A Point of Sale System (POS) is designed to help manage inventory, keep sales records, and add additional features like customer / employee management tools. This data can be very helpful for tracking what products are selling quick, keeping an up to date inventory count and knowing when to place orders for new stock. It can also be used to keep an eye on how employee's are performing.  

A POS system consists of a hardware and software component. The hardware portion consists of a monitor, barcode scanner, card reader, receipt printer, and cash drawer. The software component consists of a specific application and associated licensing. There are many different manufacturers of POS systems and each has a separate aesthetic design or additional features / benefits. 

Cloud vs On-Premise POS system. The main separation between these products will be speed and maintenance. A on-premise POS system will inherently be faster due to not requiring an internet connection. It will also most likely require an on site IT staff member to deal with security, updates, maintenance, and licensing. The cloud based alternative usually has the vendor taking care of security, updates, maintenance, and licensing. The downside of a cloud based POS system is it relies heavily on a strong internet connection.  

Why use a POS system? Well, the alternative is to log everything manually by using custom lists and records. This however, can be time consuming, slow and inaccurate. Even though it can be done, as your company starts growing in size the room for human error increases and a POS system becomes far more practical. 

If it's time to bring your company up to date and implement a POS solution, let us help you make the right choice!