David Glass, President While automation is at the helm of every industry, the sector that hasn’t seen enough of its impact is agriculture retail. David Glass, President of Silverado Business Systems Inc., owned a feed store before buying the company in 1996 when agriculture retail had just started to emerge. Rewinding, when the firm’s bespoke retail management software was installed in Glass’ store, he admired it so much he eventually bought the company that owned it, anticipating that its potential could disrupt the industry, especially in the agriculture retail niche. With the belief that automation can give a Midas touch to the retail sector, Glass—who has expertise in finance—hired a programmer to code software for automating the management of his feed store in 1996. What began as a custom PoS application catering to the needs of few feed stores in Texas, AgRetail Store Management System™ today has evolved to support many other verticals including fashion, books, music and gifts, and hardware, among others, and has a clientele base in 40 states.
Silverado Business Systems follows a unique implementation process of its application, which begins with an expert visiting the customer’s site for a demo on managing retail assets. The customer can also opt for an online demo. The firm’s turnkey approach ensures the customers, who are considered as partners in the company’s eye, are liberated from the hassles of installing the software and hardware. “We deploy a manager to oversee the operations at our client’s location to carry out the software installation and provide on-site training to staff,” says Glass. While many competitors offer the solution with standard features, Silverado Business Systems also gives complementary services such as domain name alongside the solution.
We understand our customers’ requirements and try to accommodate their needs within their budget
Additionally, customers can directly purchase the computer system from the company, which comes with advantage of the preloaded software. On completing the project, the manager walks the staff through the process of managing the physical inventory using the intuitive software.
Customers can also buy ‘data analytics’ as an add-on feature in the software. “We understand our customers’ requirements and try to accommodate their needs within their budget,” remarks Glass. In addition to offering the asset management features, AgRetail Store Management System™ has an easy-to-use accounts management feature that even a novice or an individual without having expertise in computing can conveniently comprehend and operate. These features help partners become more profitable and manage their profit margins better. During recession too, Silverado Business Systems has helped its partners gain one to two percent margin, and Glass says, “sometimes it translates into a huge number at the end of the year.”
What gives Silverado Business Systems a competitive edge is its ability to offer round-the-clock support to its customers. If contacted with a challenge, be it related to hardware, software or whatsoever, the firm responds in record 15 minutes. Besides, the company also addresses problems outside the realm of the software or hardware, such as troubleshooting internet, etc.
With eyes set on innovation, Silverado Business Systems is updating its software by taking client feedback on board, consistently. The mood now is to integrate incorporate electronic data interchange (EDI) to cater to the needs of manufacturers, wholesalers, carriers and forwarders, and retailers across various industries. This will save time for its partners, who can order and receive goods more efficiently through the software. "Time is money. If we can save time for our partners, we are making money for them, and EDI has been our biggest push in this regard recently,” concludes Glass.
