A week ago today, Starbucks locations across the globe were disabled when their point-of-sale (POS) system malfunctioned. The outage, which crippled sales at roughly 8,000 locations, was a reminder of the tremendous role POS systems play in day-to-day operations at even the hippest of companies.
With one system playing such a crucial role for your business, it’s important it runs correctly and consistently. And, unlike Starbucks, most small businesses don’t have the resources for to support an IT staff. So, when things go down it can be bad—like, REAL BAD! Making it all the more important your POS system is incredibly reliable.
We’d recommend a tablet POS system (obviously!). These little gizmos run apps (like what you’ll find in the iTunes App Store or Google Play). In “geek-speak” they’re referred to as SaaS, or software as a service. These web-hosted apps house data on remote servers and make information accessible online. This makes apps much less vulnerable to crashes like with Starbucks—similar to a diversified financial portfolio, data is “diversified” so if one server goes down it won’t ruin your day, and the day of many other merchants simultaneously. The advantages are so obvious, Gartner predicts the market will grow at an annual rate of 19.5% and be a $32.8 billion industry by 2016. WOAH!
And, even better, crashes or overloaded hardware are nonexistent. Unlike traditional hardwired POS systems, there is no downtime or cost when having to reinstall…everything.
In addition to enabling data diversification, app developers are super nimble—that is to say, they are constantly updating their software to ensure the best security and most stable product. To make it even better, iOS enables automatic updates to promise you the latest and greatest application on your tablet POS—and you don’t have to lift a finger.
But what if the internet goes down? It’s bound to happen—the internet will go down—maybe for an hour, maybe for a day. Regardless, we know your business can’t take a timeout. Thankfully, most apps offer an offline mode, which allows life to continue even if your ISP decides to take the day off. Using LAN (local area network, no internet required), you’ll be able to take orders, print receipts, and store data until Comcast decides to get off the pot. Plus, all your data is automatically updated.
Don’t let your legacy POS system take you down. Reach out today so we can help you adopt a tablet POS solution that lets you focus on your business and not the technology required to run it.