IT for Business: POS System Implementation Analysis - HI T1 2018

This report analyzes the implementation of a Point of Sale (POS) system at Four Seasons Greenhouse and Nursery, examining the advantages and disadvantages, competitive advantages, recommended telecommunication options, and potential risks. It highlights how the POS system improves operational efficiency and decision-making by providing accurate business data and timely information. The report also discusses the benefits of a centralized database, including maximized data integrity and improved security. Furthermore, it suggests telecommunication options like LAN and wireless technology for setting up the POS system and addresses security, privacy, and confidentiality risks associated with POS systems, along with measures to protect the business. The report concludes with recommendations for Four Seasons to update hardware and software regularly and maintain strong system security measures.

RUNNING HEAD: IT for Business
IT for Business

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Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................2
Advantages and Disadvantages of the New Point of Sale System..................................................2
Gaining of Competitive Advantage through Point of Sale System.................................................3
Centralized Database- Advantages..................................................................................................4
Effective Decision Making by Point of Sale System.......................................................................4
Suggested Telecommunication Options for Point of Sale System..................................................5
Risks brought by Point of Sale System and Ways of Protecting Business against such Risks.......6
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................7
Recommendation.............................................................................................................................7
References........................................................................................................................................8

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Introduction
Information technology is increasingly becoming popular among the businesses of every type
and size. The adoption of technology also results in positive impact on the business of small
organizations. However, such small organizations are incapable of affording the requisite
expertise and resources that are necessary for the implementation of the strategies related to
information technology.
Point of Sale (POS) systems are gaining popularity and are being increasingly adopted by the
businesses as it allows easy performance of diverse operations. The term of POS system can be
defined as the computerized networks which creates a linkage between the main computer and
the checkout terminals. It is a combination of hardware and software that allows the trader to
carry out variety of transactions and simplifies the routine business operations (Cai, Li, Wei &
Zhixiong, 2016). This report focuses on the implementation of Point of Sale system in Four
Seasons Greenhouse and Nursery and the relative advantages, disadvantages, competitive
advantage, recommended telecommunication options and risks.
Advantages and Disadvantages of the New Point of Sale System
Following are the advantages and disadvantages that resulted after the implementation of POS
systems in Four Seasons.
Advantages-
Establishment of accountability- Responsibility can be easily delegated by the owners with the
help of POS systems to the staff capable of performing it. This in turn allows establishing the
required accountability. Goals are not established by the owners themselves, instead they
perform the function of providing the appropriate data to the staff from the system for the
determination of sales goals for the specified period (Turner, Weickgenannt & Copeland, 2016).
Decision Making- POS systems allows to maintain accurate business records and data which
plays an important role in the decision making by the owners of the organization. It further
allows to identify the items that are providing high profits to the organization. Therefore, the
organization can easily shift to such items for further increasing the profitability. The decision

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making related to order quantity is also supported by POS systems on the basis of current
inventory units.
Useful than Cash Register- a number of functions are performed by the POS system which
provides better usability than cash register including input, tracking and data distribution. Such
functions provide valuable information to the user for managing the business operations
(Goldman & Sigismond, 2010).
Disadvantages-
Risk to Security- a number of security risks are faced by the central network which is linked to
the POS system including the risk of the exposure of personal information relating to the
customer to some unauthorized person. When the software is not updated on time, the security of
the confidential information comes at risk.
Costly Software Upgrade- POS system can perform smoothly only when it is updated from time
to time. Some updates in the hardware are also required for the effective functioning of the POS
system. However, such updates are very costly and also require acquisition of licenses every time
(Park, Adeli, Park & Woungang, 2013).
Less convenient software-based system- Software- based systems are considered to be
inconvenient in comparison with the web-based systems. Inventory counts and reports cannot be
accessed just with the availability of computers in case of software based system. Hardware is
required for establishing connectivity between internet and hardware terminals (Bauer, 2014).
Gaining of Competitive Advantage through Point of Sale System
The implementation of POS system in Four Seasons will help in the improvement of operational
efficiency of business by taking optimum advantage of the business data. Competitive advantage
will be gained by the business as the system provides knowledge to the owners regarding the
products that are not performing well and are not being profitable for the business. Profitable
products can easily be identified by the owners as detailed cost reporting is provided by POS
systems. It also facilitates modification in production by increasing the production of the
products that are resulting in higher profits for the organization. Timely information is reported

