IT for Business: Evaluating POS Systems for Business Operations

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of Point of Sale (POS) systems in a business context. It begins with an introduction emphasizing the importance of technology and the role of POS in transactions, highlighting its advantages and disadvantages. The report then explores how POS systems contribute to competitive advantage, the benefits of a centralized database, and how POS aids in decision-making processes. It also examines the efficiency of the point of sale process, including tracking information through both manual and automated techniques. The report addresses the types of questions that can be answered using POS data and the different types of information utilized to manage a business. It also discusses telecommunication options for POS systems, the types of networks and media used, and potential risks. The report concludes by summarizing the key findings and emphasizing the importance of POS in modern business operations.

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IT For business
Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................1
Advantages and Disadvantages.......................................................................................................1
POS in attaining competitive advantage..........................................................................................2
Centralized database benefits..........................................................................................................2
POS System helps in decision making............................................................................................3
Point of sale process business effectively....................................................................................3
Information can be tracked by considering the manual techniques.............................................4
The question type that should be answered.................................................................................4
Information used to manage the business....................................................................................4
Telecommunication option for POS system....................................................................................4
Type of network...........................................................................................................................5
Type of media..............................................................................................................................5
Type of risk in POS system.............................................................................................................5
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................6
References........................................................................................................................................7
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Introduction
By focusing on the current situation, it can be seen that technology is considered as an
important part to conduct the activities in a proper manner. If latest technology it is not
considered by the company then it can be difficult to conduct the activities effectively. POS is
also related to a place where the sales are made. It has been seen that it is a transaction that takes
place between a merchant and customers at the time of purchasing the products and services.
Point of sale also has various merits and demerits and it is essential for the organizations who are
conducting their routine task at many different places (Ingram et al., 2015). This technique also
helps in making accurate decisions of the company and also it has coverage with the overall
financial affairs.
In this report, the focus will be given to the technique of POS and various different
factors will be elaborated. By focusing on the case study the answers will be given related to the
case study.
Advantages and Disadvantages
By focusing on a new point of sale it has been seen that there are various advantages and
disadvantages.
Advantages
a.) It can be easy to store information in less space and it provides various
different facilities related to storing, distributing and also keeping track of the entire data.
b.) POS has also considered the important transactions and racking is done at
the time of sales so that the records of the products which are sold can be managed
properly.
c.) The overall data which is collected with the help of POS can help in
increasing the inventory and also maintain the history concerned with the overall sales
that took place.
d.) In this, the decisions are also made which are concerned with the
management of inventory and also it helps to minimize the overall confusion that takes
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place at the time of conducting the activities. The assistance can also be seen in
completing the units related to learner inventory (Coronel and Morris, 2016).
e.) It has been seen that by considering cost reporting it can be simple to
evaluate the overall facts which are concerned with the product. It also helps to offer
more profits.
f.) When the managers control the information it helps to manage the time in
a proper way. It is also a technique through which time can be managed in an effective
manner.
g.) While considering the accountability it can also be seen that transparency
is maintained through this technique (Dontigney, 2018).
Disadvantages
It is important to upgrade the system on a regular basis so that input can be increased.
There are many risks concerned with hacking and also with the information that can be given to
the person who does not have any authority.
POS in attaining competitive advantage
There are many advantages which are concerned with the use of POS systems. These
systems assist in making accurate decisions and also offer proper information by considering this
method. The information helps in considering the overall decisions that focus on the facts and
also give a competitive advantage to the organizations (Barney and Ray, 2015).
It can be evaluated that point of sale gives proper information related to the products and
it helps to increase the overall profits. It also helps the overall management of inventory control
which helps to manage the cost and increase the overall profits of the nation. The financial
information is controlled and it is an important part so that the profits can be enhanced. If profits
are enhanced then it can be easy to be a leader in the market.
Centralized database benefits
By giving focus to the centralized database it can be seen that there are many benefits
related to it. This is essential for the big organizations but it is also essential for the small
business. There are various benefits like
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a.) It can be simple to manage the change and also enhance the information.
b.) There is a high integration of data and low data redundancy. The
information is kept in one place through this method.
c.) It has been analyzed that there is high data security which will manage the
situation where the attack takes place on a frequent basis (Saxena and Pushkar, 2017).
d.) The data can be evaluated easily within the time frame and it also takes
into consideration the decisions so that information can be collected in a proper manner.
The decision makers can also take the decisions in a proper manner.
e.) By having effective database management it can be simple to manage the
process and portability of the data is managed (Orr et al., 2015).
f.) To manage the resources it also helps to safeguard the information in a
proper manner.
POS System helps in decision making
By considering POS system it can be easy to manage the information and also it assists in
the overall process of decision making. By considering the first step it has been seen that it is
related to the decisions of data-driven that should be made properly so that competitive
advantage can be attained.
Point of sale process business effectively
POS provide proper information related to the sale of the products and it is essential o
capture large market share and also to earn revenue margins. The real-time information can assist
to focus on better decisions so that discounts and offers can be made in a proper manner. The
data which is gathered can help to increase the activities of the back office and also the
experience of the customers take place in a proper way (Lam et al., 2018). By giving focus on
POS information, it has been evaluated that it is important to consider customized decisions. It
also helps in analyzing the data which is important to make correct decisions so that competitive
advantage can be attained. It can also help in focusing on the weakness which can be seen at the
time of sales and also the promotion of the activities (Kim, 2015).
