Three Habits of Highly Effective Cloud POS Systems

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Author: Editorial Team

By Reggie Kimble

Decades ago, Stephen Covey’s book, Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, examined the traits displayed by successful business leaders. Today, the categories of those traits – independence, interdependence and continuous improvement – can also be applied to the cloud point-of-sale technologies that successful businesses adopt.

1. Independence: Operates from anywhere

An effective cloud-based POS system should enable you to sell from anywhere. It should also empower you to manage your business remotely. Regardless of whether you’re overseeing a brick-and-mortar shop or a mobile business such as a food truck, consider a full system that gives you the independence to manage inventory, employee schedules and cash flow – on the go. That is in addition to a system that enables you to ring up sales wherever your customers are. Business is increasingly mobile. Your POS system should be able to keep up.

2. Interdependence: Plays well with mobile payments

QR payments. Bitcoin. And Apple Pay. Speaking of ringing up sales, 2014 was the year mobile payments started moving the needle closer to mainstream adoption. We do have a ways to go. But, as a result of increased adoption from consumers and a growing variety of payment alternatives, merchants will increasingly need a cloud-based POS system that offers interdependent integration ability.

Market research firm Javelin Strategy & Research predicts that by 2017, only 23 percent of point-of-sale purchases will be made with cash. That leaves a tremendous amount of room for growth within the fast-growing world of alternative payment options. If you want further proof, Forrester expects U.S.-based mobile payments to reach $142 billion in volume in 2019. That’s a $92 billion increase from 2014!

3. Continuous improvement: Innovates at the speed of business

It doesn’t end at mobility and mobile payments. Your business needs a total solution that can provide modern ways to extend relationships with customers beyond the point of sale. A cloud-based POS system built with continuous improvement in mind will allow you to automatically leverage customer data to develop loyalty programs and engage customers with email offers. For example, Jackson, MS-based Fondren Guitars leverages its NCR Silver POS system to review order histories and make automatic recommendations for additional merchandise based on customer preferences. Tactics like these help establish trust between a business and its customers, which ultimately leads to enhanced overall customer experiences AND increased revenue opportunities. Further, a POS system that operates in the cloud will automatically have the latest updates and improvements such as integrations and more functionality.

Now, that’s not only continuous … but highly effective, too.

-Reggie Kimble is director of business development at NCR Small Business and NCR Silver, a complete iPad point-of-sale system for retail shops, cafes, service providers and food trucks.

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