otherwise they might not have got so much as a tangerine), it’s not clear it was good for the UK’s retail sector. I haven’t seen any figures that go up to December 25, but it seems the Black Friday figures were pretty good – even for the High Street, at least in terms of volume. However, the travails of the UK retail sector are not demand but margin driven; demand remains reasonably buoyant. In October 2019, ONS reported that year-on-year growth in the quantity bought increased by 3.1%, with growth across all sectors except household goods stores.
However, McKinsey research has already shown that UK consumers are twice as likely to trade down – i.e., to buy a cheaper product – than trade up. Cost-cutting is just one weapon in the retailer’s armory in their fight for their share of consumer spending. The research suggests that savings from indirect procurement are an important source of margin improvement for retailers. In particular, marketing, private label packaging, and supplier managed costs are all identified as categories that can deliver double-digit savings. The strategy house also recommends retailers look to clean sheeting, consumer insights, and design to value combined with digital analytics to unlock value.
Retail products and product mix are also undergoing rapid change. Nielsen’s 2018 report the Rise and Rise Again of Private Label showcases an important component of that change. Getting private label right helped Tesco make the top 10 of Deloitte’s 2019 Global Powers of Retailing. In 2018, with the aim of cutting its own-label costs, the company announced a strategic partnership with Carrefour.
Innovation at pace and being able to scale what works also at a pace are, as Deloitte has highlighted, crucial for retailers. With this frenetic pace of activity, it is important not to evaluate products in a binary “ditch” / “scale” manner. Tracking a customer’s product experience journey can reap huge dividends helping organizations make changes to realize value without having to go back to the drawing board.
Learn how Belkin uses the Qualtrics XM Platform to track product insights in real-time across all stages of the customer journey, which enabled its product teams to intervene post-product launch and successfully close an $ 80 million gap against sales targets.
For more on how SAP Ariba supports retail, read my colleague Florian’s post, and see my colleague James’ post on the importance of being able to combine experience data with operational data.
Managing Business Credit Risk for CSP and Recurring Billing with Work 365
Payments at Risk
Not all customers are created equal. This is especially true when it comes to payment timeliness – businesses that offer pro-rated or ongoing services in advance of payment are taking on risk and can be affected by slow or missed customer payments.
Evaluating the extent of that risk and coordinating that risk can be difficult when invoices, payments, and services are all on different systems. With cloud services and recurring billing, we need to apply a different mindset to provisioning, invoicing and payment collection.
In a previous post, we shared best practices on Subscription Billing. Subscription billing cannot be treated the same way that we handle one-time items or paper-based licenses or even project-based invoices. It’s commonplace to apply protections like Billing in advance to ensure that the payment is received before incurring any costs.
Subscription Billing or Cloud services have these characteristics:
- Generally long term in nature
- Customers tend to purchase with options like Monthly or Annual billing
- Purchases are not always large
- Cloud Services tend to be essential services that are commonly used to run the business like Email
Credit Hold Functionality
Regardless when there is a new relationship – financial and accounting processes need to be in place in order to streamline and Sales and Billing operations. Credit management is one such item. Dynamics 365 Sales provides out of the box fields like Credit Limit and Credit Hold. These fields are exactly what they are meant to be which is to flag a customer for Credit Hold and specify a Credit limit for the customer.
Work 365 leverages these features to limit the exposure and synchronize the process between sales->service and finance. A new or existing customer may be on credit hold as the sales team closes their first sale and even set up subscriptions and billing contracts. While the Account is on credit hold the system doesn’t provision any services thereby allowing the finance team to complete any credit management processes like requesting a payment profile or collecting documentation. Once the Credit management process is completed and the Credit hold is lifted the system automatically provisions any items that are in the awaiting state.
Another use case is when a credit hold is placed for non-payment. The customer’s account can be put on credit hold preventing them from making further changes or adding subscriptions. Sales and service teams can indicate to the customer that the account is on credit hold and not something they are able to workaround. Giving your finance and sales teams further leverage to collect payments while also providing adequate system-based responses. This credit hold feature prevents revenue loss from unpaid balances. This is also another example of how Work 365 leverages the Dynamics 365 Sales application to synchronize the tasks between Sales, Service, and the finance teams.
