Crystal vs. RetailEdge

All of our applications server in the new company that we bought are windows based, despite that there are other alternative to build the report and dashboard, it is something that has worked wonder for us, apart from it is only available in Windows and indexing data that might eat the resource, I still see the application as one of the major player for reporting

Many of our competitors were franchised base or a "factory store" meaning they HAD to use a specific software. This could be nice, but also very intrusive, in that they saw everything you were doing and could dictate what/when/how you ordered merchandise. So this is good for the independent retailer who does not need or have access to something created at a large corporate level.

Incentivized

• Consolidate data from several data sources
• Low to no code report generation
• Configurable

• The front end register was ideal for new, young sales and customer service reps. Detailed reports and cutomer management worked really well.
• Gift card issuing and redeeming was very easy and simple to track
• Individual user id's meant we could track sales for contests and customer service issues as well

Incentivized

• This is bound for Windows OS, hard to find similar alternative on other OSs
• Be careful in Indexing your data, as it will consume resources

• Like any complex program there were bells and whistles that were bundled and only available if you paid for a better package.
• Tech Support was paid for on an annual plan and even though we rarely needed it, the few occasions I did have to call (never during regular working hours of course) I wan't a "gold" member and therefore had to pay or wait or both

Incentivized

We tried to explore other options but we didn't explore other options too long as it will risk our business process and business outcome, as what we want from the processes in both reports and dashboard are giving us a satisfactory result, so familiarity is why we still using it till today and some foreseeable future

Only system for POS I ever used. I looked at others, but couldn't stomach the idea of migrating all that info to another system.

Incentivized

• Without the application, our lending business will be in complete stop, as our applications are wrote in Windows based
• We are processing 300 Loans/Month, taking it as $10000 per loan, having this not working properly will cost potential $150.000 revenue

• I could not have done daily business without it
• It knew a lot more about the retail process than I did. For instance, I knew I should look at sell through reports, but did not know how to run them or read them. Their tutorials were very helpful
• Even though I complained about the tech support, their user base forums were great for knowledge and trouble shooting and seemed to be well proctored by the comapny as well.

Incentivized