POS System Analysis: Advantages, Disadvantages, and Recommendations

This report analyzes a case study centered around Bloomberg's Point of Sale (POS) system, evaluating its advantages and disadvantages. The report delves into how the POS system can provide competitive advantages, emphasizing the benefits of a centralized database and its role in facilitating effective decision-making. It explores the efficiency of POS systems in business activities, contrasting them with manual data tracking methods, and identifies the types of questions that can be answered effectively using POS data. The report also recommends telecommunication options for the POS system, considering network types, media, and cable choices. Furthermore, it addresses the potential risks associated with the POS system, including security, privacy, and confidentiality, providing insights on how to mitigate these risks to protect the business. The report concludes with a comprehensive overview of the POS system's impact on Bloomberg's operations and provides strategic recommendations for its implementation and management.

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Executive summary
In this paper, the discussion will be made on the case study related to Bloomberg. POS is
one of the methods which are taken into consideration. In the present era, it has been seen that
technology has an important role in managing the operations of the company. By taking into
consider the latest technology it has been examined that consumption of time is less. Sales are
also concerned with the POS method and it can be stated that POS is a place where it can be easy
for the company to manage the entire sales.
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Table of Contents
Executive summary.........................................................................................................................1
Introduction......................................................................................................................................4
Advantages and Disadvantages.......................................................................................................4
POS in context to competitive advantage........................................................................................5
Advantages of Centralized database................................................................................................5
Role of POS in the process of decision making..............................................................................6
Point of sale process in maintaining the efficiency of business...................................................6
Manual methods help to track data..............................................................................................7
Type of question to be answered..................................................................................................7
Information collected manages the operations.............................................................................7
Telecommunication in POS.............................................................................................................7
Type of network...........................................................................................................................7
Type of media..............................................................................................................................8
Risk type in POS system..................................................................................................................8
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................9
References......................................................................................................................................10
Appendices....................................................................................................................................12
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Introduction
POS is considered as a step that assists in finishing the activities between the customers
and employees. In this report, advantages and disadvantages in context to POS will be
considered as it is an important part in managing the routine activities. To consider proper
decisions it has been seen that it is related with the concept and if business focuses on these
techniques then it can easy to manage the activities with efficiency. It will help to accomplish
goals and objectives of the company that will affect the success of the company in the
competitive market.
Advantages and Disadvantages
The method of POS is related with various advantages and disadvantages. The advantage
is concerned with managing or storing the data. To manage or collect data in less space can be
easy for the organization and also POS offers many facilities that are related with storing,
distributing and also maintaining of the information (Dontigney, 2018).
It has been examined that there are many essential transactions which are considered in
POS and it helps in managing sales so that products that are sold can be managed in an effective
manner. By considering the method of POS it has been seen that information can be collected
easily and it can be easy for the company to increase the entire inventory which also focuses on
managing the products sale history (Boddy, McCalman & Buchanan, 2018).
In managing the inventory there are many decisions which are taken into consideration
and it helps to reduce the conflicts and confusion. When emphasizing on the units it can be
analyzed that there are learner inventory which is necessary to be taken into consideration so that
activities can be managed in a proper manner (Turner & Musman, 2018).
Reporting is also concerned with the cost that can assist in searching the accurate
information in relation to the products and also it helps to achieve profits. In this method, there
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are also various factors like accounting that can assist in maintaining transparency. The
technique also assists the company in maintaining the data transparency in the information which
is collected (Cannataci, Zhao, Torres Vives, Monteleone, Bonnici & Moyakine, 2016).
Disadvantages
To emphasize on the overall up gradation of the system it is important to do it on the
regular basis so that input can be enhanced. There are many risks which are related with hacking
and also the overall data of the company is transferred to another person who is not authorized to
access that information.
POS in context to competitive advantage
By emphasizing on the overall method of POS, it has been analyzed that there are many
benefits that can assist in managing the overall competitive advantage. By taking into
consideration this method it can be seen that data is gathered which affect the overall process of
decision making. Also the correct decisions can be taken into consideration which will directly
affect the overall competitive advantage. It has also been seen that point of sale is taken into
consideration which can assist the company in managing the overall operation in context to the
products offered in the market. By considering this technique, it can be simple for the
organization to focus on attaining the profits so that activities of the company can be enhanced in
the market (Medineckiene, Zavadskas, Björk & Turskis, 2015).