Work 365 syncs account and system information from sales and accounting and streamline the credit check process to make sure all information is accurate and up-to-date. Holds can be immediately paused or un-paused based on the customer’s payment and credit history with your services. These features, coupled with invoice integration for automated billing, help Cloud Solution Providers to control their cloud business even more than before, saving time and money.
Check out our customer to learn more about the problems our CSP customers faced.
From Payday to Promotions: Managing Your People More Effectively
Posted by Jonathan D’Sa, Director Outbound Product Management
Every company has people that need to be paid, managed and motivated.
Two of NetSuite’s customers, Advanced Product Piping Manufacturing (APP) and Fisher Unitech, are in different industries, generate different revenues and have completely different backgrounds and growth stories. But they do share one thing in common: they both made the move to bring together their HR processes and financials into a single application using NetSuite ERP and SuitePeople.
Advanced Piping Products Prioritizes Its People
APP is a manufacturing company based in Houston, Texas that stocks and sells above-ground pipe supports across the U.S. In a recent webcast, the President of APP, Carrie Reese, explained that when she and her husband took over the company, the company was shifting their strategy from outsourcing to in-house manufacturing. It needed a scalable HR and payroll system to grow with the business while also connecting to the ERP system, which is what led APP to consider SuitePeople.
After going live on NetSuite ERP, implementing the natively built SuitePeople as its HR and Payroll solution was an easy decision.
The benefits are tangible:
- Time to process payroll decreased by 85%
- Five backend systems decreased to just two
But best of all, SuitePeople has helped APP foster a sense of culture tied to the organization’s values. The company even makes shirts for its employees that receive SuitePeople Kudos!
By adding NetSuite’s HR capabilities, APP now has a single system to run the entire business, eliminating manual entry of payroll data, remaining HR compliant and increasing productivity. Carrie and her husband can now focus their newly acquired time and energy on growing their business rather than managing a multitude of systems.
Fisher Unitech Says Goodbye to Manual Processes and Hello to Growth
Fisher Unitech is a leading provider of product lifecycle management solutions. Unfortunately, as it expanded it lacked a backend financial system that could manage its rapid growth goals, including its rapidly increasing headcount.
Initially, Fisher Unitech was manually running the business in Excel, email and even sometimes spiral notebooks. When it decided to implement NetSuite ERP, Patrick Scally – Fisher Unitech’s HR Director – began exploring options to upgrade payroll processes to fit within the company’s new ERP system, he said in a recent webinar. The appeal of an integrated, simplified solution that could scale with Fisher Unitech’s high-growth business led it to SuitePeople.
SuitePeople’s payroll functionality built on the ERP system provides a unified source of truth for the company. As the business grew, the need for a more comprehensive HR system became more apparent as well; Patrick says the driving force to implement SuitePeople HR functionality was pure scalability of the solution. With SuitePeople HR and Payroll, Patrick’s confident that Fisher Unitech now has a scalable suite of business applications that the company can trust while continuing to accelerate growth.
Interested in hearing more about the success of how NetSuite customers are using SuitePeople? Check out the on-demand webinars featuring APP and Fisher Unitech.
by NetSuite filed under
Proactively Managing Finances in the Construction Business with TIBCO
The Eiffage Group is a large, French-based construction group responsible for building and road construction, civil engineering, metallurgy, energy, concessions, and the management of those assets. Within the company is the Centre de Services Partagés (CSP), a shared business services department, that works across the company to handle the financial functions of the business, including supplier relations, transaction management, and accounting.
CSP needed a way to increase visibility into its operations and set up a system of indicators to better monitor and understand anomalies in the company’s high-volume payments. With new projects coming up each month, Eiffage also needed to create an application for its team of six auditors to identify suspicious transactions daily.
