As each year ends, merchants are forced to deal with the scramble related to holiday season sales and offers which ideally, are executed flawlessly from consumer interaction at point of purchase all the way through backend systems and related cash flows, and an eagerness to hit the start of the next year and begin execution of strategic initiatives.  All this while still understanding the need for team members to get some time to recharge with their families and loved ones.

Clint Cady, Partner at W. Capra shared, “There’s an often-shared quote about ‘not letting your company end up as a newspaper headline’.  To draw a parallel for merchants heading into the end of year, I’d say don’t let operational issues keep you and your team working endless amounts of time at the end of the year and into next year when the right pre-work and planning can save you from those headaches of potential consumer frustrations, system failures, and related accounting problems.  Furthermore, as these issues leak into January, there will be palpable frustration with your ability to kick into high gear at the start of the new year.”

With November wrapping up, what can I do?

For those merchants who know that as soon as Black Friday and Cyber Monday have arrived, every day becomes a battle of triage and resolution until year end, there are some opportunities to immediately look at operational integrity.  Cady opined, “There is nothing glitzy about conducting stress tests on your retail and digital infrastructure or ensuring that accounting and financial processes are mapped and properly staffed for the volume of activity that is to arrive in the coming weeks.  But the ability to preemptively resolve or determine workarounds for any discovered issues can give organizational confidence that the much-deserved PTO taken by team members will not be spent in support mode.  As I mentioned before, we too often see these issues on the accounting and reconciliation side hampering teams’ abilities to kick off strategic projects in the next year as they work to untangle an infinitely looped ball of financial yarn and get the prior year closed.”    

I’m confident in my operations, what else should I do to enter next year with clear insights?

W. Capra frequently engages with clients at the end of the year to provide our third-party lens with quick assessments and analysis that adds valuable insight into potential areas for improvement or consideration in the future. Cady explained, “We have the ability to work with our clients to ensure year round monitoring, quick hit cost of acceptance analyses, or even technology deep dives related to their industries put them in a position to be aware of where they stand related to their future goals and ongoing industry requirements and changes.”

Clint Cady is resolute in leading W. Capra clients in their considerations related to payments and retail technology. For further discussion contact Clint Cady at [email protected]