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by the POS systems which help Four Seasons in the effective management of the business
operations.
Centralized Database- Advantages
Centralized database are advantageous in comparison to other databases. Data integrity is
maximized along with the minimization of the data redundancy in case of centralized database as
the data is stored in a single location. The storage of data in single location also provides better
security to the data from chances of getting tempered or stolen. Moreover, this also brings an
ease in alteration, mirroring, re- organizing and analyzing of data. Furthermore, the
administration and portability of data becomes easier in case of centralized database. Other
databases don’t provide the fault-tolerant setup as provided by centralized database which in turn
improves the preservation of data. Centralized database are also easy to be used by the end user
and due to its single database design. The end users can easily receive updates on instant bases
with the help of centralized database (Higgins, Prior, Harmsen & Seifert, 2017).
Effective Decision Making by Point of Sale System
Decision making will be facilitated due to the accurate maintenance of inventory data by the
POS system of Four Seasons. Earlier, decisions were made regarding order quantity on the basis
of speculation.
POS Systems cause Effective processing of Business Activities
POS systems facilitate instant tracking of the transactions relating to sales which assists in the
effective processing of the business activities. POS systems also provides compilation of sales
history and updated inventory which helps in the effective operations and management of
business (Williams, Waller Ahire & Ferrier, 2014).
Ineffective Manual Tracking of Information
Information cannot be tracked manually in an effective manner as the operational data is
inaccessible. Operational data acts as the key with the help of which management of business can
be performed effectively. Identification of the profitability of individual items also becomes
difficult in case of manual tracking as it does not support cost reporting (Raul, 2012).

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Effective Answers to a Number of Questions
POS systems provide answers to a number of questions. It provides accurate inventory counts
due to which guesswork is eliminated in the organization. It also provides answers to questions
like the number of quantity to be ordered, quantity sold, discarded, etc. The business is no longer
required to rely on speculation for deciding the order quantity.
Better Management of Business through the Use of Information
The business data can be immediately tracked at the point of sale with the help of POS system
which in tur eliminates the requirement of manual tracking of sales. The system is responsible
for performing functions such as storage, data processing, sales history compilation and updating
of inventory data. Also, the functions related to sharing, input and tracking of data is performed
by the system which helps in bringing effectiveness in the business operations.
Suggested Telecommunication Options for Point of Sale System
Following telecommunication options can be utilized for setting up POS system:
Type of Network- network can be established with the help of options like LAN, WAN and
MAN. However, LAN (Local Area Network) based POS system is recommended for meeting
the requirements of Four Seasons. Four Seasons is a small business and therefore all kind of
required records and settings can be held by LAN. The use of WAN can also be made but the
requirement of the business can be easily met by LAN so there is no need for setting up a WAN
network. Multiple POS terminals are supported by LAN which are configured for accessing the
database server.
Type of Media- It is recommended that Four Seasons should make the use of wireless
technology. Such technology can be used in the form of wireless LAN. It is expected that
wireless technology can completely alter the operating mode of the industry. Terminals perform
encrypted communication with WPA2 security standard (Al Mamun, Islam, Funabiki,
Kuribayashi & Lai, 2016). Spread spectrum, narrowband microwave and infrared are the
wireless technologies that are recommended for wireless LAN (Chan, et.al. 2014).

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Risks brought by Point of Sale System and Ways of Protecting Business against such Risks
POS systems face a variety of risks in relation to security, privacy and confidentiality.
Security- POS system running on older operating systems can result in the exposure of data to
the hackers. The company and customer data also faces risk in cases when the POS systems are
fraudulent. Sometimes, hackers take control of the machine which allows them to easily gain
access to the data. This leads to their navigation in the whole network through practices like
phishing. Hackers also make the use of skimming practices in which hardware is installed on the
system through will hackers easily gain access to the credit card information (Yang & Hwang,
2015).
System security can be protected by way of installing anti-virus software for protecting the data
from the unauthorized access by the hackers. The system should not be kept at the default
password. If third party maintains POS system, then a strong policy should be formulated for
password protection.
Privacy- POS system contains different kinds of personal information which can be used by the
hackers for fulfilling their purposes. Such information includes name, credit card information,
address, email address, birthday, city, etc. The systems can be easily hacked by the hack servers
and spyware through which they can retrieve information for unauthorized usage (Gomzin,
2014).
Privacy of data can be protected by updating POS system on regular basis. Security protocol
should be followed in the business by the employees. Multi- biometric systems should also be
used.
Confidentiality- confidence of the customers of Four Seasons can come under threat due to
confidentiality breaches. When an unauthorized person accesses information, the breach of
security takes place. Such circumstances have a serious impact on the customers (di Vimercati,
Foresti, Paraboschi, Pelosi & Samarati, 2014).
Software based on emerging technology can be used for protecting the confidentiality of the
information. It can help in protecting data from known, unknown and emerging threats. The