To combat these challenges, Eiffage turned to TIBCO Spotfire®. Spotfire enabled the construction group to quickly model and create dashboards to bring insights to teams across the company and manage unusual transactions. The new application allows users to build their own code to meet their specific needs, now incorporating several criteria that auditors needed. This self-service attribute of Spotfire has saved auditor’s time because they no longer have to wait for IT and can build what they need on-demand.
Eiffage received a number of business benefits from the analytics solution, including:
- Being more proactive. Spotfire inspired teams across the company to be more proactive in their problem-solving, demonstrated by detecting unusual financial situations before it’s too late.
- Gaining better visibility. CSP has better visibility and better indicators to monitor payment delays, proper processing of bank statements, and regulatory compliance.
- Seeing tangible business gain. Dozens of financial monitoring indicators for managers were produced in just eight weeks, leading to a significant return on investment.
Looking ahead, Eiffage hopes to incorporate predictive analytics software to oversee the closing process. To learn more about how Spotfire® became proactive in its financial management, read the full case study.
Managing Your Marketing Budget with Limited Funds
As marketers, we are encouraged to think big when it comes to our marketing efforts so that we can yield the best results for our organization. And with new trends in marketing, customer behavior, and technology, the possibilities of how we craft our marketing strategy are practically limitless. Unfortunately, limited resources (especially marketing budget) can stifle our efforts.
These limited resources force us to get really creative with how we utilize our marketing budget. When it’s our job to manage our marketing spend, we have to cut corners wherever possible, identify ways to stretch the resources that we do have, and ensure that every activity is helping us get one step closer to meeting our goals.
As a person who, until recently, has been accustomed to being part of very small marketing teams with limited funds, I feel your pain — but I also know a thing or two about how to maximize your marketing resources. So, if you want to learn how to do more with less, keep reading for tips on how to manage your marketing budget with limited funds.
Look at Past Data to Identify Where You Can Get the Most Bang for Your Buck
Not all activities will produce the same results for every organization. While hosting or attending events might be a great way for one organization to fuel their demand generation efforts, another might find that paid ads and social media are more effective in helping them attract new leads. Therefore, you should focus your efforts and resources where they will make the most impact.
To figure out what works best for your company, look at previous data and analytics to see which marketing tactics are driving more conversions, generating more leads, and promoting more loyal retention. Using these results, decide which programs can go and how the money saved from these cuts can be reallocated to create even better results.
Revamp What You Already Have
Giving your brand and marketing a refresh doesn’t always have to involve completely going back to the drawing board. A few tweaks here and there can help you add new life to your current marketing efforts, saving you time and money that would otherwise be spent doing a complete overhaul.
This concept is applicable to any of your marketing efforts, from content to demand gen. While you’ll probably go into the marketing revamping process with an idea of what things you want to change, listening to what your audience wants is most important. Therefore, before you get to enhancing your efforts, try A/B testing your current marketing efforts to gain a better sense of what kind of language, images, CTAs, and mediums resonate best with your audience.
Invest in the Right Tools
I once worked for an organization that had two instances of the same ESP because they were talked into it by a sales rep after experiencing deliverability issues with the first instance. In addition to experiencing deliverability issues, the ESP lacked the tools and integrations the organization needed to get the job done efficiently, which meant staff members had to manually perform several tasks that could have been easily automated. Not only did the decision to pay for not one but two instances of this ESP not do them any favors in terms of deliverability and engagement, the cost and resources could have been better used elsewhere.
The lesson here is that doing your research and investing in the right platform is essential to your success. Having a solution that meets the needs of your team drastically improves your ability to manage your budget by saving you time and resources while empowering you to handle the marketing tasks necessary to get the results you want simply and efficiently.
Automate Your Marketing Efforts Wherever Possible
Here’s where I take back everything I said about marketers on a budget not being able to dream big due to limited funds. Too many marketers spend too much time trying to juggle more than they can handle and fail to realize there’s a better way to do things. Trust me, I was in this position for years and was shocked when I realized that there actually existed a solution that could help me alleviate all the pain points I had been complaining about.