Advantages of Centralized database
If emphasis is given on the centralized database, it can be analyzed that there are various
benefits which are concerned to it. This is important for the organizations but it is also necessary
for the small units. There are various advantages like it is known as one of the simple process
which can focus on managing the change that takes place and also it helps to enhance the data of
the company. Next advantage is concerned with high integration of the information which has a
link with the low information redundancy. The data is also collected with the help of this
technique and also the focus is given on considering the high security that can help to manage
the entire situation where the problems takes place on the regular basis (Schwalbe, 2015).
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The time frame is considered as the important factor as it affects the entire data of the
company. It has been seen that it helps the company to focus on managing the data which is
gathered. The database in context to management is also taken into consideration so that process
of the company can be maintained. When the resources of the company are maintained it has
been seen that the affect is on the entire database. The basic points are also taken into
consideration which will help to maintain the database of the company and can help in
accomplishing goals and objectives of the company.
Role of POS in the process of decision making
The process of decision making and also the database management can assist the POS
system. By considering this it can be easy to maintain the competitive advantage in reference to
the data driven decisions. It is necessary to maintain this so that it can be easy to accomplish the
entire goals and objectives of the company.
Point of sale process in maintaining the efficiency of business
When the product are sold it has been investigated that there are data which is linked with
the POS and it is important for earning the revenue margins and it can also help in attaining the
large market area. It has been seen that focus is given on making the decisions in a proper
manner that can help to maintain discounts and benefits by considering the information of the
real time. The data which is gathered can be beneficial in managing the actions of the back
office and also customer analysis and knowledge management is necessary to be maintained. By
focusing on the POS data, it has been taken into consideration that customized decisions are
essential to be maintained.
It is important to focus on analyzing the information so that proper decisions can take
place. Proper decisions will also focus on considering the competitive advantage of the company.
It is important for taking into consideration the overall weakness which can be considered at the
time of managing the sales and also at the time of promotion. It can be seen that information
should be tracked so that it can be simple to take into consideration the process of POS (Ingram,
LaForge, Williams & Schwepker Jr, 2015).
This can also be considered just because of the orders that can help to manage the stock
that analyze the best sellers. By considering the manual methods it can be seen that it can be
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completed easily and also the management of time can take place in an effective manner. It also
focuses on delivering the same information in context to the orders that are considered by the
customers.
Manual methods help to track data
It can be analyzed that by considering the manual methods more time consumption takes
place which is not good for the present era in reference to the business. Also in context to manual
methods there are many which are related with the gathering of wrong information and it can
directly affect the overall decision making process of the company. To maintain the information
is essential as it emphasizes on maintaining the human efforts and also in managing the time. It
can sometimes create confusion at the time of tracking the data (Wheatley, Maillart & Sornette,
2016).
Type of question to be answered
There are many questions that should be answered in a proper manner so that it can be
simple to maintain the data. There are also questions which are concerned with the concept of
marketing and sales and it can be simple to consider the overall system of POS. The queries of
the consumers can be maintained as it can help to create the valuable image in the mind of the
customers. It can also be considered as the valuable decision for the company (Piercy, 2018).
Information collected manages the operations
There are many types of data that are gathered by taking into consideration POS. The
data can also help to make effective decisions which focuses on the area of discrepancies. By
considering the POS system it can be seen that change can also be implemented in a proper
manner (Coronel & Morris, 2016).
Telecommunication in POS
It can be analyzed that the telecommunication area can also relate to four seasons
greenhouse. The choice is related with the telecommunication that can be taken into
consideration so that it can be simple for the organization to maintain the need of the company.
There are many choices which are there in the organization and it is linked with the type of
network (Sapolsky, Crane, Neuman & Noam, 2018).
