POS Systems and Business Integration Software
Point of sale (POS) systems have been a mainstay of retail operations for decades, from the independent neighborhood boutique to the nationwide chain with thousands of outlets. They’ve never been glamorous, but with the rise in popularity of business integration software over the last few years, POS systems now have a central role to play in the streamlining of any retail outlet’s operations.
Modern POS systems, when paired with the right business integration software setup, can seamlessly integrate the register with a store’s back office operations. This can pay dividends by reducing the effort required to reconcile information from two different systems (the POS and the back office system), helping you better serve your customers, giving you tools to maximize the value of your CRM, and even collecting customer and transaction data that you can go back and analyze later.
For example, with the right business integration suite, you can use the information generated by your POS system to update inventory data in real-time, and without having to run multiple reports and then import those back into a spreadsheet or accounting system. You can even connect to suppliers and automate the re-ordering process if that’s a process that’ll work for you.
You can also take your cash register mobile, allowing your staff to assist and ring up customers wherever they can access the store’s WiFi signal. Customers don’t have to stand in long lines while your associates look on helplessly because there are only so many registers. As long as they’ve got a card reader and a mobile device, your employees can go to where your customers are.
What about CRM? Integrating your POS and your back office systems gives you an incredible opportunity to accurately identify your most valuable customers and spot ways to keep them coming back for more. You can even share this data among departments to ensure that these customers are always satisfied.
If you thought that the trend toward “big data” wasn’t relevant to retail operations, think again. This sort of integration has the potential to offer deep insights into subjects like staffing requirements, profit margins, top-selling items, and sales volume. It’ll be up to you to put that information to work for you, but you can’t do that if you don’t have the data in the first place. An integrated POS / back office arrangement can deliver it to you.
The bottom line is, if your front-end and back-end systems aren’t talking to each other, you’re missing out. This kind of integration offers the opportunity to completely revamp your business processes in a way that drives efficiencies, customer satisfaction – and profits.
Contact Oyova today and find out how we can help you, 904-322-8820.
