Club Control Systems (CCS) the industry’s all-in-one POS and management software system—that does almost anything you can imagine—showcased updates and improvements at the 2018 Gentlemen’s Club EXPO. Here, ExoticDancer.com interviews CCS’ Raymond Curl to find out exactly how their product can save gentlemen’s club owners time and money.
Club Control Systems (CCS) has toiled for several years, soliciting advice and feedback from gentlemen’s club owners, managers, bartenders, waitresses, and entertainments. This past August, a cadre of CCS employees descended on the tradeshow floor of the 2018 Gentlemen’s Club EXPO to unveil their newest software. It was clear from their presentation at the booth and fervor with which all the delegates spoke that Club Control Systems had broken through with software that truly matched its name.
ED Publications spoke with Raymond Curl, VP of Operations at CCS, who was on hand at EXPO to explain the tech and function behind the new software to get more intel on the software’s flexibility, efficiency and compatibility (spoiler: it works with any club).
ED: How long have you been working on what you unveiled at EXPO in August?
CURL: We have been working on our CCS platform solution for over four years. We spent the first two years meeting with owners, managers, bartenders, waitresses, and entertainers, collecting requirements.
ED: I know your software is pretty flexible to accommodate most clubs; what comes standard or how is the software packaged without any customization? How is it that your software can cater to so many different clubs?
CURL: It was designed from day one with flexibility in mind. We learned from talking with all the different clubs that although, in general, they do the same things to earn revenue, they each have their own little unique differences in accomplishing it. One size does not fit all and we decided that we wanted to be the company that supports how a club wants to operate and not how we want it to operate. So, I guess the answer is that we don’t have a standard software package. We are going to configure each of the individual solutions on our platform to their needs: point of sale solution; entertainer management solution (dance tracking, VIP room tracking, kiosk entertainer purchases, non-kiosk entertainer purchases); front door sales; employee time clock process; consolidated reporting across all individual solutions; back office reporting.
ED: For the uninitiated, talk about the benefits of having cloud-based software?
CURL: We actually have a hybrid solution. There is a local server that supports the operations of the club, but that server constantly feeds data to and gets data from our cloud server. So the local operation does not rely on the cloud server at all. Having a cloud server allows us to provide a club access to its data (reports or dashboard screens) at any time through a web portal. Short of the internet being down, the data is as close to real-time as it can be. So a club owner can get a snapshot look at data or run reports at any point in the day. The cloud server is also the tool from which we send remote system updates and make configuration changes. All this cloud-based access is physically separate from local databases and has no effect on the local IT systems that support operations. It really fits the overall solution as more of a support role to the core system.
An efficient process benefits everyone. Club owners make more revenue since managers are doing a better job of managing the entertainer activity. Managers have access to real-time data, so they can make better decisions and turn over VIP room rentals more effectively.
ED: I’m a club owner/manager and a prospective client, but say I’m a bit suspicious of technology and not that well-versed in it—what am I getting with Club Control Systems newest technology?
CURL: Our system was designed to make the club more efficient when they are the busiest. We don’t do that by making their process more complicated. We understand that some clubs still work in a pad and paper world and we take great care in making sure our clients understand how we are using technology to improve their process. Besides the speed that technology can obviously provide a process, it can also add a layer of security. Clubs tend to use a number of different manual and IT processes to solve their process problems. Compiling information from multiple sources into their end of day reports and summary data is an opportunity for both legitimate mistakes, as well as nefarious activity. It is also important to note that in an IT solution, transactions that are all timestamped and historical data that is easily retrieved is indispensable when the IRS or employment attorneys come calling. As we have witnessed at many clubs, having to go through boxes of paperwork for days at a time, to retrieve information for their lawyers to use to defend a case, is a process that I would think they would want to eliminate as soon as possible.
ED: What’s the single biggest luxury of implementing your technology in a club?
CURL: We stress the importance of a single platform solution. We witnessed club managers, night after night, going through their closeout process, which involved taking and combining information from many different independent manuals and IT processes. Besides the fact that there is an opportunity for data entry mistakes, as well as nefarious activity, it took time to do it and it delayed their closeout of the day with waitresses, bartenders, front door people, and entertainers. Plus, they need all the data summarized and compiled so that it could be sent off to the owner or headquarters. Since we have all the data from all the individual processes on one platform, we already have all the data in one place and we can organize data any way the club wants it (viewable screen or report) to make their closeout and HQ reporting requirements far more efficient. If, eventually, the HR pendulum swings back to making all entertainers full-time employees again, a club is going to want to be able to do efficient closeouts, since they are going to be paying employees for the time when they are not even able to earn the club any revenue.
ED: How does this system benefit club owners/managers vs. club staff (from entertainers to DJs and bar staff) vs. customers?
CURL: An efficient process benefits everyone. Club owners make more revenue since managers are doing a better job of managing the entertainer activity. Managers have access to real-time data, so they can make better decisions and turn over VIP room rentals more effectively. It is much easier for VIP manager and waitresses to do an entertainer purchase. DJs have access to screens that show what entertainers are currently active or in the VIP room. Bar staff can better handle dancer drinks, where dancers share revenue with the club since the system automatically calculates the splits on the fly to make the end-of-night closeout much easier. Customers should be the happiest of all, since it will cut down delays.
For more information, please visit Clubcontrolsys.com or call (888) 698-4905.
