What Can a Point of Sale System Do?
Point of sale, or POS for short, is a system that has literally revolutionized many different industries including retail, dining, and hospitality. Today, point of sale software is used by businesses in almost every part of the world to help streamline business processes.
Point of sale software was introduced in the 1970’s as a way for retailers to improve how cash registers at checkout lines operate. In the past, each transaction had to be recorded on a printout. This printout would later be collected by an employee and another employee would have to physically record information from these print outs from every cash register for the purpose of accounting. This process was very cumbersome, and it wasted plenty of time and resources.
The new cash registers that first implemented POS technology attempted to correct these kinds of issues by making this entire process electronic. Instead of accounting having to be performed manually, each cash register that was now connected to a computer running POS software could electronically record every customer purchase and send this information to another computer for the purpose of accounting. With this advancement, a lot less time and man power would have to be spent on such an important business process.
Later improvements in POS system technology included the use of touch screen displays as an alternative to the use of a keyboard. Touch screen displays have been especially important in the fast food business. With a touch screen, employees can ring up a customer’s order much faster than would be possible with a keyboard. Due to the fact that fast food franchises use a business model based around quick service, saving time by creating more efficiency through advancements such as this is very important.
Another benefit given to the fast food industry, as well as the restaurant industry as a whole, is the quick ability of different parts of a POS system to communicate with each other. For example, if a customer makes an order for a certain “meal deal,” the employees in the kitchen will be alerted of exactly what was ordered. This way they can quickly prepare the meal without the cashier having to actually alert them of the fact an order for that specific meal had been made.
The benefits of this kind of integration between different business processes are what have lead to the development of many of the things that POS software is now capable of. For retail chains, for example, POS software has the option of creating a multi-location POS system. This multi-location system can allow the POS systems of different stores in a chain to communication with each other.
For example, a customer may inquire about a product being in stock. If it is not in stock at that particular store location, the POS system will be able to communicate with other stores to find out if the same product is in stock at a different location. Other possibilities with this kind of integration include an online store and brick and mortar stores being able to communicate with each other.
Whatever kind of business you run, it is certain that a POS system can help make many of your business processes much more efficient.
For more information and professional advice regarding POS please visit restaurant POS.
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