Group items tagged

This article talks about what is different between cloud POS and traditional POS. And what innovation about future POS is. The future POS is the system combine traditional and cloud POS, which decreases the risk of both negative sides.

This article shows that in order to keep up with the new demands or preparations of customers, restaurants need to keep pace with the ever changing world of technology. The NRA and Cornell study all showed that nearly 40% adults prefer online orders. But restaurant still need to consider the whole cost and revenue if they want to invest in mobile and online order. What is more, they still need to put efforts on marketing. Word of mouth really influence customers choices. In this article, it also gave us a example of online ordering by FB.

"the inventor of popular valet parking technology Computerized Valet Parking System (CVPS) makes life easier for hotels and hotel guests."

Self-checkouts at the retail establishments may cut labor cost; however, according to some retailers the theft percentage went up. Customers are leaving supermarkets without scanning the items. It is very 'easy to steal' at the check-out. People are scanning only cheapest staff, leaving more expensive items in the cart. Putting less valuable items on the scale, for instance weighting bananas in stead of the steak. People are very creative in their ways of 'stealing' or avoiding payments. There is a necessity in video cameras, video analytics, and different mobile devices to prevent the theft.

This article talked about some features need to be considered when choosing a restaurant POS system. It suggested that restaurant should pay attention to the ease of use, customer database, tableside ordering, online reservations, online odering, scalability, pringting, and data recovery. It emphsized that live system changes, terminal flexibility, menu, menu firing, and discounts should be considered. It also talked about the important features for bars to choose a POS system. They are fast pay, tabs, repeat, job types, and credit card hold.

Consumers are spending more time engaged digitally, especially smart phones. So retailers are applying the mobile devices for POS retail expansion. The processing speed and its mobility made mobile POS more helpful, productive and competitive. It offers a powerful computing platform that combines the attractive form factor with ease-of-use; it also save the tablets cost and offer retailers a vital tool to improve productivity and decision making from the back office to the point of order entry on the retail floor.

MenuPad is a mobile POS system designed to operate with existing POS systems, making the system easy to incorporate into a restaurant's operations. Customers can place orders and pay bills with this appilication on iPad. Carmel Café & Wine Bar in Sarasota, Florida, now has this app for the restaurant. The server's traditional role of order-taker is replaced with technology when a mobile POS menu is implemented. However, the still server plays a crucial role in introducing guests to the iPad itself and the software it is running.

Subsidizing a product to get a long-term use commitment from a consumer base is nothing new; it existed before high tech hardware was made affordable by software or service agreements. Think about the razors you buy, assuming of course that you're not a fully bearded male. The initial cost of the razor isn't all that expensive, but replacing the razors for a month costs upwards of twice the razor itself. And if you've shopped for a printer lately, you know the same strategy applies here. The printer itself isn't the greatest expense over the life of the asset; the ink, which is required and usually specific to the device itself, is where you will spend the most money. The most well known form of subsidization, or at least most glaring, comes from the coupling of cell phones and cell service providers. An iPhone, for example, costs a lot more than most people actually pay for it. The new iPhone 5, the basic version with 16GB will run you $649. Not to mention the cost of new adapters, chargers, cases, etc. However, if you commit to (or renew) a two-year service contract with AT&T, Verizon, or Sprint, the phone itself costs $199. How does this work? The same way the printers and printer ink work. The service providers (i.e. AT&T) subsidize the majority of the cost of the phone in order to lock customers into a contract that ends up costing much more in usage and data charges over the life of the contract. The idea is to make the cost of entry relatively cheap. Then, the cost the company loses at the initial purchase is recouped through purchases, or service charges, over the long term. Unscrupulous? Not really, although some would say so after receiving their phone bill. But that has more to do with not being aware of the stipulations of the contract you sign to get the cheaper phone at the outset. Although I personally find it annoying, I try to look at as something akin to amortizing the asset, and remember that, at least for me, a monthly fee