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Type of network
There are various types of network that are present and it has a connection with
telecommunication. When focus is given on LAN it can be seen that it is the best choice. The
main motive behind this is concerned with the overall size of the organization. If the company is
small then it can be examined that network will also be limited. The overall connectivity of the
LAN is high in context to speed and it focuses on the resources which are taken into
consideration for the small companies who have limited financial resources.
Type of media
By focusing on the case study it can be seen that wire technology can help to consider the
advantages for the small units like for season’s greenhouse and nursery. If emphasis is give on
the wired community then it can be seen that better connectivity can make the hacking process
less. Ethernet cables are also considered which help in maintaining the overall process of
connectivity.
Risk type in POS system
By analyzing it can be seen that there are various risks that are linked with POS system.
The risks are privacy, confidentiality and security.
Security
It can be seen that the size of the data is big which can be managed in the system of POS.
Therefore, it is necessary for the company to emphasize on the securing the data so that security
of the stakeholders can be maintained. Also it helps in managing the risk related with hacking as
hacking negatively affects the overall profits of the company. So, it is important for the
companies to focus on the authentication process so that data can be maintained (Cavelty &
Mauer, 2016).
Privacy
POS system also takes into consideration various information which is necessary. His is
necessary to manage the data privacy which is maintained. It has been seen that information
related with the customers should be maintained as it can affect the goodwill of the company in
the market (Acquisti, Taylor & Wagman, 2016).
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Confidentiality
By taking into consideration the POS system it can be seen that if he information is
leaked then the operations of the company gets affected. By focusing on the routine basis there
are many credit and debit cards details which are taken and it creates issue for the large units and
small units. It is necessary for the companies to consider the firewalls so that data security can be
maintained and also it will help to attain growth in the market (Saxena & Pushkar, 2017).
Conclusion
By emphasizing on the report it can be stated that there are advantages and also
disadvantages which are linked with the POS system. It can be seen that it should be maintained
so that competitive advantage can be maintained. The system related with centralization is
important so that employees can be promoted to consider the right decisions. The wired
connectivity has a link with the LAN and also it is essential to maintain privacy, security and
confidentiality in context to the POS system.
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References
Acquisti, A., Taylor, C., & Wagman, L. (2016). The economics of privacy. Journal of Economic
Literature, 54(2), 442-92.
Boddy, D., McCalman, J., & Buchanan, D. A. (2018). The New Management Challenge:
Information Systems for Improved Performance. Routledge.
Cannataci, J. A., Zhao, B., Torres Vives, G., Monteleone, S., Bonnici, J. M., & Moyakine, E.
(2016). Privacy, free expression and transparency: redefining their new boundaries in the
digital age. UNESCO Publishing.
Cavelty, M. D., & Mauer, V. (2016). Power and security in the information age: Investigating
the role of the state in cyberspace. Routledge.
Coronel, C., & Morris, S. (2016). Database systems: design, implementation, & management.
Cengage Learning.
Dontigney, E. (2018). The advantages of Centralised Database storage.Retrieved from:
https://itstillworks.com/info-8623828-advantages-centralized-database-storage.html.
Ingram, T. N., LaForge, R. W., Williams, M. R., & Schwepker Jr, C. H. (2015). Sales
management: Analysis and decision making. Routledge.
Medineckiene, M., Zavadskas, E. K., Björk, F., & Turskis, Z. (2015). Multi-criteria decision-
making system for sustainable building assessment/certification. Archives of Civil and
Mechanical Engineering, 15(1), 11-18.
Piercy, N. F. (Ed.). (2018). Management information systems: the technology challenge (Vol.
40). Routledge.
Sapolsky, H. M., Crane, R. J., Neuman, W. R., & Noam, E. M. (2018). The Telecommunications
Revolution: Past, Present and Future. Routledge.
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Saxena, V. K., & 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.
Titterington,J.(2018).POS REVIEW. Retrieved from:
https://www.merchantmaverick.com/reviews/toast-pos-review/.
Turner, A. J., & 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.
Wheatley, S., Maillart, T., & Sornette, D. (2016). The extreme risk of personal data breaches and
the erosion of privacy. The European Physical Journal B, 89(1), 7.
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Appendices
(SOURCE: Titterington, 2018).
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