“Solink is the best. We love it.”
- IdealPOS’s Solink clients often come back and purchase other products and services, multiplying the value of Solink to their bottom line.
- Solink can connect to most systems and use almost all commercial security cameras, so it was easy to start reselling Solink.
- Solink’s monthly recurring revenue (MRR) revshare model is essential to the success of IdealPOS.
- Solink saves IdealPOS’s clients time and money, which fits their business model.
The Partner:
IdealPOS is a large technology supplier in Winnipeg, Manitoba. About half of their clients are local to Manitoba with the other half spread across North America. They carry approximately 70 solutions for the retail and hospitality industry including loss prevention, recipe costing, staff scheduling, and point of sale. They have been a Solink reseller partner since 2018.
We met with the owner of IdealPOS, Gord Doerksen, along with Michaela and Monica, his assistant and marketing manager, respectively, to discuss what IdealPOS does, why they partner with Solink, and how our partnership has benefited them.
Gord considers IdealPOS to be in the business of time. Their goal is to save clients time through intelligent technology procurement.
“If we had one tagline, it would be that we’re a time saver company.”
Where labor is one of the largest expenses a business can have, the goal at IdealPOS is to save time by implementing solutions for automation. With automation and procedures in place, Ideal’s goal is to save a business at least 40 hours a week in labor among staff.
"We develop software applications in-house or partner with companies like Solink to design efficient ways for business operators to get more done in a day without having to employ more people or have the owners spend more time doing monotonous jobs."
Why Solink?
IdealPOS partners with Solink in two ways: They resell and deploy Solink, and they do the deployment and installation of cameras for some of Solink’s major accounts.
Why integrate with Solink?
IdealPOS was investing in building certain functionalities into their POS system. Gord wanted to develop two time-saving features:
- The ability to do automatic, searchable text overlay without damaging the original video footage.
- People counting technology to get real insight into average revenue per visitor, conversion data, and so on.
Solink was able to provide these features, so a technology integration from IdealPOS to the Solink platform saved IdealPOS time and money.
“For years, we worked on text overlay. We tried database and printer spooling solutions to try to get to this. When Solink came and said ‘we have a text overlay solution that doesn’t intrude into the operations of the point of sale,’ that made Solink appealing. Solink has key features that allows them to quickly find an issue, save it, track it, and notify owners when certain criteria are met. With Solink, it was already possible to add trip lines, perform people counting, and use many other functions we were investigating, so it was easier to forgo all the research and development we were doing and just integrate with the Solink platform.”
When looking to deepen their partnership with Solink, IdealPOS focused on one main point. Solink takes a technology agnostic approach to development and aims to work with as many different cameras, as well as other equipment, as possible. This was important for IdealPOS as it meant they could maintain their relationships with installers and camera vendors, which makes it easier to sell Solink.
“Solink can connect to all of our products. We already used cameras that are compatible with Solink, and we use a variety of camera types, which made it super easy for us to partner with Solink. We didn’t need to change the companies that we buy our security equipment from. We didn’t need to change our processes within the install team. We just had to learn how to implement Solink.”
Ultimately, IdealPOS looks for companies that fill in gaps in technology, as they bring outsized value to clients.
“The sweet spots have always been the components that fit in between the commodities. Everyone can sell a point of sale system and everyone can sell a security camera system, but not many people can connect the point of sale to the cameras. Solink can.”
The Result:
Solink provides customer support, sales support, and recurring revenue to IdealPOS
IdealPOS benefits greatly from their partnership with Solink. Here are some of the many reasons they are happy to be a Solink partner.
Working with Solink
Gord is happy with his partnership with Solink. He started his call with us saying “Solink is the best” before hello. The first reason is clear: The Solink Team.
“I appreciate the team, Solink and everyone. The technology is there and it’s great to sell, but if you had to list one thing, it’s that the team is so great to work with.”
IdealPOS has worked with the Solink Partner Marketing Team as well. This exemplifies their experience working with Solink.
“We worked with members at Solink who helped us create content for a trade show. We had an idea of what we wanted so we could print it out and share with people. We told them what our idea was and what Solink gave us was even better. It was a great experience.”
IdealPOS benefits from Solink’s MRR revshare model
Solink provides resellers with monthly recurring revenue (MRR), which means you receive a monthly share of the revenue earned from the account for the lifetime of the contract.
IdealPOS considers recurring revenue a necessary part of any future partnership.
“The impact of Solink’s recurring revenue model has been tremendous. All we do is put a box on site and then collect monthly revenue. Of course, having ‘skin in the game’ means we are also more responsive to our clients as we want to make sure they get the results they expect so we do too.”
Recurring revenue gives Gord the ability to keep expanding his business into new markets.
“As our recurring revenue from Solink grows, it helps us expand into new markets. Solink’s recurring revenue is very important to our success.”
It’s easy to sell Solink
When asked how often they pitch Solink to current and prospective clients, Gord had the following to say.
