IT for Business: Point of Sale System and Business Decision Making

This report, titled "IT for Business," provides a comprehensive analysis of Point of Sale (POS) systems and their impact on business operations. The report begins with an introduction to POS systems, defining their function and components. It then delves into a detailed discussion of the advantages and disadvantages of implementing a new POS system, highlighting aspects such as improved data tracking, elimination of manual processes, and the need for reliable internet connections and potential software costs. The report explores the role of POS systems in gaining a competitive advantage, including real-time sales data, improved customer service, and efficient inventory management. It also examines the benefits of a centralized database, such as data preservation, physical security, and cost reduction. Furthermore, the report discusses how POS systems aid in decision-making, particularly in inventory management and product profitability. The report covers POS system applications in business activities and methods for better information tracing. Recommendations are provided for network types (WAN) and media (wireless technology). The report concludes with a discussion of the risks associated with POS systems, especially in terms of security, and provides suggestions for protection. The report is a valuable resource for understanding POS systems and their importance in modern business environments.

Running head: IT FOR BUSINESS
IT FOR BUSINESS
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Authors Note:

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Table of Contents
Introduction..........................................................................................................................2
Discussion............................................................................................................................2
Advantages and Disadvantage of New POS system........................................................2
Role of POS in competitive advantage of Business........................................................3
Advantage of having Centralized Database.....................................................................4
Role of POS system in Decision Making........................................................................5
POS system for Business Activity...............................................................................6
Information can be traced in a better way...................................................................6
List of question which can be answered in a way better way......................................7
Role of information in better management of business...............................................7
Recommendation.............................................................................................................7
Type of Network..........................................................................................................7
Type of Media..............................................................................................................8
Risk of POS system.........................................................................................................8
Protection against the risk................................................................................................9
Conclusion...........................................................................................................................9
References..........................................................................................................................10

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Introduction
Point of Sale System is nothing but a system which helps various kinds of business to
carry out transaction between organization and client (Sonnenberg et al. 2013). POS system can
be easily defined as computer network which generally consist of various kinds of computer
which are linked with checkout points. It is generally supported by various kinds of hardware
which starts from barcode scanner and closing at terminals of various kinds of card payment.
In the upcoming pages of the report advantage and disadvantage of POS system has been
discussed in details. A list of advantages has been provided regarding the fact or idea of having
centralized database for four season greenhouse and nursery. Recommendation has been
provided regarding the type of networks and type of technology needed by it.
Discussion
Advantages and Disadvantage of New POS system
New POS system will allow the various kinds of user to easily track the useful data for
business from various kinds of transaction based on sales and various kinds of data from sales.
The new POS system will eliminate the issue of tracking various kinds of sales on a manual
basis. This system will provide a method which can be used for processing and storing of data
for various kinds of sales operation (Scheffels and Lavik, 2013). This new system will ultimately
eliminate entry of details of good on a manual basis. The POS system will work much greater
than a sales register. In the end it can be easily concluded that POS system will eliminate
tracking, distribution of data which will provide information for operation and management of
this four season and Nursery which is located in Colorado (Kirchner et al. 2013).

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There are large of disadvantage which can be seen by implementation of this POS system
that are:
Reliable connection: A reliable internet connection and ISP is needed for proper
maintenance of POS system which is generally considered to be totally based on web (Pepe and
Pepe, 2012). If there is outage of internet, then Nursery located in Colorado does not have access
to it.
Expensive software upgrades: Various kinds of web based provides free upgrades for
keeping them up to date while on the contrary software based upgradation has a high value of
cost attached to them.
Security issues:Various kinds of customer round the globe makes use of credit card or
debit card while they are making their purchase certain risk related to pin also comes into action
(Lee et al. 2015). Various providers of POS system provider make use of step for maintaining the
privacy of terminal keypads on the contrary none of them are considered to be risk free
Role of POS in competitive advantage of Business
A POS system will be help in gain competitive advantage for an organization
 POS system helps a business in having a real time detail of business which
contains report of sales. After that particular business can makes use of proper
strategies for improvisation of sales.
 POS will help in improving the customer service and making transaction at a
much faster rate (Liberato, Bailie and Brimblecombe, 2014). There are generally
large number of selection techniques or methods like credit cards, gift cards.

