IT for Business: Benefits, Risks, and Recommendations for POS System

This report discusses the use of information technology in business, with emphasis on the POS system. It covers the benefits and drawbacks of the new POS system, competitive advantage with POS system, advantages of the centralized database, recommendations of the telecommunication for the POS system, and risks related to the POS system for business. The report concludes with recommendations for the company to maintain the security and confidentiality of data.

Running head: IT FOR BUSINESS
IT FOR BUSINESS

IT FOR BUSINESS
Abstract
The purpose of the report is to focus on the overall uses of the information technology in
the business. In this report the focus will be given on the POS system and also the advantages
will be discussed. It has been seen that with the help of POS system it can be simple for the
company to consider various benefits as POS helps to maintain the competitive advantage. So, in
this various recommendations will be offered in relation to the POS system like MAN, WAN and
LAN. Also the emphasis will be given on the risks which are concerned with the POS system.
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Table of Contents
Abstract.......................................................................................................................................................1
Introduction.................................................................................................................................................1
Benefits and drawbacks of new POS System..............................................................................................1
Competitive advantage with POS system....................................................................................................2
Advantages of the centralized database.......................................................................................................3
Recommendation of the telecommunication for the POS System................................................................3
Risks related to the POS system for business..............................................................................................4
Recommendations.......................................................................................................................................5
Conclusion...................................................................................................................................................5
References...................................................................................................................................................6
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Introduction
It has been examined that every company requires information technology so that it can
be simple to control the overall operations of the company. Without effective information
technology it cannot be easy for the company to achieve goals and objectives. This report will
focus on the discussion related to Four Seasons Greenhouse and Nursery which is located in
Colorado.
This company takes into consideration the manual registers so that activities can be
controlled of the company. They are also emphasizing on the information system so that the
overall operations of the company can be increased and also it can be stated that for this POS
system is one of the best method that can assist to consider various benefits.
This report will emphasize on the overall information system use in the nursery. Also it
can be analyzed that there are benefits and drawbacks related to this and in the next phase of the
report the risks and telecommunication method will be discussed that will show direction to the
company to accomplish its goals and objectives. In the last phase of the report the emphasis will
be given on the recommendation and concluding part in relation to the entire report.
Benefits and drawbacks of new POS System
It has been analyzed that POS system has many benefits for the business. One of the
advantages relates to the use of this system. It has been seen that the owners of the company can
easily track the data related to sales and can also control the overall the information related to
transactions. It has been analyzed that to track the data in the real time helps to reduce the
importance of tracking the data on the manual basis. The system of POS will focus on retrieving
the overall sales and also update the stocks in relation to the sales. Through this it can be simple
for the company to analyze the overall sales history in few minutes (Dontigney, 2018).
There are benefits related to the new POS but there are also many drawbacks related to it.
One of the drawbacks is related to the web based system as it has been seen that POS is web
based system which is not effective if proper internet connection is not there. It has been seen
that to update the software require times to finish. In the workplace there are many activities
which should be completed in a specified time and if it is not completed in the particular time
frame then it can lead to loss. If such situation takes place then it can be difficult for the company
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to update the software. It can also been seen that the POS System have a large amount of the
service charge which reduces the net income of the company (Wernke et al., 2014).
Competitive advantage with POS system
It has been seen that POS system offers to achieve competitive advantage in the market
just because of the improved efficient and also by inventory management. It helps to provide the
correct reports and enhance the overall efficiency of the business. The overall efficiency of the
business can be maintained if proper customer service is given to the customers. It has been
analyzed that with POS system it can be easy to reduce the errors which take place just because
of the cashier machines. This system is considered as the fastest medium if comparison is made
with the traditional transaction system. It can be stated that fast system can help to offer good
customer service and it also enhance the overall efficiency of the workers (Barney and Ray,
G.A.U.T.A.M, 2015).
Through POS system it can be simple to simple to focus on updating the stock of
products in relation to the entire sales and it also offers accurate data about the stock which are
still left. It has been seen that it also offers accurate data in relation to the overall ratio of the
sales. It is difficult to keep track of the data on the manual basis as it has been seen stock is not
updates with the overall record of the sales. The questions related to sales can be answered in a
proper manner (Turner and Musman, 2018).
The system of POS offers right and correct data to the company by focusing on
maintaining the track of the products which are sold and bought. This also assists the
management of the company to focus on determining the overall activities of the company. It has
been seen that the advanced report which is made from the POS machine can help to offer the
right information about the trends in the social market. By focusing on these aspects it has been
