Point of Sale (POS) software, also known as electronic
Point of Sale (ePOS), is an essential application for retail or
hospitality businesses because it manages checkout operations and
is what the customer sees when they make a transaction.
What is POS software?
POS software or POS systems are located wherever a transaction
occurs, which generally tends to mean the terminal that is used for
checkouts.
Some systems are the equivalent of an electronic cash register,
used to make and record a sale in a restaurant, cafe,
retail store or
supermarket, and also in hotels, stadiums and casinos
But point of sale systems can also be used as part of a
more sophisticated IT system, linked into back-office stock
control, ordering, and
customer relationship management (CRM) applications.
What operating systems do POS systems run on?
POS systems are manufactured and serviced by a range of firms
and tend to run on a range of operating systems, including DOS,
Windows, Linux and Unix.
What networks do POS systems use?
POS equipment can use a variety of physical layer protocols,
although Ethernet is currently the preferred system, being fast,
flexible and inexpensive.
However, wireless technology is increasingly being used,
particularly for
drive-thru restaurant systems.
These often use wireless or headset systems which enable
communication between the kiosk and the main POS system.
What are vendors doing to standardise POS systems?
POS vendors and retailers are working hard to standardise the
technology behind POS systems, to drive down manufacturing and
product costs.
OLE for POS (OPOS) was the first commonly-adopted standard in
1996, and was created by
Microsoft, NCR Corporation, Epson and Fujitsu-ICL.
An alternative open standards system, JavaPOS, was developed by
Sun Microsystems, IBM, and NCR Corporation in 1997 and first
released in 1999.
JavaPOS is for Java what OPOS is for Windows, and is largely
platform independent.
What are the latest advances in POS software?
The restaurant industry is increasingly adopting wireless
POS because
of the flexibility it offers. Many high end restaurants, as well
as high volume restaurants and pubs favour wireless handheld
POS devices.
Waiting staff use a PDA-sized POS system that can register
orders and send them directly to the kitchen in real time.
Customers are able to view their transaction and pay for at the
table.
Web based POS systems are also on the rise. These offer even
more flexibility because they can run on any computer with an
Internet connection and browser, which means most smart phones and
PDAs as well as mobile terminals.
The web-based software does not require any software
installations or updates, and runs on secure servers in multiple
data centres which have real-time backups.
How can I secure my POS system?
It is possible to
secure your POS application by using ‘whitelisting’ security
software so that only approved applications or devices can access
the network.
UK retailer Marks & Spencer is using this to secure over
16,000 POS systems, and also to enforce
Payment Card Industry (PCI) Data Security Standard (DSS).
The "whitelisting" software, which is from
Bit9, stops malicious, illegal
and unauthorised software from running, thereby
preventing data leakage.
POS product list
-
Actinic
Actinic has an affordable
EPOS system for independent retailers, and can also provide
computerised till systems for many types of retail business. All
systems are Chip & PIN compatible.
-
EPOS Retail
EPOS Retail sells its HOSPOS (Hospitality point of sale) software
system for restaurants and hotels.
- Microsoft Dynamics
Microsoft provides POS and retail management for individual and
chain stores through its Dynamics product line.
- SalesStream
SalesStream is a UK-based supplier of Windows EPOS retail software
suite, SalesStream EPOS. The firm said it requires no expert
knowledge or expensive engineer visits and runs on a single
PC.
- SAP
Business software giant SAP offers its own POS Software suite which
it says can help to reduce costs and enhance customer
experience.
- Volanté
Designed for the hospitality industry, Volanté’s POS management
system is developed entirely in pure Java[http://www.java.com/],
and is object- and network-oriented, which enables it to run on
Windows 2000/XP, Unix and
Linux.
- Wasp Barcode
Technologies
Wasp Barcode Technologies sells several ePOS and retail point of
sale software systems designed for small and independent
retailers.