Point Of Sale (POS) System: Advantages, Disadvantages And Benefits

Read the case study and answer the following questions:

1) What are the advantages and disadvantages of the new POS system?
2) How will this POS system help the business gain competitive advantages?
3) What are the advantages of having a centralised database?
4) How could this POS system facilitate decision making? Address the following points:

Why do point-of-sale systems process business activities more effectively?
Can the information be tracked manually in an effective manner? Why or why not?
What types of questions could be answered effectively?
How could the information be used to better manage the business?
5) Recommend telecommunication options for this POS system Address the following points:
Types of networks – LAN, WAN or MAN?
Types of media? --Wired or wireless technologies? Which types of cables should be used for wired technologies? Which types of wireless technologies?
6) What type of risks does the POS system bring and how to protect the business against the risks?

Advantages of Point of Sale (POS) System

By focusing on the current situation, it can be seen that technology is considered as an important part to conduct the activities in a proper manner. If latest technology it is not considered by the company then it can be difficult to conduct the activities effectively. POS is also related to a place where the sales are made. It has been seen that it is a transaction that takes place between a merchant and customers at the time of purchasing the products and services. Point of sale also has various merits and demerits and it is essential for the organizations who are conducting their routine task at many different places (Ingram et al., 2015).  This technique also helps in making accurate decisions of the company and also it has coverage with the overall financial affairs.

In this report, the focus will be given to the technique of POS and various different factors will be elaborated.  By focusing on the case study the answers will be given related to the case study.

By focusing on a new point of sale it has been seen that there are various advantages and disadvantages.

Advantages

• It can be easy to store information in less space and it provides various different facilities related to storing, distributing and also keeping track of the entire data.
• POS has also considered the important transactions and racking is done at the time of sales so that the records of the products which are sold can be managed properly.
• The overall data which is collected with the help of POS can help in increasing the inventory and also maintain the history concerned with the overall sales that took place.
• In this, the decisions are also made which are concerned with the management of inventory and also it helps to minimize the overall confusion that takes place at the time of conducting the activities. The assistance can also be seen in completing the units related to learner inventory (Coronel and Morris, 2016).
• It has been seen that by considering cost reporting it can be simple to evaluate the overall facts which are concerned with the product. It also helps to offer more profits.
• When the managers control the information it helps to manage the time in a proper way. It is also a technique through which time can be managed in an effective manner.
• While considering the accountability it can also be seen that transparency is maintained through this technique (Dontigney, 2018).

It is important to upgrade the system on a regular basis so that input can be increased. There are many risks concerned with hacking and also with the information that can be given to the person who does not have any authority.

There are many advantages which are concerned with the use of POS systems. These systems assist in making accurate decisions and also offer proper information by considering this method. The information helps in considering the overall decisions that focus on the facts and also give a competitive advantage to the organizations (Barney and Ray, 2015).

It can be evaluated that point of sale gives proper information related to the products and it helps to increase the overall profits. It also helps the overall management of inventory control which helps to manage the cost and increase the overall profits of the nation. The financial information is controlled and it is an important part so that the profits can be enhanced. If profits are enhanced then it can be easy to be a leader in the market.

By giving focus to the centralized database it can be seen that there are many benefits related to it. This is essential for the big organizations but it is also essential for the small business. There are various benefits like

• It can be simple to manage the change and also enhance the information.
• There is a high integration of data and low data redundancy. The information is kept in one place through this method.
• It has been analyzed that there is high data security which will manage the situation where the attack takes place on a frequent basis (Saxena and Pushkar, 2017).
• The data can be evaluated easily within the time frame and it also takes into consideration the decisions so that information can be collected in a proper manner. The decision makers can also take the decisions in a proper manner.
• By having effective database management it can be simple to manage the process and portability of the data is managed (Orr et al., 2015).
• To manage the resources it also helps to safeguard the information in a proper manner.

Disadvantages of Point of Sale (POS) System

By considering POS system it can be easy to manage the information and also it assists in the overall process of decision making.  By considering the first step it has been seen that it is related to the decisions of data-driven that should be made properly so that competitive advantage can be attained.

POS provide proper information related to the sale of the products and it is essential o capture large market share and also to earn revenue margins. The real-time information can assist to focus on better decisions so that discounts and offers can be made in a proper manner. The data which is gathered can help to increase the activities of the back office and also the experience of the customers take place in a proper way (Lam et al., 2018).  By giving focus on POS information, it has been evaluated that it is important to consider customized decisions. It also helps in analyzing the data which is important to make correct decisions so that competitive advantage can be attained. It can also help in focusing on the weakness which can be seen at the time of sales and also the promotion of the activities (Kim, 2015).

It has been analyzed that with the help of POS it can be simple to track the information. This can be also concerned with the orders that reduce the stock to analyze the best sellers. It can be done with the help of manual methods but if the focus is given on time management hen it can be considered as less effective. It provides the exact data about the type of orders that are considered by the consumers. This will be essential when strategic decisions are made especially when the focus is given to the strategy related to STP.

It has been seen that it can be completed by focusing on the manual methods in the recent business situation.  The manual technique is related to various chances of achieving the misinterpreted data which can give incorrect decisions. When the information is racked it is seen that time consumption is more and also the efforts of the human will be enhanced. It can also create confusion related to the tracking of the right information. In the recent scenario, the decisions of the organization emphasize the real-time information and also consider manual tracking which is considered as not so effective (Medineckiene et al., 2015).