seen that company can manage the sticks by considering the overall trends which will help the
company to achieve benefits.
Advantages of the centralized database
There are many benefits related to it. First benefit is related to implementation of the
centralized database which can help to enhance the overall integrity of the information and it also
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reduces the overall data redundancy. This help to gather the accurate data which will help the
company to attain goals and objectives.
Also it has been seen that centralized database will take into consideration the fault setup
that will help to maintain the overall internal data if comparison is made with the other data
types. The centralized database can help to focus on the single database designs which can help
to manage the overall end users (Wheatley, Maillart and Sornette, 2016).
Also it has been seen that data administration and portability of the data can help to
manage the overall information of the company. Also by taking into consideration the centralized
database system it has been seen that cost of the labor charge and maintenance cost can be
reduced if comparison is made with the other databases.
Also the centralized database system takes into consideration the single database through
which it can be easy to make the changes to the information. The advantage is also related with
accessing the data from the single point of the location which will help the company to grow in
the market. High security is also implemented of the centralized database system as there are
important data which is collected for the single location. The information of any type can be
considered for every authenticated users of the database system (Orr et al., 2015).
Recommendation of the telecommunication for the POS System
Telecommunication is considered as the method for the POS system and it take into
consideration the use of the cloud based service so that it can be simple to store and update the
overall database. To focus on using the cloud based service the POS system also need internet
connection which will offer various types of network configuration. The network connection can
also relates to MAN, LAN and WAN.
In context to LAN it has been seen that there are group of computers which are linked so
that the data can be transferred easily. The LAN helps to link the small group of computers and
also it is used to connect the POS terminal with the server. For this network it has been seen that
UDP protocol can be considered as this helps to support the overall POS terminal. The MAN is
also considered to link the computers and also to share the resources in context to the overall
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geographical area. The WAN can help to maintain the largest telecommunication method which
is spread on the large geographical area (De Velasco Cortina and Rietzler, 2017).
In context to the given case it has been seen that wired POS system should be considered
to be implemented in the small Nursery business. In this it has been seen that it can help to
connect the LAN with the POS terminal like 4 twisted pair unshielded cable can be considered.
The wireless POS technologies can also be taken into consideration. In the short range of area it
has been seen that wireless technologies can be considered like Bluetooth technology and also
the Wifi technology (Schwalbe, 2015).
Risks related to the POS system for business
It has been seen that POS system has many benefits in the field of business like automatic
database update of the business information and it also helps to focus on the risks related to it.
The major risk which is linked with the POS system can be security, privacy and also
confidentiality.
It has been seen that security risks is related with the risk in which the hackers can take
into consideration the method to maintain the security of the POS Device. By focusing on the
case it can be stated that hackers should consider the overall vulnerabilities in context to the
system of POS. There are many cases in which there is lack of encryption and also these types of
data take place because it can be simple for the hackers to consider internal data. Spam mails in
the phishing attack can also been seen that in which the page is made through which it can be
easy to login and also it take into consideration the fake webpages (Cavelty and Mauer, 2016).
Privacy risks are also considered as the risk in which the digital ID of the workers and
customers are taken into consideration through POS terminals. In this the inaccurate data can be
gathered by taking into consideration the POS terminals. This can take place as the major issue
for the customers (Saxena and Pushkar, 2017).
Confidentiality risk is also one of the risk in which it has been seen that hackers target to
consider the main information. The information can be taken by the hackers and it can be given
easily or transferred to the other devices. The information related to payment can also be
considered in a proper manner.
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Recommendations
It is important for the company to focus on maintaining the security and confidentiality of
the data. It can be done if the company considers the use of POS system which will help the
company to maintain the competitive advantage and it will also help the company to manage the
entire activities of the company.
It will also help the company to maintain the accurate record which will directly affect in
managing the overall data of the company in an effective manner. It has been seen that company
should focus on gathering the data through POS system as it can help in maintaining the entire
data.
Conclusion
It can be concluded that POS system should be considered by the company so that
working pattern can be changed of the company and it can be simple to achieve growth in the
market. With the help of POS system it can be simple for the company to consider the accurate
decisions.
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References
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.
Cavelty, M.D. and Mauer, V., 2016. Power and security in the information age: Investigating the
role of the state in cyberspace. Routledge.
De Velasco Cortina, F.M. and Rietzler, M., Neology Inc, 2017. System and method for providing
secure identification solutions. U.S. Patent 9,558,385.
Dontigney, E., 2018. The advantages of Centralised Database storage [Online]. Available at:
https://itstillworks.com/info-8623828-advantages-centralized-database-storage.html. [Accessed
on: 5 October 2018].
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.
Schwalbe, K., 2015. Information technology project management. Cengage Learning.
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.
Wernke, M., Skvortsov, P., Dürr, F. and Rothermel, K., 2014. A classification of location
privacy attacks and approaches. Personal and ubiquitous computing, 18(1), pp.163-175.
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.
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APPENDICES
(SOURCE : Dontigney, 2018).
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