Web-based POS installation

What are the advantages and disadvantages of the new POS system? How will this POS system help the business gain competitive advantages? What are the advantages of having a centralised database?

The case study done in the report is about the information technology that is blooming in the small and medium size businesses. It describes the implementation of POS software system in the business. In web-based POS, installation is zero percent necessary for the end user because the third-party hosts it and the data can be stored from anywhere. The report has covers the advantages and disadvantage of the POS system. With the use of POS system, the owner can track all the transaction of the sale that is useful for the business data during the sales itself. The report also mention about the effective use of the POS system and provided a feasible reason of why the manually tracked information are not effective. The report has recommended some of the telecommunication options. Finally, it has information about the type of risk in the POS system and ways to protect them for the business.

Advantages of new POS system are:

Web-based POS installation: POS system is cheaper, faster and easy to install. It reduces the need of paper information for entering the data by generating reports accurately with proper updates of records on the hourly, weekly and monthly basis to know how the business is doing (Dobrev and Hart 2015).

Time saving and quick transaction: POS system for barcode scanner makes the transaction quick and save time. It helps in managing and tracking the real time inventory that enables the user to see how many items are there in the stock and order as per their requirement (Provos et al. 2014).  .

Update daily transactions records: It keeps the daily transactions records and reports with stock volume. It is simplified to maintain thousands of transactions to process and there is no need of hiring accountants to maintain it.

Disadvantages of new POS system are:

Connection reliability: For web-based POS system, a reliable connection of internet and IPS has required (Sänger and Pernul 2014). If there is any kind of internet outage, then the user cannot access the system to get the backup and to operate.

Upgrade Costly software: Apart from the free upgrades of the system, software-based upgrades are high in cost. Every time upgrading the software needs to make the payment.

Time saving and quick transaction

Web-based POS fees are Costly: A monthly subscription need to figure out to manage the budget while considering the purchase of the type of POS system (Wolinsky et al. 2015).

Hardware problem: It is difficult to fix the web-based POS system hardware.

Risk of Security: None of the POS system providers are 100 % risk-free. There are certain securities and privacy risks involved using the web-based systems for online business.

To gain the competitive advantage in the business, the owner has to know the use of POS system to reduce the need of paper information for entering the data. POS system and the software are easy to understand and install. It has integrated to other software application to view the business management in one central place. With the use of POS system, the owner can track all the transaction of the sale that is useful for the business data during the sales itself (Howe 2014). There is no need of tracking the sales manually.

In a business, POS can provide a detail report of a real-time sale. Businesses can then understand which items are sold and which are not and help to decide whether to order that product. POS can provide efficient inventory method to keep tracks of products that are sold and let the businesses to know which product is reordered so that they can arrange the product for sale and display during the selling peak times (Porter and Heppelmann 2014). Transaction through POS is much quicker by taking the payment methods such as debit cards, credit card, gift cards and many more (Haim and Mann 2014). The items are scanned with an accurate price that lessens the sales discrepancies.

The centralised database has an advantage of reducing the cost and save the time and money. It improves the reliability, update the speed, the security of the data and the physical security, and the data preservation. It has an insightful analytics and accuracy. It enables the cross-silo messaging and tracking.

Reason for effective process of POS system: For the business activities, POS systems help in ordering the products with less inventory units and keep records of detail transaction made for the inventory items (Chen and Mersereau 2015).

Feasibility to manual tracking of information: The information can be tracked manually but not as effectively as it can by track through POS system. The reason is that the records cannot be reviewed quickly and there would be a need of an accountant to be present every time the data is entered (Gjino 2015).

Update daily transactions records

Effective answer: In web-based POS system, data can be stored from anywhere. It makes things affordable and provides an easy solution. It will be easy to use, quick completion of the transaction process. The only thing required is the internet connection to make everything works effectively.

Use of information: In order to manage the business in a better way, inventory right can be controlled with the POS system software. It will keep track of all the details of the cash flow in the businesses.

1. Telecommunication option:
2. A) Type of Networks:

LAN – LAN is a high-speed connection within the same group of network devices.

WAN – WAN is a high-speed technology that is limited to the enterprise and connects with several LANs.

