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Upgrading or Replacing Your Point of Sale System
Are you thinking of upgrading or replacing your Point of Sale system? If so, you are not alone. Each year,
many retailers consider making a change in regards to their Point of Sale solution.
There are many reasons why retailers make the decision to improve or completely overhaul
the system they currently use in their stores.
Market Pressure
Being that businesses thrive based on the number of satisfied customers, retailers often decide to make
a change to their POS system to improve the customer’s experience. In order for customers to have a pleasant shopping experience, there is a push for retailers to ensure a speedy checkout by improving efficiency, rapid processing of credit cards and gift cards, and possibly even by providing self-checkout where appropriate.
Internal Data Requirements
Operations in the retail business are extremely dependent on tools that can accommodate its particular business and ensure protection when it comes to that business. A proper POS system must have tools that envelop features such as forecasting, supply chain management, performance management, loss prevention, etc. A direct infrastructure linkage between the POS and back office is essential to the proper functioning of the system. If these requirements cannot be accommodated, it limits not only the effectiveness of the entire operation, but it limits the speed as well.
Store Operating Costs
When Point of Sale systems are left to continue to age, it becomes a necessity for increased maintenance. Continually having to maintain the POS system, even if it is just for hardware preservation, can pile on unnecessary costs for the retailer at a higher cost than updating older systems more often. The costs of maintaining older systems have become a drain on store-level and corporate budgets.
Ready to Replace Your POS System?
Is it time for you to do something about your Point of Sale system? Whether you are looking to make a major upgrade or to just simply replace it, here are some things to keep in mind as you make your decision.
Upgradability
Because there is a constant influx of technological advances, the system may need to be able to do something in a month or a year that it is not capable of doing now; it may be something that hasn’t even been thought of today. It is essential to make sure that POS system the retailer invests in can be upgraded to meet such needs as they are brought forth.
Product Life Cycle/Stability
A POS system changeover can be a multi-year proposition; the average being eighteen months, although longer periods are not out of the ordinary. Generally speaking, retailers will not want to upgrade their system before their staff has completely acclimated. Retailers are going to want to make sure the manufacturer guarantees a life cycle that allows ample time to have everybody up and running, and most of all, stable, on a certain product before altering it.
Ease of Integration
It is not uncommon for a single retail store to use a multiplicity of systems. It is important that all the different components be compatible at the software level. The POS system must integrate smoothly with everything else.
Move to Central Data Management
In recent years, retail has been moving from individual, standalone systems and toward centralized data management. In a system such as this, the purpose of a POS terminal is not just for collecting sales data and performing individual transactions, it’s also a portal. It is not a necessity to have the functionality of a server, but it is vital to have sufficient speed in regards to processing and is a must when it comes to sufficient memory to interact efficiently with the central system.
Cost
Lastly, the Point of Sale system represents an investment. The POS cost has to be budgeted for and justified, and therefore, is subject to comparison between one offering and the next. This cost can be calculated by taking the following three aspects into consideration:
- Procurement: what must be paid for the hardware and software
- Implementation: what must be paid for the system to be installed, running, stabilized, and integrated with other
systems the retailer may have. This also includes what needs to be paid to get everybody trained to use it
- Lifecycle Management: what it costs to maintain, support, and enhance the system, including the costs of training
employees on upgrades.
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