New technology brings new capability. Within the retail POS hardware industry, new technology is driving change in retail hardware platforms. Cloud-based software, coupled with the emergence of powerful and feature-rich mobile devices, offers new possibilities for retailers to better serve and engage their shoppers at the Point of Purchase. Typical construction of a Point of Sale cash register is centered on a PC workstation. These cash register systems are often positioned in one or more fixed locations in the retail store. They might be served by an array of peripheral devices: a touch display, a customer pole display, a handheld scanner, a receipt printer, and a cash drawer. These peripheral devices are typically configured with serial or USB interfaces and connect to a port on the PC workstation dedicated to each device. Software developers engage each device through OPOS or native DLLs drivers created by the hardware manufacturer. In this setting, a shopper is compelled to queue up at the cash register and stage their goods for itemized sale. By contrast, software functionality and mobile device technology allow a retailer to bring the Point of Sale transaction to the shopper at their Point of Purchase. In this way, a retailer can increase shopper loyalty by providing a more convenient, more personalized, and more interactive transaction experience. A purpose-built Point of Sale solution can be developed from the ground up for the mobile transaction faster than ever. Hardware manufacturers are creating new solutions to support this trend. By selecting hardware that maximizes the benefits of a mobile transaction, a retailer can significantly improve system performance and significantly reduce the total cost of the system. However, the current PC-centric workstation architecture presents several technical challenges as a retailer chooses to deploy a mobile POS solution. Consider this example: A mobile credit transaction performed on a smart phone

POS go online nowadays. There are two online POS, one is through Facebook, and the other one is cloud-POS. When utilize properly, Facebook can act as a powerful sales and marketing tool because it enables word of mouth marketing. Cloud POS have many advantages: first, it is accessible from anywhere at any time. Second, it is cost saving. Third, it decreases the risk of losing data in the case of disaster. Cloud POS is the trend of implicating new technology in the hospitality industry, and it is accepted by more and more hotels and restaurants.

After years of struggling in negative business environment, according to a study conducted by Hospitality Technology, restaurants report that technology investment is back. Survey reveals 25% of respondents will replace POS System in next 5 years. 

Revel Systems has joined forces with Network Intercept to create a new iPad POS system. It will make Revel Systems one of the most secure restaurant POS providers on the market. Because keeping the customers' credit card information safe is the top priority of Revel Systems, they have a passion to create the software which can provide the highest level of protection by using verification and encrypting all data and payment information from end to end.

The normal POS system, which often includes hardware and software, such as receipt prints, and cash registers, is designed for large size business, such as chain restaurant. However, for some small business, the regular POS system is so expensive. Fortunately, the online POS system company offers a chance that small business can use POS system by internet. The technique is similar as cloud computing. Users do not need purchase any hardware. Moreover, those companies also provide some special services that based on internet. For example, one company combines POS system with social media, which allows users move between the online point of sale interface and their business or personal pages. In that way, customers are able to tell their online friends about purchases, thus increasing referrals. Additionally, another company -Vend offer the solution of a lost Internet connection by providing both on- and offline performance. If for some reason the connection is interrupted, the program continues to operate, offering automatic data synchronization when the Internet is restored.

This article discusses how Shift4 POS provider and Service Tracking Systems for valet parking have come together to integrate their two systems to make it possible for guests to be charged for valet parking directly to their room folio, instead of splitting up the two charges, which is making it easier for the guests and management on a day to day basis.

This is a really good implementation for hotels. By charging the parking fee to the rooms, it is not necessary for guests to worry about whether they have cash or not. It also saves the time for passing the exit of the hotel.

The added convenience of this feature is great. It is suprising that this has not been in place longer. It seems like a no brainer since hotels have been able to direct bill a room for dinner for so long. Next they should direct bill the tip for the bag courier so you do not need to tip him at the door. Once a guest accepts help to his/her room, the "delivery" fee could be charged directly to the room. This removes the need for a service evaluation when you have just arrived at a hotel. The tip amount could be tasteful revealed to the guest so there are no suprizes.

