Software Comparison Report: Lightspeed and Vend POS Software

This report provides a comparative analysis of two Point of Sale (POS) software solutions, Lightspeed and Vend. The comparison was undertaken to determine which software best suited the needs of the T&D staff and the manager, Macey, aiming to increase productivity. The report includes a detailed comparison of features such as inventory management, data analytics, filtering properties, and usability, based on a 15-day trial period and a subsequent survey involving 20 employees. The survey utilized a Likert scale to gather employee feedback on the software's performance across various criteria. The findings indicate that while Lightspeed excels in inventory management and customer information, Vend demonstrates strengths in data analytics and filtering. The report concludes with a recommendation to further analyze Lightspeed due to more employees finding Vend having poor features, aiming to familiarize employees with its features. The report also includes appendices with the survey questionnaire and a table summarizing the survey results, providing a comprehensive overview of the software's strengths and weaknesses.

A report on the comparison of two software’s
Name of the student
Name of the university
Author’s note
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Table of Contents
Introduction........................................................................................................... 3
Background........................................................................................................... 3
Detailed Comparison............................................................................................. 3
Pros........................................................................................................................ 3
Cons....................................................................................................................... 5
General Features................................................................................................... 5
Surveys.................................................................................................................. 6
Recommendation................................................................................................... 6
Appendix 1............................................................................................................. 7
Appendix 2............................................................................................................. 8
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Date, 21 January 2018
From: T&D representative
To: Macey, Manager of Macey’s
Introduction
Herein I present a report on the comparison of the two software’s, Lightspeed and Vend.
Both the software’s “Lightspeed” and “Vend” are point of sales based software’s (POS).
Background
The comparison of the software’s has been necessitated since the T&D staff desired a new software which
would help them with their activities. Moreover, the manager “Macey” believes that a software which would
increase productivity is required.
Detailed Comparison
In order to compare the software’s, the employees were asked to use the software’s for
15 days. After the employees had used and tested the two software’s a survey was done
to gather information regarding the useability of the software’s.
Pros
The employees further compared the inventory management features of the two softwares. From the survey it
was found that most of the employees reported that Lightspeed had excellent inventory management
features1 as compared to Vend. In addition, it was also found that employees reported that Vend had poor
inventory management as compared to Lightspeed.
According to the survey Lightspeed was better at providing customer information than Vend.
1 Sularto, L. and Yunitasari, T., 2015. User requirements analysis for restaurant POS and accounting application
using quality function deployment. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 169, pp.266-280.
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The employees were asked to compare the data analytics features2 of the two software’s. From the survey it
was found that while more number of employees said that Lightspeed had good data analytical ability the
number of employees who said that Vend was excellent was more. Further, more number of employees said
that Vend had poor data analytics property as compared to Lightspeed.
Cons
2 Fernandez, J.L., Gutierrez, J.E., Castro, L.A. and Rodríguez, L.F., 2016. Integrating Business
Analytics into SMEs in Mexico: Challenges and Opportunities. Avances en Interacción Humano-
Computadora, 1(1), pp.41-45.
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The employees were asked to analyse the data filtering properly. The survey found that equal number of the
employees reported that both the software’s had good filtering features. However, it was also found that more
number of employees reported that “Lightspeed” had poor to very poor filtering property as compared to
“Vend” software.
The employees were asked to rate the usability of the two software’s. The reports indicate that equal number
of employees reported that both the software’s had excellent usability features. However, more number of
employees reported that Vend had better usability features than Lightspeed.
General Features
Lightspeed is a cloud based POS software. It is very popular amongst small and medium
sized businesses.
Vend is also a cloud based POS software which provides benefits like use from mobile,
inventory management and analytics reporting.
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Surveys
In order to compare the software’s 20 employees of the organization were asked to use the software’s. At the
end of the trial period of use the employees were asked to fill a survey which compared the software’s. A short
survey form having 5 questions was used to compare the software’s. The likert scale was used to compare the
software’s. In the likert scale 1 indicated Very poor and 5 Excellent.
Recommendation
On the basis of the report an overall summary of the survey was drawn. While it is found that some of the
features of Lightspeed are better than Vend, however, Vend also performs better in other areas. The chart
below provides a summary of the survey. The comparison finds that equal number of employees prefer both
the software’s. However, since more number of employees found that Vend has poor features than
Lightspeed, hence it would be wise to further analyse Lightspeed so that the employees can get used to
different features of the software.
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Appendix 1
Questionnaire
We would like your impressions about how well the two software’s perform. Please Choose the most suitable
answer that reflects your impression knowing that 1= Very Poor, 2= Poor, 3=Neutral, 4=Good and 5=Excellent
 Rate the filtering property of the two software’s?
 Rate the analytics property of the two software’s?
 How do your rate the inventory management features of the two software’s?
 How do your rate the customer information features of the two software’s?
 How do you rate the usability of the two software’s?
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Appendix 2
Properties Organizatio
Very
Poor Poor Neutral Good Excellent
Filtering property
Lightspeed 2 7 4 4 3
Vend 0 3 9 8 0
Analytics property
Lightspeed 1 2 8 7 2
Vend 1 4 7 5 3
Inventory management features
Lightspeed 1 3 6 6 4
Vend 1 8 3 6 2
Customer information features
Lightspeed 0 3 6 7 4
Vend 1 3 7 6 3
Usability
Lightspeed 0 3 9 4 4
Vend 4 3 3 6 4
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Sign off
SAJID WARRAICH
JAN 07,2018
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