It has been analyzed that with the help of POS it can be simple to track the information.
This can be also concerned with the orders that reduce the stock to analyze the best sellers. It can
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be done with the help of manual methods but if the focus is given on time management hen it can
be considered as less effective. It provides the exact data about the type of orders that are
considered by the consumers. This will be essential when strategic decisions are made especially
when the focus is given to the strategy related to STP.
Information can be tracked by considering the manual techniques
It has been seen that it can be completed by focusing on the manual methods in the recent
business situation. The manual technique is related to various chances of achieving the
misinterpreted data which can give incorrect decisions. When the information is racked it is seen
that time consumption is more and also the efforts of the human will be enhanced. It can also
create confusion related to the tracking of the right information. In the recent scenario, the
decisions of the organization emphasize the real-time information and also consider manual
tracking which is considered as not so effective (Medineckiene et al., 2015).
The question type that should be answered
There are many questions on which emphasis should be given so that answers can be
given by considering the information with the help of POS. The questions related to functions
like marketing and also the activities related to financial can be considered by focusing on the
POS system. There are many customer queries that should be considered so that decisions can be
taken in a right manner.
Information used to manage the business
It has been seen that there are various types of information that can be collected by POS
and it has a great role in it. All these types of information can be taken into consideration to
make proper decisions and also it emphasizes the areas. The modifications in the process can be
considered by emphasizing the information that is collected through the system of POS. The
data-driven approach too many activities can be taken into consideration which can help the
company in controlling the activities of the company in a proper manner.
Telecommunication option for POS system
There are various types of activities related to telecommunication that are available with
the four season's greenhouse. The option related to telecommunication should be taken into
consideration by emphasizing the requirement of the company. There are various options which
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are present in the organization and it is concerned with the type of network it should be taken
into consideration.
Type of network
There are various types of options concerned with telecommunication and LAN is
available for the best choice on which can be given. This is just because of the small organization
and also the need of the network is small. The connectivity is concerned with LAN which
provides high speed and also focuses on less usage of the resources which is one of the best
choices in the small companies who are considering the limited financial resources (Wheatley,
Maillart and Sornette, 2016).
Type of media
It has been considered that wire technology can offer advantages to the small
organizations like four seasons' greenhouse and nursery. As it is seen that wired community has
a good connection and also there is less chance of being hacked. Ethernet cables can be taken
into consideration for enhancing the proper connection.
Type of risk in POS system
There are many types of risks which are concerned with the usage of POS system. There
are also many ways which can assist the business to be safeguarding the risks. The types of risks
that should be taken into consideration through the use of POS system are :
Privacy
POS system focuses on many different types of information. Through this, it can be
simple to secure the information which is stored (Neves and Eisenberger, 2014).
Confidentiality
By focusing on POS it has been seen that there are many ways of opportunity which can
help to maintain the proper privacy of the information related to the consumers (Acquisti, Taylor
and Wagman, 2016). The problem is also related to the use of the credit and debit card. This is
used for scanning the information. It is important to consider firewalls so that activities can be
conducted properly (Cannataci et al., 2016).
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Security
By focusing on the POS system it has been that information can be stored in a proper
manner. It is important to maintain proper security in the information. Hacked information can
give a loss to the business (Turner and Musman, 2018).
Conclusion
By focusing on the data it can be seen that there are various benefits and also
disadvantages related to the POS system. It helps in providing a competitive advantage by
emphasizing the process of decision making. LAN with a proper connection can give benefit and
also maintain the security of the information.
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References
Acquisti, A., Taylor, C. and Wagman, L., 2016. The economics of privacy. Journal of
Economic Literature, 54(2), pp.442-92.
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.
Cannataci, J.A., Zhao, B., Torres Vives, G., Monteleone, S., Bonnici, J.M. and Moyakine, E.,
2016. Privacy, free expression and transparency: redefining their new boundaries in the
digital age. UNESCO Publishing.
Coronel, C. and Morris, S., 2016. Database systems: design, implementation, &
management. Cengage Learning.
Dontigney, E., 2018. The advantages of Centralised Database storage [Online]. Available at:
https://itstillworks.com/info-8623828-advantages-centralized-database-storage.html.
[Accessed on: 21th may 2018].
Ingram, T.N., LaForge, R.W., Williams, M.R. and Schwepker Jr, C.H., 2015. Sales
management: Analysis and decision making. Routledge.
Kim, L.S., 2015. Components of a Business Model and their influences on a firm
performance. Indian Journal of Science and Technology, 8, p.139.
Lam, T.S., Lee, H.H. and Tsai, S.J., Flytech Tech Co Ltd, 2018. Service data record system
and POS system with the same. U.S. Patent 9,881,283.
Medineckiene, M., Zavadskas, E.K., Björk, F. and Turskis, Z., 2015. Multi-criteria decision-
making system for sustainable building assessment/certification. Archives of Civil and
Mechanical Engineering, 15(1), pp.11-18.
Neves, P. and Eisenberger, R., 2014. Perceived organizational support and risk
taking. Journal of managerial psychology, 29(2), pp.187-205.
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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.
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.
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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