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 POS will provide a better and efficient method or way for management of
inventory. It will also help in recording of various kinds of products which are
running low.
 Various kinds of business will reduce the time which is generally spend on
various kinds of things like paperwork, management of inventory, special
programs and discounted programs.
Figure 1: Point of Sale (POS) System
(Source: Carter, Phan and Mills, 2014)
Advantage of having Centralized Database
There are large number advantages which can be gained by implementation of centralize
database that are improvisation of prevention of data preservation, physical security, reduction of
cost, improves reliability and updating speed (Salloum et al. 2013). Option of centralized storage
will ultimately improve the option of data preservation. Various system and laptops very rarely
allow the option of providing functioning even after failure in terms of hardware. Various kinds
of locally stored system provide the option of storing various kinds of data at their own security

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risk on the basis of physical (Kokkinos et al. 2012). With the increase in the quantity of sensitive
information of consumer, protection of data can be considered to be a critical issue.
Centralized database generally requires this business that four season Greenhouse and
nursery which is located in Colorado to make huge amount of investment in domain of server
technology (Carter, Phan and Mills, 2014). This will ultimately result in reduction of overall
cost. A centralized storage will ultimately result in higher value of components which ultimately
makes it much more reliable than various kinds of local storages. It also provides the option of
virtualization and also gives access to data from any place round the world.
Figure 2: Centralized database
(Source: Kirchner et al. 2012)
Role of POS system in Decision Making
Implementation of POS system provides the option of better decision making in terms of
inventory data. It provides the option of tracking of number of units of a product which were
sold. Organization can easily check or view of fact which is necessary for tracking of various

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kinds of products which are based on generally some kinds of products which is necessary
considered to be less profitable as much they considered to be (Berto et al. 2012). POS system
will ultimately help in understanding of products which can contribute maximum amount of
profit to this particular organization. Real cost provides a platform which is necessary for
shifting various kinds of products which will ultimately result in large amount or value of profit
for an organization.
Major of the POS system generally allow the user to enter into a particular kind of codes
based on inventory which can be either through manual basis or through automatic bar code
scanner. Various kinds of system provide a platform which is generally needed for multiple
value of running and running in total amount of value. POS system generally provides a method
which is needed for tracking of various kinds of pricing which is inclusive of percentage or value
of cost, formulas used for various kinds of cost.
POS system for Business Activity
POS can be easily defined as a kind of step up which is generally needed for cash
register. A POS system generally allow a business owner to have more than one location of
business and proper tracking of various kinds of inventory which generally works without being
presenting (Kim et al. 2014). It helps in elimination of various kinds of business owners and
keeping track of inventory which mainly works by without being present in any kind of field. By
the help of this system efficiency of various kinds of employee can be easily maintained.
Information can be traced in a better way
No the information does not need to be traced manually basis because as POS system
help in help analyzing data of sales. One can easily help in measuring the effectiveness of pricing
or campaign related to advertisement (Dunlop et al. 2014). POS system will help analyzing the

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quantity or amount of order. One can easily calculate gross revenue on a daily basis, cost and
profit which is involved in it. Past data containing information will ultimately help in analyzing
the needs of the future.
List of question which can be answered in a way better way
 Proper selection of material in the market.
 Quality of product which is needed in the upcoming future for an organization.
 Helps in monitoring of sales records and provides alert when various kinds of
stock are running out.
Role of information in better management of business
The information can be easily used for proper management of business and to access
information which being sold and the products which are being sold (Sances et al. 2013). POS
system provides an efficient way or method for proper management of inventory. Information
can be easily used for management of gift cards and programs for loyalty. The information can
be easily be used for tacking of personal information of customer, payroll for various kinds of
staff members and management of Inventory.
Recommendation
Type of Network
WAN stands for wide area network which can be used for this POS system. WANs are
generally used for connecting various kinds of local area network by which user and system in
one particular location can easily with computers present in other location.The WAN connects
PC one side and POS network on other side so that communication can be easily established
between these two point by making use of Internet.

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Figure 3: WAN (Wide Area Network)
(Source: Pepe and Pepe 2012)
Type of Media
For this POS system wireless technology is proffered as WAN (Wide Area Network)
provides various kinds of networks which are used for exchange of information over a larger
distance. It generally makes use of phone lines or satellite for transmitting various kinds of
media. Internet is most common or well-known type of WAN service.