When I applied for and interviewed at my current role at Act-On, I was initially in disbelief that they could actually back up their claims about how their marketing automation platform empowers marketers to do the best work of their careers while lessening the lift and resources involved. But during my short time at Act-On, I’ve seen first-hand how our platform enables marketers to improve the personalization of their marketing efforts, save time and resources, and maximize ROI. Not only that, I’ve talked to countless customers who can say the same and have experienced incredible results from using our platform.
After reading this post, I hope you have a better sense of how to maximize your marketing budget and the options available for you to do that. If you want to learn how Act-On can help your team excel even with limited funds, I encourage you to talk to an expert and see what we can do for you.
Managing Sales Tax Complexities in Merchandise Returns
As the world has become increasingly digital, the retail industry has gone through tremendous transformation. To survive in the competitive landscape and keep up with evolving customer preferences, merchants have had to adapt and learn how to deliver the seamless omnichannel experience that shoppers expect. Delivering that efficiency and convenience comes with operational intricacies that no longer can be managed manually.
Customers expect an easy return process, and they use it to their advantage. There are many shoppers who buy items in multiple sizes and options for comparison. In fact, 40 percent of shoppers bought multiple items online in 2017 with the intent to return all but their favorite, according to customer loyalty company Narvar.
While most shoppers might see returns as convenient and hassle-free, the process is costly and complex for retailers. From restocking and labor costs to the inability to resell a returned item because it either is no longer in style, or was damaged, or went on sale, retailers face a myriad of return challenges that expand beyond a lost sale.
The increase of returns is proportional to the expansion of online sales, which have experienced a growth rate nearly three times that of rate of brick-and-mortar shops. As omnichannel buying has become the standard, the complexity of returns has intensified.
Thirty-eight percent of retailers recognized an increase in “buy online return in store” (BORIS) returns in 2018 compared to 2017, according to the
National Retail Federation.
At the same time, 29 percent noted an increase in fraudulent returns. The retailers polled estimated that 8 percent of returns were fraudulent last year. For no-receipt returns, which make up 12 percent of all returns, the fraud forecast jumped to 21 percent.
Retailers lose US$ 5 dollars for every $ 100 in returns, notes the
2018 Consumer Returns in the Retail Industry report. Such significant losses translate into higher prices for consumers, as retailers need to recover money lost, as well as a drop in sales tax revenue for state and local jurisdictions.
Customers, especially those returning in person, expect returns to be processed seamlessly. However, not many realize the back-office calculations that need to happen to ensure a return is handled properly and the right amount is credited back.
Keeping Up With Rates and Rules
Forty-five states and the District of Columbia collect a statewide sales tax that ranges from 7 percent in Indiana, Mississippi, Rhode Island and Tennessee to 2.9 percent in Colorado. Those rates, as well as state taxability rules, change constantly. There were 619 standard
sales tax rate changes in 2018 alone. In the last decade, there were 2,214 new standard sales tax rates and 3,672 standard sales tax changes.
This complexity doesn’t stop at the state level. In thirty-eight states, local taxes are levied on top of a state’s basic rate, bringing the number of U.S. tax jurisdictions with different rates and rules to more than 11,000. Missouri, for example, has approximately 2,000 local tax rates.
Taxability also varies across product types, adding to the sales tax confusion. Clothing is considered taxable by most states, for example, although a few exempt clothing up to a certain amount or altogether. A few states impose a luxury tax on items of clothing that sell for more than $ 1,000. Additionally, there are some exceptions to be considered, such as athletic or protective clothing, which are exempt in some jurisdictions.
It would be burdensome if not impossible to manage these complexities manually. Retailers need automated software that provides them with up-to-date content and ensures that proper taxes are applied during a sale and return transaction.
Calculating a Return
The amount of sales tax on a receipt usually is totaled for all items purchased, which means retailers need to recalculate it when select products are returned. This is not an easy job, given that the rates and rules can be different depending on the type of item, and when and where it was sold. Ideally, retailers should keep track of per-item tax amounts to avoid recalculation, requiring an automated system that can store massive amounts of data that can be accessed on demand.