MAN – MAN is a high-speed technology that is connected to the large network within the same city or town.

For the business, it is recommended to use LAN connection for the POS system, as it is easier for the businesses to communicate with the known devices.

Wired technologies used data transmission through wired-based communication. The cables that are used for wired technology include fiber optic, coaxial, and twisted pair cables.

Wireless Technologies – Wireless technologies used without a wire, electrical conductors or cables for communication. Data transmission is done through air by the use of radio frequencies, satellite or infrared. The different types of wireless connections are Wi-Fi, Microwave Communication, Infrared Communication, Broadcast Radio, Satellite Communication, Mobile Communication and Wireless transfer of power.

For business purpose, wired technology is better for POS system as it is reliable, cheaper and provides a better quality of service within the business.

Security: A hardware security module is a physical device to store encrypted information. The device attached with the POS data can be accessed through the network.  If it is stored in the location, where the data of the user is also stored then the risk is very high. If the encrypted information were stored in a different system then even if the hacker gets access to the user data would not have access to the encrypted information.

Privacy: Privacy is the core principle of the business data maintenances and data management. In a small business, the corporate network has used to send updates of the system and security to the POS data system and this has become a serious risk to the business. The hacker could able to access the network and gain all the POS data (Arlitsch and Edelman 2014). The issue of privacy involves protection of vulnerable data and it is the right to safeguard data that has sold to third parties. Therefore, companies have separated these two networks and created a small pathway to the POS data environment. It is the most secure option that is presently available to maintain the privacy.

Disadvantages of new POS system

Confidentiality: Confidentiality is related to issue about data being collected. The attackers have ripped the credit card data from POS devices before it could be encrypted from the network. Business networks were kept isolated from POS system due to which hackers get difficult to enter into the POS devices that have a great effect on the corporate network. The businesses must keep secure the firewalls to make sure that the POS systems are communicating only with the known devices.  In this situation, the user must safeguard personal data from being released. In that case, hackers get difficult to access the data on the POS devices.

Conclusion

From the above report, it has concluded that the POS system is very much help for the business to make quick and easy transaction. The report has covered every possible risk that can happen with the use of POS system. Therefore, organization can take the benefit of the POS by taking into consideration about being careful about the risk and use the new POS system.

It has recommended using LAN connection for the POS system, for easier use for the businesses to communicate with the known devices.

For business purpose, wired technology is better for POS system as it is reliable, cheaper and provides a better quality of service within the business.

Arlitsch, K. and Edelman, A., 2014. Staying safe: Cyber security for people and organizations. Journal of Library Administration, 54(1), pp.46-56.

Chen, L. and Mersereau, A.J., 2015. Analytics for operational visibility in the retail store: The cases of censored demand and inventory record inaccuracy. In Retail Supply Chain Management (pp. 79-112). Springer US.

Dobrev, K. and Hart, M., 2015. Benefits, Justification and Implementation Planning of Real-Time Business Intelligence Systems. University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa, pp.104-119.

Gjino, G., 2015. Internet theory banking in system banking. European Journal of Business, Economics and Accountancy, 3(4), pp.45-51.

Haim, L. and Mann, R., 2014. Putting Stored-Value Cards in Their Place. Lewis & Clark L. Rev., 18, p.989.

Howe, K., 2014. Beyond Big Data: How Next-Generation Shopper Analytics and the Internet of Everything Transform the Retail Business. Cisco, pp.1-10.

Porter, M.E. and Heppelmann, J.E., 2014. How smart, connected products are transforming competition. Harvard Business Review, 92(11), pp.64-88.

Provos, N., McNamee, D., Mavrommatis, P., Wang, K. and Modadugu, N., 2007. The Ghost in the Browser: Analysis of Web-based Malware. HotBots, 7, pp.4-4.

Sänger, J. and Pernul, G., 2014, July. Reusability for trust and reputation systems. In IFIP International Conference on Trust Management (pp. 28-43). Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg.

Wolinsky, J., Wolinsky, R.I. and Wolinsky, S.W., EXXCELON Corp, 2015. System and method of saving deal offers to be applied at a point-of-sale (pos) of a retail store. U.S. Patent Application 14/444,773.