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machines are also protected by such software from malware and outside threats and allow to
deliver an unfailing VPN connectivity (Jenkins, 2015).
Conclusion
Therefore, it can be concluded that Four Seasons have made the use of technology in an effective
manner for ensuring that the business functions in a smooth manner. The implementation of POS
system has allowed Four Seasons to improve operational efficiency and competitive advantage
through effective decision making. Moreover, the profits of the business have significantly
improved as the business has shifted the focus on items offering profitability to business.
Recommendation
It is recommended that Four Seasons should aim to update the hardware and software from time
to time. Moreover, Four Seasons are required to take precautions by maintaining strong
passwords for the system and installing anti-virus software for the protection of data. WAN can
also be used so that telecommunication network can be linked with remote location.

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References
Al Mamun, M.S., Islam, M.E., Funabiki, N., Kuribayashi, M. and Lai, I.W., 2016. An active
access-point configuration algorithm for elastic wireless local-area network system using
heterogeneous devices. International Journal of Networking and Computing, 6(2), pp.395-419.
Bauer, J., 2014. Web Based Point of Sale System. [Online] Available at:
https://opus.ipfw.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=https://scholar.google.co.in/
&httpsredir=1&article=2098&context=etcs_seniorproj Accessed on: 20 May 2018
Cai, L., Li, K., Wei, W. and Zhixiong, H., 2016. Application of POS technology in fast making
DOM from digital aerial images. In Computer and Communications (ICCC), 2016 2nd IEEE
International Conference on (pp. 666-669). IEEE.
Chan, M.C., Chen, C., Huang, J.X., Kuo, T., Yen, L.H. and Tseng, C.C., 2014. OpenNet: A
simulator for software-defined wireless local area network. In Wireless Communications and
Networking Conference (WCNC), 2014 IEEE (pp. 3332-3336).
di Vimercati, S.D.C., Foresti, S., Paraboschi, S., Pelosi, G. and Samarati, P., 2014. Protecting
access confidentiality with data distribution and swapping. In Big Data and Cloud Computing
(BdCloud), 2014 IEEE Fourth International Conference on (pp. 167-174). IEEE.
Goldman, A. J. and Sigismond, W. D. 2010. Cengage Advantage Books: Business Law .
Cengage Learning.
Gomzin, S., 2014. Hacking Point of Sale: Payment Application Secrets, Threats, and Solutions.
John Wiley & Sons.
Higgins, P.G., Prior, K., Harmsen, D. and Seifert, H., 2017. Development and evaluation of a
core genome multilocus typing scheme for whole-genome sequence-based typing of
Acinetobacter baumannii. PloS one, 12(6).
Jenkins, P., 2015. Client confidentiality and data protection. In Handbook of professional and
ethical practice for psychologists, counsellors and psychotherapists (pp. 65-75). Routledge.

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Park, J. J., Adeli, H., Park, N. and Woungang, I. 2013. Mobile, Ubiquitous, and Intelligent
Computing: MUSIC 2013. Springer Science & Business Media.
Raul, V. 2012. Information Systems Reengineering for Modern Business Systems: ERP, Supply
Chain and E-Commerce Management Solutions: ERP, Supply Chain and E-Commerce
Management Solutions. IGI Global.
Turner, L., Weickgenannt, A.B. and Copeland, M. K. 2016. Accounting Information Systems:
The Processes and Controls. John Wiley & Sons.
Williams, B.D., Waller, M.A., Ahire, S. and Ferrier, G.D., 2014. Predicting retailer orders with
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