An essential tool that all businesses must have is a solid point of sales system. With the right POS system, your business can run smoother than ever before. POS systems offer a wide range of functions, including the ability to quickly process sales, manage a customer database, track payments, and keep track of inventory levels.
But before you can ever enjoy these awesome features, you have to find the right POS system that is able to grow with your business. Here’s how you can choose the best system that meets your business’ needs now and in the future.
Know Which Features Are Crucial
POS systems are extremely advanced. While most offer the basic features such as processing transactions, sales tracking, and inventory management, many go above and beyond these expected capabilities. While it’s nice to have all of the bells and whistles, the more features that are available, the more expensive the system will be.
Before you begin your search to find the ideal POS system, you want to know exactly what features will most benefit your business. For example, if you run a retail company you may want a system that offers time and performance tracking for employees along with support for a loyalty program and the ability to process refunds and returns.
Taking the time to find POS software that fits your needs ensures a high return on investment. It also means less money spent in the future because you’ll have purchased a POS system that is flexible and allows for growth.
Choose Cloud-Based
Cloud-based POS software is able to be integrated with traditional POS hardware. With this type of POS system, the data that’s stored is automatically backed up and synced in the cloud. This makes it much easier to store, access, update and protect information.
There are all sorts of benefits to using a cloud-based POS system including:
- Streamlined processes across many locations
- Increased data visibility
- Increased mobility
- Decreased downtime
- Increased data security
- Look for Mobile Support
By choosing a cloud-based system you can have the peace of mind that all of your sales, inventory, and customer data is not only properly stored, but also that this information is protected. With a cloud-based POS system, you’ll have the infrastructure that’s needed to support a growing business.
Mobile Support
Mobile device usage has continued to increase over the last few years, and this trend is expected to continue. In order for your POS system to be able to adapt to this trend, you want to choose one that not only offers mobile support and enables your business to go totally mobile if needed.
With mobile access and support, you can conduct sales using mobile devices and access reports and metrics in real-time. By a cloud-based mobile system, you can use tablets to complete in-store purchases and access pertinent business data even when you’re away from the office.
Some vendors even offer mobile apps that allow you to see real-time POS system data. By choosing a mobile system, you can reap the benefits now and long into the future.
Reporting is Crucial
POS systems are for much more than tracking sales and managing inventory. What’s great about these systems is that they’re also designed to capture important data, analyze it, and then present it in a usable form. By looking at the data provided from a POS system, you can see which items are selling the fastest and slowest, when most transactions are processed, and which type of customers are buying from your company.
The ability to have real-time access to this data allows you to make data-driven business decisions. Planning an upcoming marketing campaign? You can better market by knowing exactly who your target audience is. Need to boost sales? Use your data to figure out which items are the hottest and offer a discount on them to encourage more purchases.
Usability & Simplicity
As new employees come on board, you want the assurance that they can quickly learn how to use the POS system. It shouldn’t take weeks of training for someone to catch on to how the POS system works. This means that you want to find a solution that offers an intuitive design that employees can eventually learn to use instinctively.
A quality POS system should also make day-to-day life for your employees much easier. The system shouldn’t require redundant processes or tons of clicks in order to complete a transaction or to process a refund. By putting usability in the forefront, you can minimize the training and time needed for current and new employees to learn the system.
The more usable the POS system is, the more likely it is that employees and other stakeholders will be accepting of the change. Introducing new technology into business processes is never easy, but it’s much less of a challenge when the system is intuitive and user-friendly.
Conclusion
The ultimate business goal is to grow your company. As you hire new employees and possibly even expand your physical locations, it’s important that the tools you use on a daily basis are designed to grow alongside your business. Use the information above to select a POS system that’s flexible and scalable.
