POS System
Analyse the impact of information technology on Four Seasons Greenhouse and Nursery which resides at Colorado.
POS System
Point of sale is a centralized system which consists of hardware and software, it can be used for business operations. It is used to manage business transactions using plastic money. POS is based on client server architecture (Hiiemaa, 2015). It has one main computer which can be linked with multiple client machines. There are other hardware features such as barcode reader and card processing terminal which supports the POS system. By using this system Greenhouse can track the sales transactions in real time mode. At the time of sale, it updates the inventory at the same time. The functionality of POS systems are robust in nature and can perform multiple operations like accepting input, track the inventory and providing information regarding date pf purchase and time.
Greenhouse is looking for maintaining its business in offline retail mode and online business. In both of the cases it need a software based system which must contains the digital cash register and other hardware which are supportive to online transactions.
Advantages of POS system
- The POS system used in Greenhouse is state of the art. It enables the simplicity in selling plants and flowers by the employees.
- There is no confliction and trouble in managing transactions.
- Generating invoices along with total quantities, date of purchase, date of time, discount offered and the net amount to be paid all can be done with 100% accuracy.
- At the end of the day or month the sales data can be generated in some clicks(Halleck, 2013).
- Using high-tech POS systems the waiting time for purchasing products can be reduced to a great extent.
- Computerized POS system can increase the exposure of marketing the products and seasonal offers(John, 2016).
- It provides the ability to analyse the loyalty of customers by maintaining their profile on centralized database. It can send the details of special offers to customers using SMS, emails or social network applications.
- By using POS systems, customers can some reward points with every transactions.
Limitations of POS system
- As POS system is based on Internet connection which can be affected from slow network connection.The online transactions can be done only in case of good quality of Internet (pcdreams, 2016). Connection reliability is the main constraint. In case of any internet outage whole system will be down.
- Every web based services are available on monthly basis.
- Complete setup of system needs to be maintained. Which lead extra cost of maintain hardware and software.
- In case of computerized setup, training must be provided to employees so that they can handle all the functionalities of system without any error.
- POS system are different from other web based system which are updated automatically and freely. To keep the system up to date it needs updates of high cost. Every update is charged for license versioning and new services(HAMILTON, 2013).
- As we mentioned earlier that every POS system is based on web, as compare to desktop applications it need more services and functionalities for accessing inventory and generating reports.
- Troubleshooting of hardware and software need technically expert manpower.
- The most important factor which is used in POS systems are the plastic money, customers use their credit and debit card in making transactions. It will increases the chances of security risks.
Benefits of Centralized database
While using POS system in any business, the limit of data storage is the main concern. The solution of this limited data storage is cloud storage which provides centralized data repository (smith, 2016). There are many benefits of adopting cloud storage in POS systems but the main factor is efficiency, reliability and reactiveness in storing and maintaining the data. Some other benefits which can be seen in system are as (Dontigney, 2018):
- Limited bad data
- Time and money efficient
- Enabling messaging and cross selling
- Accurate and insightful analytics
- Better ROI
The POS system has a very strong centralized database that is the most important source of useful information of all the business operations being conducted in Greenhouse (Shabrina, 2016). According to recent studies done in the field of sales and marketing by ExactTarget, more than 90% customers expect some positive communication in form of messages, emails from sender side. This expectation can be useful for customer relationship management, launching new plants and seeds, some innovative ideas about indoor and outdoor ornamental sapling for the Greenhouse (Allen, 2014). This is called as the decision making process. The POS can store all the information about customers, inventory, availability of cash etc. With the help of this data Greenhouse can optimize its business to maximum profit. During seasonal time this centralized database can provide the past information, so that we can predict the name of plants which were demanded by customers on high note as per geographical location wise. It will support in future business plan.
Advantages of POS system
To establish a POS system, the resources we need are: POS software, POS Server, workstations and Card swipers. To connect all the workstations with POS server, we can use Local Area Network. It also uses internet protocol and some networking devices such as: switch, hub and router. To map the POS server with POS workstations, one POS software is installed on POS Server. The server is used to map all the workstations. To connect the network there are two choices: Wired network or Wireless network. In case of wired network we can use twisted cable, coaxial cable or fibre optic cable and in case of wireless network radio or microwaves can be used.
To do transactions from remote locations, the preferred network will be WAN (Wide Area Network). In this network gateway can also be used.
But in this case study we recommend LAN not a wireless connection as it has more chances of network interruption due to radio ways.
POS is a system where all the financial transactions will take place in Greenhouse either in online mode or offline mode. It accepts the card details from customers and make payments as per the invoices generated by system. After making payment the salesperson will issue a receipt for the transaction. This invoice can be printed or can be send digitally (Colin Kennedy, 2017). As the POS consists of both hardware and software, the result of transaction get stored in magnetic disk. There are several possibilities of different threats in POS system. Some of them are discussed as:
- Skimming: It is a digital method which is used to capture the personal information by unauthorized thieves(MARTINEZ, 2016). In this a specific device is used which is called as skimmer which can scan the debit or credit card and digitally store the data on magnetic devices.
- POS Malware: It is a software that aims the point of sale terminals. The main intent of this software is to capture the information of debit or credit card at the time of reading the device at checkout point of POS(Lord, 2016).
- Ransom ware: This is the latest threat encountered in 2017. In this type of security threat the malicious users can provide a link and in case of accidental click over this link, the data of victim’s computer will be encrypted by attacker. In against they demanded a huge amount of money to decode the data. The possibility of this type of security breach is in online mode of transaction.
- Mobile payments: After the development in Android platform and IOS, most of the users are using smart devices to make mobile payments. For the same they are using mobile apps and hence the smart device is now converted into digital wallet.
It is said that precaution is always better that cure. So the POS system can be secured using some tips. These preventive measures can be taken by business organization or service provider (Heary, 2015). Some of the points which will be surely helpful in maintaining security in POS are:
Use the best licensed Antivirus program so that it can update and clean up the POS system on consistent basis.
Firewall installation can protect the POS form outer attacks. It uses the filtration concept which prevent the unauthorized data packets to enter in private network of Greenhouse (Kan, 2016).
POS system software must be updated on regular basis so that it can identify the authenticated data packets or in fake data.
Remote accessing in POS network must be banned so only authorized accessibility can be provided.
All the transaction logs must be reviewed on regular basis and ensure about any unexpected activity.
Conclusion
The above report states the business plan of Greenhouse in context of POS implementation in business. After analysing all the aspects of POS, one centralized database, security parameters and cloud data storage we can conclude that it will be good for new proposed system. Implementing cloud storage has its own benefits. Such as it will be helpful in managing the database for nursery products, employee management, customer details and predictive analysis about future business. This advance POS system can be used in business analytic also. As it can give the task to employees and can give them challenges regarding sale’s target. On the basis of sales report the productivity of employees can be appreciated by the management team. In brief there are so many benefits of POS implementation in Greenhouse, so the company must go for it.
References
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