The Business Solutions Network

During the course of my daily job duties, I speak with VARs about technology trends and opportunities that exist in the marketplace. Additionally, the rest of the Business Solutions team makes lots of outbound calls, first, to make sure you want to receive the magazine, and second, to learn more about trends and what issues you like reading about.  Continue Reading..

If you're a retail IT provider, you've probably heard about the PCI Security Standards Council's (PCISSC) new QIR (Qualified Integrators and Resellers) program, which involves training and certification to ensure you're able to install payment applications "in a manner that facilitates PCI DSS compliance."  Continue Reading..

For a couple years now, we’ve been strongly advising IT VARs to take advantage of the opportunity to sell their clients IP video solutions, which are dropping in price and increasing in capabilities. In a time when the economy still shows signs of weakness, seeing such strong potential for you is exciting.  Continue Reading..

Last week I was at ScanSource's annual partner conference. As opposed to previous years when the value-added distributor had separate events for each of its different business units, this year marked the company's 20th anniversary, calling for an "all divisions" celebration and educational event.  Continue Reading..

Many of the articles appearing on this blog are promoted via various social media channels. The one medium which has been yielding some very insightful responses has been LinkedIn, specifically in our Business Solutions' VAR & MSP group. In response to my recent "The Death Of POS VARs" article, Morgan Moran, Director of Customer Experience at Kheelan Business Technologies, wrote:  Continue Reading..

If you're struggling to remain relevant in today's changing world of retail IT, it's probably time to take a look at the lineup of solutions you're offering. No longer is it adequate to simply sell a POS hardware bundle. Based on conversations I've had with successful profitable VARs and industry experts whose opinions I trust, here are the offerings that tomorrow's successful retail IT VAR provides. In no particular...  Continue Reading..

If you're a VAR focused on retail IT solutions, you should be including IP cameras in your product set. If you're not, you're missing a huge opportunity.  Continue Reading..

In fact, since I don't have a real job, I make it my job in life to figure out really creative ways to steal inventory and even cash right out from under a retailer's nose. I'm pretty good at it -- particularly since I have nothing else to do -- but things have been getting tougher. Many retailers have installed cameras that cover the POS terminals and have loss prevention teams that have figured out all of my tricks.  Continue Reading..

You might recall a previous video blog where I talked about the homemade digital signage I came across in a small privately-owned pizzeria in a nearby college town. At that pizzeria, the owner had mounted a digital photo frame on the wall to create his own digital signage solution. It was about as low tech as you can get when it comes to "high tech" signage. Charming.  Continue Reading..

What are you? A POS dealer? A POS VAR? An integrator? Does it even matter what you call yourself or how the industry refers to itself? This past RSPA RetailNOW will forever remain in my mind as the time when I felt like the industry really understood and embraced that fact that the world of POS is changing, and that things will never be the same.  Continue Reading..