Integrated Card Processing Helps Win Sale

If you’re trying to sell a customer an upgraded POS (point of sale) system, the benefits they gain might not be enough in today’s economy. However, if you’ve got a customer using electronic cash registers, there’s a chance a new POS system might create enough benefits to warrant the expense. A good example of this can be seen in a recent installation VAR Advanced Data Systems (ADS) performed for Speedo’s Harborside Café, a restaurant in a tourist lake town in Wisconsin. The restaurant owner was encountering a number of problems by using a stand-alone cash register and handwritten guest checks. Specifically, Jim Stewart, GM of ADS, explains that when using handwritten tickets, restaurants open themselves up to multiple problems such as orders being prepared incorrectly, forgotten or missed orders, and employee theft.

The restaurant owner also was using a stand-alone credit card terminal. A stand-alone card terminal takes more time to process credit card transactions and balance at the end of the day, compared to a POS system with integrated credit card processing (the processing is performed as part of the POS software and typically uses high-speed Internet).

When the restaurateur wanted to explore the potential benefits of POS terminals, they found their existing VAR sold only cash registers. Therefore, Speedo’s VAR passed the lead on to ADS. While the customer was looking for a new POS system, they were worried about the potential added complexity of a touch screen POS system compared to a cash register. ADS’ sales rep helped alleviate those worries by giving a thorough on-site demo of the proposed equipment.

Stewart explains that it took almost two months to close the deal after the demo. For its solution, ADS installed a Toshiba WINPOS all-in-one terminal, SNBC thermal and dot matrix printers, and a CRS cash drawer. In addition, since the restaurant falls outside ADS’ usual service area, the VAR installed Dual Desk remote access software.

How Do You Choose Your Payment Card Processor?
To replace the stand-alone card processing, ADS switched the restaurant to United Bank Card (UBC) processing, which integrates with the WINPOS software. “While UBC is relatively new to the POS VAR channel, we have a great relationship with our rep and have found them to be very receptive to our recommendations on how they can improve their product and services,” says Stewart. “For this install, the integration with WINPOS allowed us to simply enter the restaurant’s account information, and the task was done.” The VAR continues by saying ADS often goes on-site to set up the processing for customers, but they feel so confident in the ease of setup, that they enabled the processing remotely in a matter of minutes.

The total cost of the entire system was $9,200. To pay for the solution, the restaurant owner took advantage of ADS’ leasing option.

The installation took about six hours, which included hardware, initial training, and customizations to the software. Stewart says ADS also performed about four hours of training via remote access. “We find that we get more accomplished when we can do the training remotely,” says Stewart. “The customer tends to focus more when you are on the phone and walking them through the operations on their screen.”

Today, the new POS system has solved the problems the restaurateur was facing. Specifically, the restaurateur has increased their bottom line due to increased employee productivity and the addition of fixed and accurate pricing. Also, all orders must be entered into the system in order for them to be prepared which has led to customers being correctly charged for their orders. Additionally, by switching to integrated card processing, transactions take a few seconds as opposed to half a minute, and the time required for end-of-night balancing has been reduced a great deal.