IT for Business: Pros and Cons of POS System, Centralized Database, and Decision Making

This report evaluates the pros and cons of POS system, centralized database, and decision making for Four Seasons Greenhouse and Nursery. It discusses the benefits of adopting a centralized database and determines the factors that can help the company in making better decisions with the new technology. The advantages of POS system in maintaining the information properly has been mentioned in the discussion section of the report. The report also provides recommendations and discusses the risks associated with the new system.

Running head: IT FOR BUSINESS
IT FOR BUSINESS
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author’s Note:

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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Pros and Cons of the new POS System...........................................................................................3
POS System for gaining competitive advantage.............................................................................5
Advnatages of a centralised database..............................................................................................5
POS System and Decision making..................................................................................................7
Risks................................................................................................................................................9
Recommendations..........................................................................................................................10
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................12
References......................................................................................................................................13

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Introduction
In the following report, the pros and cons of POS system related to the case study has
been mentioned. The method by which the new POS system will assist the mentioned business in
reaching its business goals have been evaluated effectively. The report includes the benefits of
adopting a centralised database and determines the factors that can help the company in making
better decisions with the new technology. The advantages of POS system in maintaining the
information properly has been mentioned in the discussion section of the report. In the second
half, the telecommunication options for the mentioned technology has been evaluated. Different
types of networks has been assessed and the wireless technologies has been discussed. The
different types of risk namely, confidentiality, privacy and security of the POS system has been
explained.
Pros and Cons of the new POS System
The advantages and disadvantages of the new POS system in Four Seasons Greenhouse
and Nursery are written as follows:-
The new POS system can enhance the accounting process. Unlike the conventional
accounting processes where the accountant had to go through hundreds of receipts, the new POS
system will allow Four Seasons Greenhouse and Nursery to use the built in report system of the
new POS system (Frisby et al. 2013). That system can lessen the measure of work and cost

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related with maintaining the business, which can thus help benefits and net revenues.
Figure 1: POS system homescreen
(Source: Rese, Schreiber and Baier 2014)
POS system organize the registers in the store to a centralized system but it has its own
security dangers. In the event that the product isn't stocked up with the latest inventories, security
attacks can happen. With the idea of the business, those security breaches could include secure
and critical data, including Visa numbers and financial balance data (Profeta, Balling and Roosen
2013). The hacking of such information could put the organization at lawful and money related
issues.
With POS system, supervisors of Four Seasons Greenhouse and Nursery can run reports
that show not just what number of inventories were sold but also which things were the most
prevalent. For example, an administrator could run a report demonstrating deals for the earlier
week and after that utilization that answer to figure out which represented the greater part of the
deals. That data can be very significant when the time comes to restock the racks or request new

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supplies. Users can utilize important information to spot patterns in their stock deals and stock
their stores to exploit that advantage (Rese, Schreiber and Baier 2014) .
POS System for gaining competitive advantage
A POS system can enhance the client's trust in various ways. For example, the company
would not need to invest as much energy retaining item costs, or else physically contributing
immense measures of information as they would on a conventional money system. This would
enable them to offer better client benefit, which may provide the organization with a reliable
client base. Vendors can subsequently analyse their general stock levels initially and settle on
exact buying choices as it needs be. Most current POS systems offer vendors access to an
assortment of adjustable reports. These reports can incorporate basic data, for example,
providing traders with an idea of the general accomplishment of their business. Moreover, while
conventional register systems can cause many issues when the client commits an error, Point of
Sale system can be changed quickly. Present day POS system empowers all stock to be filtered
reliably with a computerized system. They can identify the data that is mentioned in the
administration process (Nikolova and Inman 2015). Advanced properties of the POS system can
distinguish normal patterns, for example, regular varieties in item request. This enables traders to
arrange their stock levels ahead of time, guaranteeing they have enough stock to take care of
client demand and along these lines expanding their potential takings.
Advantages of a centralised database
The benefits of a central database are mentioned in the following passage.

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The centralized database allows for more data security as the system is accessible to a
small number of people. Providing information security with centralized database system
provides less difficulties than guaranteeing information security over numerous databases.
Centralized database reduces general space necessities for information stockpiling and
handling. Centralized database regularly utilizes higher-quality segments and excess, which
makes it essentially more solid than nearby capacity. Centralized database stockpiling
encourages virtualization and provides the required information to stay secure.The compromised
data can be used to access information from VPNs, security keus and firewalls. More capacity
requires the business to put more stress in the server innovation, for example, adaptation to
internal failure, yet in addition enables it to cut general costs. The support to the central server
proves to be less excessive than keeping various PCs if the business works in numerous
departments (Gomzin 2014).

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Figure 2: POS system by Quickbooks
(Source: Rese, Schreiber and Baier 2014)
Database which are centralized enhances information conservation. PC computers and
PCs once in a while offer adaptation to internal failure. Adaptation to non-critical failure requires
copy segments, which drives up costs. The absence of adaptation to non-critical failure puts any
information put away just on a PC or workstation in danger for perpetual misfortune.
Incorporated capacity frequently incorporates a problematic setup and excess stockpiling
information and in case of a hardware critical failure in a physical drive (Polasik et al. 2013).
POS System and Decision making
Successful POS programming will have the capacity to provide the user with important
reports to enable him to settle on benefit improving choices in an effective way. It is fundamental
to have POS system that is properly introduced, quick and simple to utilize. A streamlined point
of sale system will reduce the hours spent on organization and free up time for personnel to work
properly. An extraordinary point of sale system will have worked in stock administration
programming.

