Need a POS System for Your Small Business? Here’s What to Look For
When you’re looking for software and systems for your business, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed. Yes, you know your current needs, but you want your selection to be scalable if your business grows in the future, and you want something that will be able to work with future needs and developments as you creatively adapt your business to new eras and customer expectations. The following will explore some of the elements involved in making a good choice regarding just one type of business software: POS.
What Is POS Software?
POS software stands for point of sale software. This is the software you or your employees will use when customers are making purchases. Typically this software is designed to keep a record of sales for billing purposes as well as provide inventory data and receipts for you and your customer. It might also be able to apply sales or discounts, scan barcodes, weigh items (if you charge by weight) and store customer information for future reference, among other things.
Security
One of the major concerns when looking at POS systems is security. Things like customer banking information need to be kept safe from those wishing to hack and steal identities. You might also be storing data personal to your business. Sometimes this is done in hardware, but more and more frequently, this is done using a cloud system to minimize the size of your system and how much digital space you need to run it. Be sure to speak to all potential providers about the security included within the software.
Reviews
One of the best things you can do is narrow your search by reading reviews of different options available. A trustworthy review will contain a breakdown of the product’s usage, benefits, and drawbacks. https://www.orga-systems.com/micros-pos-reviews/ has an example of an in-depth review for a POS system. It’s a good idea to look for reviewers who have similar needs to your own.
Customer Relationship Management
If your business collects customer data for loyalty programs, text or email reminders, or any other reason, you might want to look at POS software that has customer relationship management capabilities. This will help you automate some elements of managing customer relationships and help you stay organized, and make interactions more convenient for your customers. This can often also help speed up the time it takes to checkout customers meaning it can help shorten lineups during busy hours.
Customer Support
No matter how stellar your POS software is, you want the provider to have a customer support system that works for you. If something goes wrong, you need to be able to promptly get in contact with your provider and troubleshoot the issue. Ask potential providers how they handle customer support, what methods of communication are available to you (phone, online chat, email, ticket system), and at what times.
The above information should help you select the right POS software for you. If your business has additional needs, be sure to outline these to potential providers. They may have solutions that have worked for other customers that can also be applied to your business.
