My daughters and I use the first week of fall to go apple picking and make a day of eating fried food and more than an occasional apple. Fall is a wonderful time of year and it’s also an orchard’s busiest time; people bustling about who would never trek to our area if it weren’t for the country ambience. I live less than two miles from the orchard and still enjoy being one of ‘those people.’
This year I noticed the orchard spruced up their frontline accounting system and added iPads at every concession. The order for our sausage, hot dog, and onion rings was punched into an iPad. Our bag for picking apples was entered into another register. Even our store purchase was logged.
Selling apples and other items would seem like a fairly simple business not requiring computers, but I’m going to bet it’s more complex than meets the eye. Every bag or basket needs to be accounted; as well, every hot dog and fry order needs to be counted. Accepting cash without a centralized system doesn’t let the owners benchmark and adds more steps to their business.
A traditional system, like those used in most restaurants, relies on a series of dumb terminals feeding into a centralized server. Waitresses enter orders at the terminal which processes at the server. Based on the order and restaurant, multiple slips may be printed. One prints at the bar, another in the kitchen, and so on.
Not only does a POS system track revenue, but most have the ability to monitor inventory and warn servers. Once logged into the server, management can sort items based on popularity and profit margin. Each area of the restaurant can be managed separately based on a host of variables including profitability and the number of customers.
Back at the apple farm they’re using a system which feeds back to the cloud. At any time during the day the owners can log into a website and view statistics. Rather than owning the equipment and hardware, they simply lease server space from the POS company which reduces maintenance. All the apple farm needs to purchase are the preprogrammed terminals.
Most businesses have some sort of POS system in place. Restaurants, hotels, nightclubs, retail, grocery stores, bus companies, and just about any place you can dream has some sort of computerized sales package. Though more complex, medical offices use accounting software to keep track of patients and accounting. Centralizing the process reduces mistakes and makes tracking orders much easier.
Small businesses typically use software from Quickbooks which has built-in networking features. Larger scale operations (in hotels and restaurants) may use systems from Micros or other boutique software companies specializing in a specific industry. Large scale operations, like chain stores, may use custom tailored systems from IBM or other major manufactures.
Business owners should make some considerations prior to implementing a POS software package. Obviously, first is cost. Just as important is how easy the system will be to use both on the front and back end. Limited maintenance means less downtime and fewer expensive visits from the repair company. Putting together a well designed POS package takes time and capital.
I’ve pieced together some of the most ludicrous accounting packages for small businesses over the years. From personal experience I can tell you the most important question you can ask is what type of support you will receive after the sale. It doesn’t matter how well a system will manage your business, if it’s difficult to setup and use it won’t work. One thing the apple farm’s accounting package missed was the number of apples my daughter and I could eat while walking around. Luckily, I live a short drive from the farm so punishment for cheating the system didn’t last too long.
(Jeromy Patriquin is the President of Laptop & Computer Repair, Inc. located at 509 Main St. in Gardner. You can text him directly at (978) 413-2840 or visit www.LocalComputerWiz.com.)