Benefits of Using Point of Sale (POS) System

There are many questions on which emphasis should be given so that answers can be given by considering the information with the help of POS. The questions related to functions like marketing and also the activities related to financial can be considered by focusing on the POS system. There are many customer queries that should be considered so that decisions can be taken in a right manner.

It has been seen that there are various types of information that can be collected by POS and it has a great role in it. All these types of information can be taken into consideration to make proper decisions and also it emphasizes the areas. The modifications in the process can be considered by emphasizing the information that is collected through the system of POS.  The data-driven approach too many activities can be taken into consideration which can help the company in controlling the activities of the company in a proper manner.

There are various types of activities related to telecommunication that are available with the four season's greenhouse. The option related to telecommunication should be taken into consideration by emphasizing the requirement of the company. There are various options which are present in the organization and it is concerned with the type of network it should be taken into consideration.

There are various types of options concerned with telecommunication and LAN is available for the best choice on which can be given. This is just because of the small organization and also the need of the network is small. The connectivity is concerned with LAN which provides high speed and also focuses on less usage of the resources which is one of the best choices in the small companies who are considering the limited financial resources (Wheatley, Maillart and Sornette, 2016).

It has been considered that wire technology can offer advantages to the small organizations like four seasons' greenhouse and nursery. As it is seen that wired community has a good connection and also there is less chance of being hacked. Ethernet cables can be taken into consideration for enhancing the proper connection.

There are many types of risks which are concerned with the usage of POS system. There are also many ways which can assist the business to be safeguarding the risks. The types of risks that should be taken into consideration through the use of POS system are :

Privacy

Risks of Using Point of Sale (POS) System

POS system focuses on many different types of information. Through this, it can be simple to secure the information which is stored (Neves and Eisenberger, 2014).

Confidentiality

By focusing on POS it has been seen that there are many ways of opportunity which can help to maintain the proper privacy of the information related to the consumers (Acquisti, Taylor and Wagman, 2016).  The problem is also related to the use of the credit and debit card. This is used for scanning the information. It is important to consider firewalls so that activities can be conducted properly (Cannataci et al., 2016).

Security

By focusing on the POS system it has been that information can be stored in a proper manner. It is important to maintain proper security in the information. Hacked information can give a loss to the business (Turner and Musman, 2018).

Conclusion 

By focusing on the data it can be seen that there are various benefits and also disadvantages related to the POS system. It helps in providing a competitive advantage by emphasizing the process of decision making. LAN with a proper connection can give benefit and also maintain the security of the information.

References 

Acquisti, A., Taylor, C. and Wagman, L., 2016. The economics of privacy. Journal of Economic Literature, 54(2), pp.442-92.

Barney, J. and Ray, G.A.U.T.A.M., 2015. How information technology resources can provide a competitive advantage in customer service. Planning for Information Systems, 3(2), pp.444-460.

Cannataci, J.A., Zhao, B., Torres Vives, G., Monteleone, S., Bonnici, J.M. and Moyakine, E., 2016. Privacy, free expression and transparency: redefining their new boundaries in the digital age. UNESCO Publishing.

Coronel, C. and Morris, S., 2016. Database systems: design, implementation, & management. Cengage Learning.

Dontigney, E., 2018. The advantages of Centralised Database storage [Online]. Available at: https://itstillworks.com/info-8623828-advantages-centralized-database-storage.html. [Accessed on: 21^th may 2018].

Ingram, T.N., LaForge, R.W., Williams, M.R. and Schwepker Jr, C.H., 2015. Sales management: Analysis and decision making. Routledge.

Kim, L.S., 2015. Components of a Business Model and their influences on a firm performance. Indian Journal of Science and Technology, 8, p.139.

Lam, T.S., Lee, H.H. and Tsai, S.J., Flytech Tech Co Ltd, 2018. Service data record system and POS system with the same. U.S. Patent 9,881,283.

Medineckiene, M., Zavadskas, E.K., Björk, F. and Turskis, Z., 2015. Multi-criteria decision-making system for sustainable building assessment/certification. Archives of Civil and Mechanical Engineering, 15(1), pp.11-18.

Neves, P. and Eisenberger, R., 2014. Perceived organizational support and risk taking. Journal of managerial psychology, 29(2), pp.187-205.

Orr, R.N., Lemley, D., Hotchkies, C.J. and Dehoux, J.L., Atx Innovation Inc, 2015. System and method for interfacing a client device with a point of sale system. U.S. Patent 9,195,982.

Saxena, V.K. and Pushkar, S., 2017. Fuzzy-Based Privacy Preserving Approach in Centralized Database Environment. In Advances in Computational Intelligence (pp. 299-307). Springer, Singapore.

Turner, A.J. and Musman, S., 2018. Applying the Cybersecurity Game to a Point-of-Sale System. In Disciplinary Convergence in Systems Engineering Research (pp. 129-144). Springer, Cham.

Wheatley, S., Maillart, T. and Sornette, D., 2016. The extreme risk of personal data breaches and the erosion of privacy. The European Physical Journal B, 89(1), p.7.