5 Features That Maximize Benefits To Your IT Clients Of An All-In-One POS

By Mark Schulze, VP of the App Market, Clover Networks, Inc.

According to Forrester, mobile payments in the U.S. are expected to reach $142 billion in volume in 2019. Over the past few years, flurries of new payments and point-of-sale (POS) technologies have emerged; technologies that can give a significant competitive edge to merchants that embrace them. Today’s new POS systems can significantly improve interaction with customers, reduce costs and increase efficiency. To stay competitive, business owners must reassess every detail of their business, and the POS system should be included. As cutting edge POS systems complete with business management capabilities outperform antiquated server and terminal technologies, merchants should seek to “future proof” their POS systems with an all-in-one solution that can evolve to meet changing needs. Some merchants might need to start with a simple smart terminal and move to a complete POS system over time. Others might start with a single store and expand to open other temporary or permanent stores.

To maximize the benefits of such a system, merchants should ensure that their all-in-one POS has these five characteristics:

1. Accepts All Payment Types. As the EMV deadline approaches, it is unclear how consumers will react to the switch. Will they accept the new EMV system, switch to mobile payments like Apple Pay, or move to one of the other new payment systems announced?  As a result, business owners should be prepared to accept multiple payment types. In addition, it will be critical to accept chip-based payments (chip and PIN, chip and signature). Come October 1, merchants can become liable for the losses and damages incurred via fraud if they do not. And although EMV will drastically reduce the number of purchases made with a mag stripe reader, it is still important to have for accepting gift cards and those consumers without EMV-enabled credit cards. Mobile payments solutions like Apple Pay and Android Pay are also building incredible steam. As mobile payments continue to grow, POS systems must adapt accordingly. Consumers may carry less cash, but they are not cashless yet and POS systems must still be able to accommodate classic payment types such as cash and check. Finally, bar code and QR code scanning capabilities round out the capabilities merchants should expect in their POS systems.

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