By Craig Patterson

Montreal-based Lightspeed, which is a leading point-of-sale solution for independent retailers and restaurants, has partnered with financial software provider Intuit QuickBooks Online, as well as with workforce management platform Planday, to bring a full suite of services to businesses in the retail and restaurant space. The three Apple Mobility Partners now provide integrated services that support business management ranging from the planning of finances and organizing work schedules, to simplifying merchant-to-customer transactions.

“The end goal is to facilitate a seamless end-user experience for small businesses,” said Dax Dasilva, founder and CEO of Lightspeed, going on to say that the “trusted Apple and iOS systems can replace legacy systems”. This will help businesses save costs, reduce time spent on administrative tasks, and to better engage their employees.

As well, the latest integrations of Intuit QuickBooks Online and Planday provides Lightspeed customers using iPhone and iPads with access to the following:

• Integrated solutions that provide a clear picture of the overall business, enabling owners to deliver an improved customer experience;

• Onboarding for the integrated solution via collaboration between a cross-company team of customer service representatives; and

• Mobile POS connected to inventory, eCommerce, and back-of-house to take a retail store anywhere or serve customers table-side.

Benefits to customers using the products include:

1. Being able to manage and report on all inventory from one centralized location with Lightspeed,

2. Having all the sales information flow automatically from Lightspeed into the proper general ledger accounts in Intuit QuickBooks Online to understand the business at a single glance,

3. Scheduling all employee shifts based on expected revenues and manage individual or group communication in one place with Planday,

4. Having all information around sales and employees’ time and attendance will roll up from Planday and Lightspeed into Intuit QuickBooks Online to run payroll, and

5. With the three platforms speaking to each other, business is made more efficient and time is saved by consolidating reports.

The partnership is no doubt significant for Lightspeed’s growing global customer base. “This relationship ushers in a new era of ease and innovation for our customers. With this integration, we are delivering one experience to retail and restaurant customers to help them save time, make more money, and improve data accuracy through automatic syncing of all systems,” said Julian Teixeira, Vice President of Sales at Lightspeed. “The way retailers and restaurants do business has changed, and a modern-day POS system should support a business owner so they can spend more time focused on their customers.”

Regarding the role that QuickBooks plays in improving profitability for business owners, Mauricio Comi, Leader of Product Partnerships, Intuit QuickBooks, said, “Maintaining profitable margins for goods and services and ensuring reliable payroll are two key priorities for retail and restaurant businesses. This technology solution is especially designed to help alleviate these pain points. With Lightspeed, Planday and QuickBooks, small business owners can gain valuable insights into many aspects related to the performance and health of their business so they can make smart decisions to ensure their growth and success.”

Retailers and restauranteurs also benefit from the integration of Planday — Christian Brøndum, CEO, Planday, said, “Businesses in the retail and restaurant industries need to provide the best possible customer experience, while at the same time staying on top of costs. Ensuring the right employees are in position and with the right team size during busy or quiet periods is key to success, but this has been a real admin challenge for operators. The combined solution represents a significant step in solving this equation with the minimum of effort.”

Founded in 2005 and now with more than 600 employees, Lightspeed processes more than US$15 billion annually in more than 100 countries. The company continues to innovate and recently introduced Lightspeed Analytics, which is geared towards independent retailers and is designed to provide retailers with insights and recommendations into their sales, inventory, employee performance and customer behaviours, with an aim of providing retailers a competitive edge in their industry. We recently profiled Lightspeed Analytics at length in a previous article.

Lightspeed’s corporate culture embraces diversity and CEO/founder Dax Dasilva is considered to be a leading voice in the LGBTQ+ community. In an interview, he explained the importance of diversity of a strength that can be used to empower his team as well as community. Having an engaged and valued team has helped propel Lightspeed into a trajectory of considerable success with tremendous growth year-over-year.

For Pride Month, Mr. Dasilva will be in Toronto on June 20 and 21 to speak at and participate in several events. On Wednesday June 20, Mr. Dasilva will participate in the RBCDisruptors: Diversity X Inclusion X Innovation, at RBC WaterPark Place in downtown Toronto, where he will have a conversation with RBC Senior Vice President John Stackhouse following opening remarks by RBC President and CEO Dave McKay at 8:30 a.m. that day. On Thursday, June 21, Mr. Dasilva will participate in two events. At 3:00pm the TD LGBTQ2+ Development Series, will be held at the TD Bank Tower which will include a fireside chat with News Talk 1010’s John Moore and Mr. Dasilva. At 7:00pm that day, there will be a 10’ x 10’ Photography Exhibit at the Gladstone Hotel which will be celebrating Never Apart Executive Director, Michael Venus, as well as nine additional LGBTQA+ artists. Mr. Dasilva founded the non-profit Never Apart in 2015, and it includes a Centre with about 12,000 square feet of creative space with seasonal art exhibitions, two permanent installations (the Sun Room and the Moon Room), live music events, artist talks, and film screenings.