The point-of-sale channel is changing.

Margins are tighter, payments are more compressed, software companies are going direct, and many resellers are asking the same question: Where does the next layer of value come from?

In this episode, Rick speaks directly to the RSPA community, including VARs, resellers, ISVs, payments professionals and other technology providers who have spent years helping merchants operate their businesses.

The opportunity is not for every reseller to become an ERP implementation company. It is to recognize when a customer’s challenges have moved beyond the point of sale.

Many merchants are managing QuickBooks, spreadsheets, POS, e-commerce, inventory, CRM, warehouse processes and reporting tools that do not communicate with one another. The reseller may already know where the problems are because they have the customer relationship, the trust and the operational knowledge.

SimplyPut can provide the ERP, data, integration and implementation expertise while the reseller remains close to the customer and continues protecting the relationship.

The partnership starts simply: one customer, one conversation and one messy business problem.

In This Episode

• Why the traditional POS opportunity is becoming more difficult
• Where resellers can find the next layer of value
• How disconnected systems create operational pain for merchants
• Why customer relationships are the reseller’s greatest advantage
• Recognizing ERP, reporting and integration pain signals
• Why resellers do not need to build their own ERP practice
• How a referral and delivery partnership can work
• The role of Odoo, NetSuite, integrations, reporting and data
• Why payments should be part of a larger operational conversation
• How solving back-office problems makes the reseller more valuable
• Starting with one customer and one clearly defined problem
• Common Customer Pain Signals

Customers may not say they need an ERP. Instead, they may say:

“We are still doing that manually.”
“Our reports are a mess.”
“QuickBooks does not tell us everything.”
“We have several people touching the same data.”
“We do not trust our inventory numbers.”
“We built a spreadsheet for that.”

These are not just frustrations. For the right partner, they are opportunity signals.

Key Takeaway

The opportunity is not to become something you are not.

Resellers already have the relationship, trust, local presence and understanding of the customer. SimplyPut can help assess the problem, scope the opportunity and deliver the ERP, integration, reporting and data expertise needed to solve it.

You bring the relationship and the customer pain. Together, we can turn the mess into something actionable.

Who Should Listen

This episode is especially relevant for:

• POS resellers and VARs
• RSPA members
• ISVs and software providers
• Payments companies
• Technology consultants
• Channel partners looking for new revenue opportunities
• Providers helping customers outgrow QuickBooks and spreadsheet

Visit SimplyPut online or contact Rick to discuss reseller, referral and integration partnership opportunities.  

Before businesses buy software, systems or consulting services, they buy confidence. They buy trust. Most importantly, they buy the belief that the people across the table understand their business and will be there when things get difficult.

In this episode, Rick Malthaner and Tony Costanzo introduce the foundation behind Simply Put Consulting and explain why service, listening and business outcomes must come before technology.

Tony shares his journey from corporate IT leadership, private equity transformations and mergers and acquisitions to building Simply Put. Rick discusses his path from enterprise IT into small-business consulting, point-of-sale systems, sales leadership and channel development.

Together, they explore the messy reality behind growing businesses: QuickBooks, spreadsheets, disconnected systems, manual reports and processes that may appear inefficient but often exist for very good reasons.

Rather than walking into a business with predetermined answers, the Simply Put approach begins with listening. What is working? What is breaking? Where are decisions being delayed? Can leadership trust the numbers? And what outcome is the business actually trying to achieve?

The answer may be an ERP such as Odoo. It may be an integration, a process change or simply a second set of experienced eyes. The goal is never software for software’s sake. The goal is a better business outcome.

In This Episode

• Why businesses buy trust before they buy technology
• Tony’s background in IT leadership and business transformation
• Rick’s journey from enterprise IT to small-business technology and sales
• Why messy processes often exist for legitimate reasons
• The importance of listening before recommending a solution
• How ego can undermine a sales or consulting conversation
• Why QuickBooks and spreadsheets are not inherently the problem
• Getting business data into a more actionable state
• The role of referrals, relationships and long-term service
• What listeners can expect from future episodes

Key Takeaway

Good consulting starts with understanding the business, not selling the software.

When customers believe you understand them, will tell them the truth and will remain accountable after the sale, the technology conversation becomes much easier.

Books Mentioned

• People Buy You by Jeb Blount
• Ego Is the Enemy by Ryan Holiday

About the Podcast

The Simply Put Clarity in Motion podcast features practical conversations about ERP, Odoo, data, operations, reporting and the challenges businesses face as they outgrow the systems that helped them get started.

In this episode, we dig into a reality that most people in the ERP industry rarely talk about openly: the traditional ERP model often creates as much complexity as it solves.

After years working in and around large ERP projects, we came to a difficult realization — many implementations are built around long timelines, expensive consulting engagements, and ongoing dependency. While enterprise platforms like NetSuite can be incredibly powerful, the costs, complexity, and implementation models behind systems owned by companies like Oracle often create pain for SMB and mid-market businesses that simply need better visibility and operational control.

We talk about:

• Why so many growing businesses get trapped in QuickBooks + spreadsheet chaos
• The hidden costs of traditional ERP implementations
• Why complexity often benefits everyone except the customer
• How mid-market companies end up stuck between “doing nothing” and “buying too much system”
• The difference between implementing software and actually improving operations
• Why ERP projects fail to create adoption internally
• The importance of clean, actionable data for decision-making
• Why businesses don’t need enterprise-level complexity to operate like larger companies
• The shift from “selling ERP” to creating clarity, control, and operational confidence

This episode also explores a different philosophy around ERP:

• Faster implementations
• Simpler configurations
• Reduced dependency on consultants
• One accountable partner across the entire lifecycle
• ERP as a business operating system, not just accounting software

If your business is struggling with disconnected systems, manual reporting, delayed financial visibility, or a lack of actionable data, this conversation will probably feel very familiar.

Because at the end of the day, ERP shouldn’t feel like a multi-year survival exercise.

It should feel like progress.

Key Takeaways

• Most companies don’t outgrow effort — they outgrow their systems
• Spreadsheet-driven operations create decision-making friction
• ERP complexity is often normalized in the industry
• Mid-market companies need clarity and speed more than enterprise bloat
• Good ERP should reduce friction, not create more of it

Memorable Quotes

Who This Episode Is For

• SMB and mid-market business owners
• Companies stuck between QuickBooks and enterprise ERP
• Operations and finance leaders struggling with disconnected systems
• Organizations considering ERP but worried about implementation pain
• Businesses looking for actionable, real-time operational visibility