One system for your whole business

Tracking every aspect of your marina business is a lot of work. Managing a marina with a solution that meets your operational needs does not have to be. Alyssa Jones of Molo outlines the advantages of an integrated system.

Front-end activities regarding customer service, dock maintenance and bringing in revenue, along with the back-end items of reservations, services, payments and more, all need to be taken care of. You must be able to balance your books and manage your marina properly. But are you being efficient in all these aspects?
Integrating marina management systems across your entire business sounds daunting but, with the right technology, you can spend more time focusing on your customer rather than all the back-end items that need to be done.
A good software system will give you the confidence to pull reports, review reservations and take payment at the click of a button rather than writing everything down, translating and copying it into a spreadsheet, and then hoping you did not miss something while collecting all the information from the customer that you needed to get paid. Reducing the chance for error is just the beginning of what you can do and what you will be able to share with your patrons once your system is integrated and you are running more efficiently.
Integration of systems
In the technology industry, the term interoperability is used daily if not hourly. But what does that term mean and how does it relate to the marina industry? Interoperability refers to “the ability of apps, equipment, products and systems from different companies to seamlessly communicate and process data in a way that does not require any involvement from end-users.”
Many marina managers operate each segment of their business – (1) Booking/Reservations/Contracts (2) Service (3) Point-of-Sale/Ship Store and (4) Accounting/Reconciliation – out of separate data systems, or on paper. They then need to pull reports from each system so as to reconcile business data (financials) nightly or weekly. This is not only extremely time consuming but is frustrating and leaves room for error. Additionally, the separate systems do not “talk” to each other.
Integrated systems play a key role in facilitating organised and effective data exchanges between information systems in a business. With this crucial functionality, you will be able to see benefits in efficiencies, costs, and ultimately your revenue. You will be able to better track your reservations, and with up-to-date data on when transient boats are out, know when you can book a slip or have a vacancy.
Without integration, you cannot create “house accounts” for your customers or look at a customer’s total spend very easily.
Your entire business
Molo offers a marina management system that allows you to focus on your customers making the most of their experience at your marina rather than worry about the backend items. It is a marina management system on your iPad and web browser designed in collaboration with marina owners and managers. Quick slip reservations with online contracts, email invoicing with online payments, mobile point of sale with digital signatures and email receipts, service and repair management, accounting integration, and 24/7 support are just some of the significant benefits Molo can provide for your marina.
With Molo you can offer your customers a “resort-style” feel as they can walk around your property without a credit card. Molo stores payment information and, as most people pay within 24 hours using Molo online payments, you get paid faster!
Having such an integrated system allows you to have the information and functionality that will really set you apart from your competition and enables you to enjoy running your business rather than sitting behind a computer crunching numbers.
But being adaptable to receiving information quickly and sharing it with your customers effectively is just the start. Better productivity allows you to run your business more smoothly and have data readily available to make decisions and achieve goals.
Obtaining data quickly is one thing, but having data protection is just as important. Information protection is a requirement for any business and having everything in one place, and not written down on paper, protects you and your patrons. Protecting sensitive data and access to shared records through integrated systems instead of manually recording and entering personal information saves time and gives peace of mind as there is less room for error. And, as information systems are connected, the quality of the data and results are better as you are less likely to duplicate and store outdated data.
Having seamless data communication is a must in a world that is going forward with technology. When it comes down to your business, you want to be equipped with the functionality necessary to meet your scale, your goals and communicate with your systems. Integrating technology into your marina offers productivity enhancements essential to remaining competitive and this technology can replace extra employee expenses, minimise geographic differences, and help project a professional image.