Consumers often buy online and return in store, or bring returns to different locations. Because the rules are different across state lines, knowing the location of the original transaction is critical to calculating the right amount.
A great exampleis New Jersey, with a state sales tax rate of 6.625 percent, and its neighbor Delaware, which is one of the
NOMAD states with no sales tax. A Delaware store accepting a return of a purchase made in New Jersey would need to have access to the information about product taxability for the specific items returned, as well as state and local sales tax rates at the time of purchase.
Seventeen states held a sales tax holiday in 2018, which is yet another factor that retailers need to consider when recalculating sales tax on a merchandise return. They are state-specific and can place a potential burden on retailers if not remitted correctly.
If someone buys jeans in Ohio but returns them in Pennsylvania, the transaction could be audited because clothing in Pennsylvania isn’t taxable. To avoid raising red audit flags, stores need to ensure cross-state returns are credited back to the original purchase state. Without a tax solution integrated into POS systems, retailers wouldn’t be able to manage this complexity.
After a return is processed and sales tax is refunded, sellers also need the ability to claim back from the government the tax that was reported and remitted. State approaches to crediting sales tax vary as well.
Some require sellers to amend past returns, while others, especially those with a flat rate across the state, allow for merchants to take a credit on the next return filed — as long as the correct rate is applied. Because of this, when retailers want to close the books, they often end up absorbing the cost of the tax, especially for returns that come in late.
Automating the Process
The rise of omnichannel sales and services comes with a number of complications. A product sold through an online channel and then returned by the customer to a physical store creates a fair amount of tax complexity. When each transaction is multiplied by hundreds of different tax rates, dozens of products, and thousands of customers, the tax math gets extraordinarily convoluted.
In a competitive market, such as retail, customer satisfaction is of utmost importance. A seamless omnichannel returns process is an important element. Studies have shown online shoppers are more willing to shop again with a retailer that provides a satisfactory return experience.
Recalculating sales tax accurately and in real-time during a return can be hard, given the dizzying number of tax variables. A manual process of creating tax schedules and entering the information into a POS system needs constant monitoring and updating to add or remove rates and rules, new locations and SKUs. It can result in errors and omissions, increasing noncompliance risk.
Retailers need to rely on fully automated technology that can streamline operations and ensure accuracy. This includes applying the latest rates and rules, as well as refund and restocking fees. The solution also should integrate with POS and back-office systems, as well as scale to allow the business to expand into new regions or channels with confidence.
Automation can help retailers simplify the tax complexity of merchandise returns, which have grown to be a large and inevitable part of the retail process, so they can focus on growing their business.
Benefits of AI for Asset Management Firms: Managing Client Meetings
Using AI to Manage Client Meetings
If you work in asset management, you already know just how important data is for the success of your firm. In order to stay competitive, your business needs access to reliable and informative data sets, harnessed by the appropriate technology. When it comes to data-focused tech, Artificial Intelligence (AI) is capable of giving your business a significant competitive advantage. In this video series, we look at 6 areas where AI can improve your asset management firm’s profitability and streamline your operations. If you haven’t taken a look at the other videos and blogs in this series, we recommend that you go back and view them:
In the video below, we discuss
Whether a wholesaler is meeting with a client in one of your offices or out on the road, they need an efficient way to prepare ahead of time. They also need to be able to plan the meeting itself, as well as take down notes regarding actionable items during the meeting. Check out this video to learn more about how machine learning and AI can streamline this process, increasing both the effectiveness and efficiency of your wholesalers’ client meetings — both in the office and out on the road.
More Effective and Efficient Client Meetings with AI
When wholesalers meet with prospects or existing clients — whether it’s in the office or out on the road — they need the right tools to plan and coordinate these meetings ahead of time with the right people. Without the right agenda and materials, a meeting is bound to underdeliver.
But, of course, meetings are about more than just planning. It’s also important to record relevant information during a meeting, particularly actionable items. Without the right action items, a meeting can feel like a waste of time and resources. More often than not, organizations use software solutions such as Outlook or Excel to track and record information from meetings. Occasionally, organizations will also rely on CRM solutions as well, such as Microsoft Dynamics CRM.