“It’s part of every sales meeting. We have Solink set up in our office. If it's retail, if it's cannabis, if it's hospitality, or if it's grocery, we explain Solink in every presentation. It's easier when they come into our building because we have all the technology set up in here, but anywhere we pitch, Solink is a vital part of every presentation.”
Gord sees selling Solink as mostly teaching. While prospects might not always come in looking for Solink, they do mention pain points that Solink can easily solve.
“We don’t have a lot of customers coming to us saying ‘we need Solink.’ However, when they come in we ask them a series of questions. ‘What are your pain points? How much do you like and use your cameras? What did you do today?’ As an example, they’ll describe what happens when they think a bartender is stealing from them. First, they need to check the schedule to figure out when the bartender is working. Then, they need to go through the records for some suspicious transactions. Once they have some time periods in mind, they have to manually scan the camera footage. I then ask, ‘what if I could type in ‘voids by Fred on Tuesday,’ watch all the videos that pop up, and then share those with the manager on duty and Fred at the same time so they can quickly conclude the investigation?’ Suddenly they are very interested in Solink.”
Solink is helping open new markets for IdealPOS. Their previous customer profile was focused on businesses with POS systems. However, Solink has given them the ability to sell to any business with security cameras.
“If we’re going out to see a client and they don’t need a point of sale, which is our main solution, or they don’t need any of our other offerings, we can always show them Solink. Some clients come in looking for something else, but they leave having only ordered Solink.”
Solink has also been an entry point for new clients. Once IdealPOS gets Solink in a location, they can build a relationship that leads to other purchases.
“If they don’t want our point of sale or they don’t buy our cameras, we can still work with them thanks to Solink. It’s really beneficial that we can tell clients that they don’t need to lose their current relationships. Since Solink can work with any camera or point of sale, it’s an easy entry point to working with us. We can still pitch Solink as a tool that fits between all of these other products. With that entry point, they start to see the money and time savings because Solink works so much better than their previous service. Solink has helped us sell our other products.”
Selling Solink Video Alarms Service
IdealPOS has just started pitching Solink’s Video Alarms Service. Gord gave a story about an interesting break-in at a local sandwich shop. The thieves entered through an unexpected route which wasn’t covered by their previous alarm service. They then lingered long enough that Video Alarms would have been able to get police to the restaurant before they left.
IdealPOS’s clients getting ROI from Solink
Gord shared some stories of his clients getting a greater ROI than expected. IdealPOS positions themselves as a time-saver company. They sell Solink as a product able to save an owner or manager five hours per week. Here are some other ways that Solink is not a monthly expense but rather a way of building profit.
Client success: Cannabis regulations can be followed with confidence
Manitoba cannabis regulation requires 120 days of video storage. A lot of stores have been audited recently, and the video storage has not been reaching that threshold. Solink can consistently reach any video storage requirement.
“Cannabis shops need this video security technology, so they are our easiest wins. It’s a really easy ROI to prove. We can say ‘you must have security cameras with 120 days of retention and Solink guarantees that time.’ Many cannabis shops that bought different camera solutions that were also approved by the regulators found out when they were audited that they didn’t have 120 days. They only hit 90 or 100 days of retention, so they were fined. Then, we instantly get calls to say, ‘how can you guarantee me 120 days?’ Solink helps these companies and increases my sales.”
Client success: Hotel owner finds such value they installed Solink in their apartment complexes
IdealPOS has Solink installed in a hotel. The owner of the hotel sees so much value in the security aspect that they have since installed Solink in their apartment blocks. This represents an expansion of their customer base, as IdealPOS previously only marketed their products and services to companies with POS systems.
“It’s not really in our wheelhouse, but we have a hotel client that wanted the same app in his apartment blocks for added security. Now he can quickly provide video evidence to law enforcement by email.”
IdealPOS’s three favorite features
Gord is in the business of saving his customers time and money. IdealPOS knows that Solink helps in this mission, saving his clients about five hours per week. The dashboard presents all of the information from the POS with matching video footage. This makes it fast and easy to make sure that there is no employee theft. Real-time notifications when defined criteria are met, for example motion in specific locations or dips in sales, means managers and owners are proactively alerted to issues. Camera groups across locations, and now Camera Linking, make auditing locations fast and easy.
The Dashboard
The dashboard shows you all of the data you need to see. The Customer Success Team sets it up with the specific graphs and feeds you find important. It is fully customizable to fit the needs of each customer.
Real-Time Notifications
Whether you want to be alerted to dips in sales, slow movement through the drive-thru, or movement on a loading dock that is supposed to be closed for the day, Solink can proactively notify you of issues before they get out of control.
Camera Linking
Solink’s Camera Linking AI automatically creates associations between cameras by detecting motion patterns across adjacent cameras. When reviewing footage in Solink’s video player, you can navigate from one camera to another intuitively without prior knowledge of the site’s layout.