More and more retail stores are converting to iPad tablets as their POS software. Some stores are using them only for customer internet searches and product display capabilities but many are starting to use them for bigger tasks such as checking inventory and entering product orders. This takes away the need to run back and forth between the stock room and sales floor with pen and paper. As a result, customer service is increased because sales floor presence is greater. Some benefits of order management using the tablets as their POS software are increased employee productivity, reduced out-of-stocks, and more payment flexibility. Now you can use tablets as payment devices with credit cards.  DecisionPoint Systems, a leading provider of mobile and wireless systems for retailers, is now offering an application to help retailers personalize their customers' shopping experience. Aruba Networks has recently presented a new tablet-based software that allows customers to check out from anywhere in the store. Having worked in the retail industry for many years, I think this technology for back-office purposes is very useful. One of my employers had started using tablet technology during my time there and I can attest that it does increase employee productivity. It makes doing inventories, size checks, and ordering management so much easier and faster. Employees are able to stay on the sales floor longer which is especially beneficial in the case of being short-staffed or during shift changes. However, I am a bit skeptical about using these tablets as a form of check out from anywhere in the store. Unless the store has security measures in place for this, it does not seem very theft resistant. Especially in a clothing retailer in which sensors need to be removed. The cashier would have to be carrying around a sensor remover at the time of check-out to make this system really time-saving. 

It is knowledgeable why retailers would be skeptical over self-services in grocery stores, which include lack of floor space, the ability to lower labor cost, and the concerns of consumer acceptance and usage, but this has changed with the future of technology. The permutation of self-checkout technology now gives the retailer opportunities to reduce labor intendment, and it also orchestrates the front-end operations to offer state of the art customer service to the consumer Self- checkout allows retailers to save space and it easily fits into the store's existing layout. Five self-serve lanes can accommodate the floor space of only two conventional lanes. Cash balancing and reporting for each station remains the same as it was before the device was installed.

I cannot imagine the human factor completely disappearing in stores. I have three young children and I cannot go through teh self check-out if I have more than a couple of items. There will always be those people who need the extra help. I do enjoy self check-out lines, so hopefully there will be a balance of machine and man in the stores.

after the invention of the first POS system of 1974 and the self- check out counters of 1992 researchers projecting 430,000 of self check out counters to be opened by 2014.  The benefit of the Self Check out counters is very tempting for the owners.  Article mentions that some customers are still not too happy with the self check out counters, because of possible bad experience in the past.  Managers are delaying the installation of the automated check outs, because of the scare of the theft, but it's proven that theft is not as issue because usually losses occur from the cashier's negligence.  Article provides some of the proves that self check out counter , can help customers to lose weight, and check out faster, and provides extra privacy. 

In a report generated by Trustwave Global Security shows that about 94% of POS hacks are contributed by weak remote access. The hospitality industry seems to have taken the hardest hit. We know of the grueling schedules that come with working in our industry and how we all can't be there seven days a week. So when management are in the comfort of their relaxation area and remotely access the POS systems, they seem to be leaving the doors open for hackers to enter, as well. "In a breakdown of types of IT environments most frequently compromised, POS systems and assets were associated with 95 percent of breaches in the food and beverage industry" (Pham). One popular hospitality establishment that has reported a breach is the New York location of Eataly. The thought process behind why these hacks are happening has not been figured out yet, but the idea has been tossed around that it is because of the credentials used to remote access. The temporary solution is to create a double layer security system, also known as two-factor authentication. By doing it this way, you can log in using your credentials, but then have a second login that needs to be verified by way of sending codes and authentications to technologies that you would have in your possession (cell phones, emails, etc.) so no one else can access that information.

This article talks about how there are new technology systems that are altering how restaurants of all sizes operate from food trucks to five-star dining. There is a tremendous upside for restaurant owners to capitalize on the latest trend capabilities to run their business better. An example of new technologies in how to revamp your business is to have immersive customer technology in which using tablets and smart-screens can help interact with customers more effectively. Using POS systems directly, browsing menus, ordering food and drinks, and entertainment are examples of immersive strategies. Also, a new concept is the reservation and pre-payment technology which enables the customer to do pre-paid or pay for table reservations to sell non-refundable seats to a dining experience. Mobile payment technology is fast and convenient, and consumers are now becoming accustomed to the idea of paying online or through a mobile service. Finally, restaurant management are using cloud operated based technology in which not only cloud POS systems reduce costs, but offer many benefits over traditional hardware based systems.

This article described the benefits an iPad POS system can offer over a traditional POS system. There are some benefits that I thought were great and can prove to be useful. The remote reporting is great for owners so they can check in without having to actually be there. The system does update periodically throughout the night so when items are no longer available the system will update this will prevent a lot of confusion for both the sever and the guest. One of the best features is the offline mode that allows the system to work even when the wifi goes down, this will allow service to continue which is crucial for peak hours. The cost of iPad system can also be less because updates are automatic and there no need for additional equipment.