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Figure 3: POS system
(Source: Gomzin 2014 )
This is fundamental for any independent organisation to guarantee the company to get the
correct stock at the perfect time. Cutting edge retail systems can provide advantages by giving
market analysis and information about what the customers are wanting. Point of sale system need
to have one central database that is continuous, open and gives proper feedbacks. It should be
able to give significant analysis which will empower private organisations to settle on better
business choices. Administration systems enable you to settle on requesting choices based on
stock accessible as well as on purchaser conduct and analysed information. POS systems can
expand store benefit. This can be accomplished through powerful administration and providing
the purchaser with proper conduct so that it will encourage customized and allow them to focus
on promoting efforts.

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Risks
Figure 4: POS system handled by a user
(Source: Rese, Schreiber and Baier 2014)
Whether or not the POS systems are secure or not, Four Seasons Greenhouse and Nursery
should be sure that nothing is secured from cyber criminals. Regarding the volume of
information exchanges at the business, the cyber attackers may gather information for hundreds
or thousands of credit card exchanges every day. It isn't required that organizations isolate their
POS organize from conditions that contain non-point of sale systems, that can make it less
demanding for cyber criminals to hack credit card information after a phishing attack.
Recommendations
Some of the recommendations for Four Seasons Greenhouse and Nursery are written as
follows:-

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 A LAN is a system of associated gadgets that exist inside a particular area. LANs
might be found in homes, workplaces, instructive foundation, or different regions.
A LAN might be wired, remote, or a mix of the two. A standard wired LAN
utilizes Ethernet to interface gadgets together. Remote LANs are ordinarily made
utilizing a Wi-Fi (Ståhlberg and Maila 2013). On the off chance that a switch
underpins both Ethernet and Wi-Fi associations, it can be utilized to make a LAN
with both wired and remote gadgets.
Figure 5: Internet
(Source: Ståhlberg and Maila 2013)
 A WAN is a network that extends on an extensive geographic territory, for
example, crosswise over urban areas, states, or nations. They can be private to
interface parts of a business or they can be more open to associate littler systems
together.

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 A huge PC network that reaches out to a city or to a vast college grounds is
named as metropolitan area system or MAN. The aim of MAN is to give the
connection to the web over the long haul. A MAN typically consolidates various
LANs to shape a system. This vast system MANs (Metropolitan Area Network)
spine includes an optical fiber set-up.
Four Seasons Greenhouse and Nursery can use proper wireless and wired technologies. A
brief introduction has been given below:-
Wired technology refers to the transmission of information over a wire-based
communication system. Telephone systems, digital TV or web access, and fiber-optic
communication. Likewise electromagnetism, utilized for advanced applications is considered as
wired technology.
Figure 6: Wireless technology
(Source: Ståhlberg and Maila 2013)

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Wireless technology- Wireless technology is a wide term that joins all techniques and
types of associating and conveying between at least two gadgets utilizing a signal through remote
communication advancements and gadgets.
Conclusion
To conclude the report, it can be stated that Four Seasons Greenhouse and Nursery will
benefit from the new implemented POS system due to the mentioned advantages in the report.
Despite the drawbacks of the system, the POS System will help the company improve their
business processes in the near future. In the report, the case study has been evaluated according
to the advantages and disadvantages of the new POS system. The ways by which the POS system
is used by industries to gain competitive advantage has been mentioned. The benefits of having a
centralized database has been mentioned in the discussion section of the report.
Recommendations have been provided and the risks associated with the new system has been
mentioned.

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References
Chavali, P., Yang, P. and Nehorai, A., 2014. A distributed algorithm of appliance scheduling for
home energy management system. IEEE Transactions on Smart Grid, 5(1), pp.282-290.
Cui, B., Jiang, J., Huang, Q., Xu, Y., Gui, Y. and Zhang, W., 2016. POS: A high-level system to
simplify real-time stream application development on storm. Data Science and
Engineering, 1(1), pp.41-50.
Frisby, W., Moench, B., Recht, B., and Ristenpart, T. 2013, August. Security Analysis of
Smartphone Point-of-Sale Systems. In WOOT (pp. 22-33).
Gomzin, S. 2014. Hacking Point of Sale: Payment Application Secrets, Threats, and Solutions.
John Wiley and Sons.
Ko, S., Maciejewski, R., Jang, Y., and Ebert, D. S. 2013, June. Marketanalyzer: an interactive
visual analytics system for analyzing competitive advantage using point of sale data.
In Computer Graphics Forum (Vol. 31, No. 3pt3, pp. 1245-1254). Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
Nikolova, H. D., and Inman, J. J. 2015. Healthy choice: the effect of simplified point-of-sale
nutritional information on consumer food choice behavior. Journal of Marketing
Research, 52(6), 817-835.
Polasik, M., Górka, J., Wilczewski, G., Kunkowski, J., Przenajkowska, K., and Tetkowska, N.
2013, June. Time efficiency of Point-of-Sale payment methods: Empirical results for cash, cards
and mobile payments. In International Conference on Enterprise Information Systems (pp. 306-
320). Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg.

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Profeta, A., Balling, R., and Roosen, J. 2013. The relevance of origin information at the point of
sale. Food Quality and Preference, 26(1), 1-11.
Rese, A., Schreiber, S., and Baier, D. 2014. Technology acceptance modeling of augmented
reality at the point of sale: Can surveys be replaced by an analysis of online reviews?. Journal of
Retailing and Consumer Services, 21(5), 869-876.
Ståhlberg, M., and Maila, V. 2013. Shopper marketing: How to increase purchase decisions at
the point of sale. Kogan Page Publishers.