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Risk of POS system
POS system has some level of risk involved in it when it comes to matters of various
kinds of security. Various kinds of attackers generally look for this target by making use of
various kinds of system which are vulnerable (Kirchner et al. 2012). Maximum amount of high
profile data breaches which provides customer payment information which comprises of security
of POS. It is generally analyzed from the fact POS system is damaged by the attack of Trojan
(Panuwet et al. 2012). Another kind of issue of data breach came from POS security which
mainly resulted in breach of data.
Protection against the risk
There are several number of steps which must be taken for improving the security of
POS:
 It focuses on encryption of all type of data and decrypting the form when it
reaches payment processes (Ko et al. 2012)..
 Implementation of application whitelisting which provides necessary type of
application to easily run on a regular basis.
 Dividing of various kinds of networks which is needed by various kinds of POS
system.
 Continuous running of various kinds of software which can be used for scanning
for various kinds of malicious files.
Conclusion
From the above discussion it can be easily concluded that this report is all about POS
system. Advantage and disadvantage of POS system has been discussed in details. A list of

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advantages regarding the fact of having a centralized database has been provided. A list of
recommendation has been provided regarding the type of network and kind of wireless
technology associated with it. Various kinds of risk associated in POS system has been discussed
in details. All the three aspects of risk like security, privacy and confidentiality has been
discussed in details in the above pages of the report.

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References
Berto, A., Martelli, F., Grierson, S. and Banks, M., 2012. Hepatitis E virus in pork food chain,
United Kingdom, 2009–2010. Emerging infectious diseases, 18(8), p.1358.
Carter, O.B., Phan, T. and Mills, B.W., 2014. Impact of a point-of-sale tobacco display ban on
smokers’ spontaneous purchases: comparisons from postpurchase interviews before and after the
ban in Western Australia. Tobacco control, pp.tobaccocontrol-2013.
Dunlop, S., Kite, J., Grunseit, A.C., Rissel, C., Perez, D.A., Dessaix, A., Cotter, T., Bauman, A.,
Young, J. and Currow, D., 2014. Out of sight and out of mind? Evaluating the impact of point-
of-sale tobacco display bans on smoking-related beliefs and behaviors in a sample of Australian
adolescents and young adults. Nicotine & Tobacco Research, 17(7), pp.761-768.
Kim, A.E., Nonnemaker, J.M., Loomis, B.R., Shafer, P.R., Shaikh, A., Hill, E., Holloway, J.W.
and Farrelly, M.C., 2014. Influence of point-of-sale tobacco displays and graphic health warning
signs on adults: evidence from a virtual store experimental study. Journal Information, 104(5).
Kirchner, T.R., Cantrell, J., Anesetti-Rothermel, A., Ganz, O., Vallone, D.M. and Abrams, D.B.,
2013. Geospatial exposure to point-of-sale tobacco: real-time craving and smoking-cessation
outcomes. American journal of preventive medicine, 45(4), pp.379-385.
Kirchner, T.R., Cantrell, J., Anesetti-Rothermel, A., Pearson, J., Cha, S., Kreslake, J., Ganz, O.,
Tacelosky, M., Abrams, D. and Vallone, D., 2012, October. Individual mobility patterns and
real-time geo-spatial exposure to point-of-sale tobacco marketing. In Proceedings of the
conference on Wireless Health (p. 8). ACM.

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Ko, S., Maciejewski, R., Jang, Y. and Ebert, D.S., 2012, 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.
Kokkinos, P., Kozyra, I., Lazic, S., Bouwknegt, M., Rutjes, S., Willems, K., Moloney, R., de
RodaHusman, A.M., Kaupke, A., Legaki, E. and D’Agostino, M., 2012. Harmonised
investigation of the occurrence of human enteric viruses in the leafy green vegetable supply
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Lee, J.G., Henriksen, L., Rose, S.W., Moreland-Russell, S. and Ribisl, K.M., 2015. A systematic
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public health, 105(9), pp.e8-e18.
Liberato, S.C., Bailie, R. and Brimblecombe, J., 2014. Nutrition interventions at point-of-sale to
encourage healthier food purchasing: a systematic review. BMC public health, 14(1), p.919.
Panuwet, P., Siriwong, W., Prapamontol, T., Ryan, P.B., Fiedler, N., Robson, M.G. and Barr,
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ginseng and organic blueberry yield. Agrivita, 35(1), p.22.
Scheffels, J. and Lavik, R., 2013. Out of sight, out of mind? Removal of point-of-sale tobacco
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