Thanks to the power of machine learning and AI, client and prospect meetings can result in even better outcomes. Not only can AI increase effectiveness when planning and coordinating meetings, but it can also assist with information capture during a meeting–freeing up the wholesaler to do what they do best: focus on the prospect or client.
Think AI is a tool of the distant future? Think again. The power of AI can be harnessed by your business right now. With the AI features in software solutions like Microsoft Dynamics 365 CRM, you’ll be able to maximize both your and your clients’ time. Take a look at this video to learn more about how AI and machine learning can work for your business, and keep an eye out for future videos.
ABOUT AKA ENTERPRISE SOLUTIONS
AKA specializes in making it easier to do business, simplifying processes and reducing risks. With agility, expertise, and original industry solutions, we embrace projects other technology firms avoid—regardless of their complexity. As a true strategic partner, we help organizations slay the dragons that are keeping them from innovating their way to greatness. Call us at 212-502-3900!
AI for Asset Management Firms: Managing Pipelines and RFPs
The Advantages of AI for Asset Management Firms: Using AI to Manage Pipelines and RFPs
In today’s asset management industry, nothing is more important than data. Without access to the right information, you’ll miss out on countless opportunities. That’s why it’s essential to have the technology in place to allow for easy data access and management. In this video series, we look at 6 different ways your asset management firm can benefit from the implementation of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in day to day operations. If you haven’t had a chance, we suggest you take a look at the series introduction, , as well as Part 1 of the series,
In this video, we look at how AI can help your firm manage RFPs and pipelines as efficiently as possible. At any given time, your firm is presented with numerous opportunities. The question is: how do you know which ones to pursue? Where should you invest your time? Before AI, firms would do one of three things in this situation: guess; evaluate various criteria by hand; or, try to respond to every opportunity rather than eliminating the less promising ones. None of these approaches is ideal. If you want to make the best possible decisions when evaluating business opportunities, you need the help of AI.
Knowing Which Opportunities to Pursue
In the past, account managers and wholesalers would typically work in the retail or wholesale space. These days, though, the line dividing those areas from institutional private spaces has blurred significantly. We now frequently see reps working on institutional sales engagements with private clients. This means engaging with third party consultants, and that means a steady stream of RFPs are part of the day to day routine.
When your firm has dozens (or even hundreds) of RFPs to sort through, it’s impossible to respond to each and every one. Traditionally, account managers and wholesalers could determine which projects to pursue — but this can be incredibly time consuming and time is money. Plus, given the amount of data involved in this kind of decision making, these individuals often make mistakes which result in lower returns.
This is where AI can provide your firm with a competitive edge. With AI and software such as Microsoft Dynamics CRM, you can evaluate various RFPs and business opportunities more efficiently and effectively. AI has the ability to evaluate RFPs in terms of highly informative data sets. By taking consultant ratings, key accounts, approved strategies, and even other RFPs and various third parties into account, AI offers you a complete picture that can inform your decision making. As a result, you’ll save time and energy — and you’ll be in a better position to pursue the most valuable opportunities.
AI isn’t a distant technology: it’s available for your business to use here and now. With the help of various AI features in software solutions like Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Sales, you can rest assured that you’re making the best decisions for your business.
Want to learn more about what AI can do for you? Check out the video below to find out how AI and machine learning can improve the way asset management firms respond to RFPs. Stay tuned for more videos in this 6-part series, .
ABOUT AKA ENTERPRISE SOLUTIONS
AKA specializes in making it easier to do business, simplifying processes and reducing risks. With agility, expertise, and original industry solutions, we embrace projects other technology firms avoid—regardless of their complexity. As a true strategic partner, we help organizations slay the dragons that are keeping them from innovating their way to greatness. Call us at 212-502-3900!
Managing Persistent Debt, Static Delinquency and IFRS 9
Following last week’s posts about static delinquencies and other delinquency trends, I have had several conversations that lead me to wonder how holistically we are looking to solve some of the more challenging credit management issues. Here are my concerns.
