Point of sale software links and information
POS is an ancronym for Point of Sale. Point of sale software enables an efficient recording of the data that comprises a business transaction when the sale of goods or services to the customer occurs. This has been done manually since the dawn of civilization, of course, but POS software automates the process. POS software often feeds data to other software modules to create a more comprehensive and useful array of software tools, including merchandizing, forecasting, accounting and inventory-control. Some POS software packages feature these functions fully integrated.
With Point of Sale Software you can increase productivity, better manage information, enhance customer service, oversee POS activity, and fully integrate mobile CRM. In our links you can see for yourself how the new trend in retail, the Enterprise Digital Assistant, will provide all this and more for your mobile workforce - both in and out of the office.
The earliest point of sale software was text-based, keyboard-driven and was written for use in restaurants to replace the electronic cash register, the ECR, an invention that was itself only two years old. In 1979 Gene Mosher's Old Canal Cafe in Syracuse, New York was using POS software written by Mosher that ran on an Apple to take customer orders at the restaurant's front entrance and print them in the restaurant's kitchen. In that novel context customers would often procede to their tables to find their food waiting for them! This software included real time labor and food cost reports. In 1985 Mosher introduced the first touchscreen-driven, color graphic, POS interface. This software ran on the Atari ST, the world's first consumer-level color graphic computer. By the end of the 20th century Mosher's promotion of his unpatented software paradigm had resulted in its worldwide adoption by cash register manufacturers and other POS software developers as the de facto standard for point of sale software systems.
A POS software terminal is a computerized replacement for a cash register. Much more complex than the cash registers of even just a few years ago, the POS system can include the ability to record and track customer orders, process credit and debit cards, connect to other systems in a network, and manage inventory. Generally, a POS terminal has as its core a personal computer, which is provided with application-specific programs and I/O devices for the particular environment in which it will serve. A POS system for a restaurant, for example, is likely to have all menu items stored in a database that can be queried for information in a number of ways. POS terminals are used in most industries that have a point of sale such as a service desk, including restaurants, lodging, entertainment, and museums. Increasingly, POS terminals are also Web-enabled, which makes remote training and operation possible, as well as inventory tracking across geographically-dispersed locations.
