Answers to Your Top Questions About POS Systems

For those who want their restaurant or business to be more efficient, cost-effective, and better at providing a high-quality service, there is nothing more important than a modern point of sale (POS) system.

From the benefits of tablet-based POS systems to the best way to implement them, read on for all the answers to your top questions about POS systems.

1. What are POS systems?

A POS system operates as the central hub for your business as it is within this system that your sales, inventory and customer management can merge. Every time a customer makes a purchase at your establishment, they are completing a point of sale transaction. Therefore, your point-of-sale system is the hardware and software that permits your company to perform those sales.

By implementing a POS system, your business will be able to accept payments and monitor sales. Moreover, today’s digital POS systems offer a variety of other features in addition to taking the place of a cash register. And, with a digital POS system, you can check out a customer wherever you are as you just need to be utilising a POS app and an internet-enabled device, such as a tablet or phone.

2. What features should I look for in a POS system?

Some of the most essential features that you want your POS system to include are those that simplify your management processes. Systems with a dedicated Management Console are ideal for this as it makes it much easier for you to control your business and monitor your assets through a single platform.

Additionally, you also want a system that integrates sales and inventory analytics. This feature provides you with the opportunity to access inventory numbers quickly, as well as real-time sales, workforce reporting and analytics and customer data. All of this data provides important insights that can (and should) inform the direction you take your business towards. After all, it is crucial that you know your best selling items, when you have your busiest hours, and which products need to be restocked.

It is also helpful to choose a system that offers a labour reporting feature so that you can have a better understanding of your staffing needs.

The iPad-based Revel POS app offers a user-friendly design as well as a number of features that make it easy for your team to be more efficient and accurate when it comes to managing transactions and orders. This all-in-one restaurant POS system is designed to maximise restaurant bookings and orders and enhance service time and order accuracy to improve customer satisfaction.

It does this through advanced features, including tableside ordering, enabling dining establishments to increase your service delivery by allowing servers to enter orders at the table and send them straight to the kitchen.

Another feature that the Revel POS app offers is Intelligent Reporting, which provides an efficient way of gaining insight into your restaurant’s operations and data that can be analysed to improve processes across the board. Moreover, this POS system also has a crucial Online Ordering and Delivery Management feature that enables your restaurant to cater to the orders of home-based customers.

3. Why are iPad POS systems preferred?

While there are several different forms a POS system can take, there is no denying that an iPad-based POS app is preferable when it comes to the right one for a restaurant.

 

First and foremost, an iPad-based POS system is much more cost-effective than an on-premise POS system as it doesn’t require you to invest in as much hardware. Instead, with an iPad based POS system, you can get started with a modest amount of investment for the associated hardware and a reasonable monthly fee while still maintaining key functionality.

In addition, an iPad-based POS system is much easier to use as it features a modern user interface with familiar touchscreen hardware. This makes it much easier for employees to learn while also reducing the likelihood of errors and helping staff use it quicker.

However, one of the most significant benefits of utilizing an iPad-based POS system is that it is cloud-based. This means you can access the information from anywhere, as long as you have an Internet connection, enabling you to manage your business even while on the go. It also means increased security as your vendor’s servers will host your POS system and manage your data security.

iPad-based POS systems also benefit from rich integrations as the software is designed to work with other frequently used applications such as e-commerce and marketing programs. Plus, it is easy to install free software updates.

It is highly recommended that you opt for an iPad-based POS system in your restaurant or business for all these reasons.  

4. How do you implement a POS system?

How you opt to implement a POS system is just as important as which system you choose. After all, you want to ensure you are setting your employees up for success when introducing new technology. Therefore, the first step is to ensure that you recognise the benefits of a POS system and can communicate to your employees why you have selected it and how it can make their workflow more efficient.

 

Additionally, the best way to ensure that your employees can quickly learn how to use your new POS system is to work with a solutions provider that offers training and personalised onboarding. This significantly helps as every team is different and requires a tailored onboarding process to get them up to speed.

Similarly, you want a POS system solutions provider that offers 24/7 support (whether in-person or over email, phone or WhatsApp) so that you can feel confident that you won’t experience extended downtime.

Once you have chosen your preferred POS system, your service provider will equip you with everything you need from hardware to menu set-up, installation to implementation. From there, you will be ready to use the system almost immediately.

Then, once your POS system is set up, you will be better positioned to run a more efficient and profitable business and be connected to the relevant information across your devices at all times.

Are you interested in implementing an iPad-based POS system this year? Why or why not? What do you consider are the benefits? What do you foresee are the challenges? Let us know your thoughts and any other observations you have in the comments below!

AUTHOR BIO

Ross Smith is the Managing Partner at iPad POS Middle East. Based in Dubai, covering the whole of the Middle East, the company is passionate about helping restaurateurs and retailers alike find the most suitable point of sale system to meet the needs of their business. They specialize in iPad-based point of sales systems and are resellers of Revel and Vend.