To customers, point-of-sale (POS) systems are where they pay for their goods and services. For businesses, POS is a vital part of daily operations, processing payments and performing other key tasks such as accounting and inventory control. Selecting the right POS system with a business computer can increase revenue, improve customer satisfaction, and help meet short- and long-term goals.
What Are Your Needs Met By The Best POS Computer?
Before launching your browser and a search engine, you'll need to figure out exactly which issues your business's POS system will help solve. Create a checklist on your business tablet or good old-fashioned clipboard and ask yourself the following questions:
What is the Current State of Your Business?
Simply, is your business just starting and will need a POS as part of its business model? While for-profit retail is an obvious example, many non-profits, like museums and public parks, also need a POS system to handle the purchase of souvenirs and gifts.
Or, do you already have a well-established business and are looking for a new POS system? Example: You're moving your home-run online business to a retail store, where you'll need registers to process customers' credit cards, contactless payments via smartphones, and occasional cash transactions.
What Are Your Business Struggles?
This question focuses on those broad issues that a POS system aims to solve. If your business is new, the answer is obvious: handle sales transactions. You’ll also want to explore other benefits, such as customer reporting.
If you already have a system, ask yourself what problems a new setup will help resolve. Your current system, for example, may not support contactless payments, which could cost you clients who use digital wallets like Google Pay as their primary payment method. POS systems can also expand your business capabilities with features such as inventory tracking, tax preparation, and employee tracking.
What Tasks Does the POS System Help Simplify?
This question looks at the benefits POS systems bring to a business, not just the specific issue they solve. For example, companies that are an integral part of the economy, such as retail and restaurants, not only handle payment transactions but also process customer transactions more swiftly. This can be critical during sales and holidays. A newer system may offer stronger cybersecurity, protecting clients' information and providing peace of mind.
Businesses upgrading their old systems to handle new types of transactions gain additional revenue streams, which in turn can lead to greater profitability.
Choosing the Best Computer for a POS System
Now you've determined what you'll be using your POS system for. Go back and forth with that checklist as you now figure out the best computer to run your POS system:
Hardware Requirements
Many POS systems handle multiple tasks: billing, reporting, and inventory management, etc. To run all these, the best POS computers will have the right processor and enough memory (RAM) to do so, along with storage capacity to hold all that information. Many are built with Intel processors, come with at least eight gigabytes of RAM, and store data on either SSD or HDD.
An original equipment manufacturer (OEM) in your industry would be the best source for such information. They'll be intimately familiar with their products, from the design specs to the bill of materials. They’re also aware of the unique requirements and conditions of your business. Example: If your POS is primarily used outdoors on a construction site, the OEM may recommend a rugged industrial tablet as the best POS computer. That's because it would come with an anti-glare screen for legibility in sunlight, along with a military-grade casing to withstand sudden impacts and extreme temperatures typical in such locations.
If you’re working in a hospital, your OEM may say medical computers are the best fit. That’s because their IP65-sealed front bezels and fanless design makes keeping them clean a breeze.
Software Features
Depending on your business, your POS computers may run software handling everything from processing payments to scheduling customer appointments and employee shifts. Most POS software runs on Windows, making it a common and reliable choice for many businesses. Some software, though, works only with Google Android, Apple iOS, and Linux. You'll need to check each of your POS software carefully to ensure compatibility. Again, an OEM can aid you.
Support for POS
Nothing can be more devastating for a business than being unable to process customer payments. You'll want to know how much support your POS computer vendor will provide for their systems, both hardware and software. What are the warranties? Is there a help desk? Are any forms of training available? Again, an OEM can answer many of these questions and, most importantly, back up without delay.
Budget
Many POS vendors have tiered pricing models. Costs are usually broken down by the business's number of stores (if any), customer demographics, product lines, number of terminals, and desired features such as inventory tracking. Review each tier carefully to find the one that fits your budget. Verify your selected computers are compatible and included in those figures. This ensures the best POS computer running the system for years to come.
Other items for businesses to consider include the ease of use of the point-of-sale system, the availability of a trial or demo model, and the system's ability to scale as the business grows.
Right-Build The Best POS Computer Through Cybernet
Point-of-sale makes it easy to process sales transactions wherever they happen: in the supermarket checkout line, at the food truck in the middle of a parking lot, or with the game store vendor at a massive gaming convention.
Is your business looking for the right computers for your POS system? Then contact Cybernet Manufacturing! Our team members will happily discuss the numerous features, such as the fanless design, that make our specialized PCs the best computers for POS systems. And as an OEM, we can further customize our products to meet your exacting needs.