Firstly, I have just seen the damage a collections shop that is not ready for IFRS 9 can experience. This has thrown the organisation concerned into a spin as they grapple with impairment increases resulting from an inability to stem the bucket 1 roll rate, and the subsequent roll to 3+.
I believe part of the challenge faced here may involve the way organisations are dealing with the gauntlet thrown down by UK regulators around persistent debt. It has been clear for some time that pre-delinquent strategies will help reduce collection losses. Clearly, the UK regulator felt organisations were not doing enough and prescribed what should be done on card customers who qualified as persistent debtors.
When we look at how card issuers are dealing with three key factors — the performance of delinquent credit card portfolios, the actions on the persistent debt cohort and the operating model adjustment to mitigate against unnecessary impact of IFRS 9 — what is interesting is what we don’t see. We don’t see much clear, holistic change in action. In far too many organisations, we see disjointed approaches that are not making life easier for the creditor, their customer or the regulator.
Let’s look at each of these three issues in turn.
Static Delinquencies
Last week, my colleague Stacey West wrote about trends in static delinquent balances. Here’s some of that data:
Source. FICO Blog
Reducing static delinquency has, for too long, been a missed opportunity for many. How can it still be ignored by card issuers dealing with persistent debt and IFRS 9?
Persistent Debt
Why am I mentioning this topic in relation to static delinquency? Because in the past many organisations could identify who was credit-stressed, but what the creditor did about it drove customers into collections. Some of the proposed approaches on how to treat persistent debt customers are likely to do likewise.
There are estimates that the new rules on treatment of persistent debt will save qualifying borrowers between £310 million and £1.3 billion a year. Or put another way, they will cost the credit card industry that much — plus more, given that issuers also have the operational cost and the impairment on those consumers it pushes into collections.
With that in mind, surely the customers sat static in the delinquent portfolio eroding balance-sheet value further must be worth targeting, and not just once they get into collections. Many institutions have worked through identifying the profile of persistent debt customers at 18 months and then working out how to identify and manage down those with a high propensity to be still in persistent debt at 36 months.
What we don’t see is widespread evidence of systematic ‘in production’ policy, analytics, decision and process.
At a recent FICO meeting, colleagues and I walked through what we did not see and mapped what we felt would be needed for any organisation, in the UK or out, that was truly looking to understand and effectively manage its pre-delinquent, credit-stressed and high-cost-of-credit customers. The decision tree below seems appropriate.
Source: FICO Blog
When there is a clear executable process that can be triggered at any point in the customer lifecycle, then you can truly comply and compete. In order to do that, your process must include sound predictions of customer behaviour. For example, it could include the FICO Risk and Affordability Decision Suite.
Source: FICO Blog
Once there is robust predictability of customer behaviour, you can get a clear line of sight on the commercial impacts of treatments, which can be achieved with optimisation.
Source: FICO Blog
Once commercial implications are known, then strategic decisions can be made for both the customer and the portfolio.
So, whilst a raft of proven capabilities exist across the analytics and technology spectrum to determine and execute the most appropriate treatment, we haven’t yet seen these analytics deployed in many of the EMEA countries. Until we do, I expect to see high static rates in early collections, impairment increasing to levels that threaten product profitability, struggling collections operations — and, no doubt, an increasingly prescriptive regulator.
IFRS 9
IFRS 9 does not allow any tolerance for those not totally on top of avoidable losses. Whether true loss or through impairment, organisations need to really push their data science teams to address the customer in the round and provide those in collections and recovery with forensic-level insight on how customers arriving in collections need to be managed and what the outcomes are likely to be. Anything less and organisations face a risk of haemorrhaging customers and losses.
Those organisations where Finance, Risk, IT and Operations are collaboratively joining the dots of multiple challenges, and working through how to put the required solutions into production, will soon see a clear competitive advantage.
If you’re not there yet, it’s time to move faster. Merger and acquisition activity will increase over the next couple of years, and organisations need to decide if they want to be an acquirer or an attractive target.