Avoid High Maintenance Costs With New POS Systems

Imagine the countless problems that exist with a 20-year-old POS solution that does not integrate with an electronic payment processor. For example, the POS system might approve a sale that the electronic payment processor denies. The retailer may be unaware of this disconnect for up to two days, until it is time to reconcile sales and transaction data. Old legacy POS solutions can also become maintenance nightmares for retailers. Maintenance fees can be costly, and revenue can be lost from stalled operations while hardware is being repaired.

This nightmare was a costly reality for Louis Ford, director of IT services at Murry's Inc. Murry's is a grocery store chain with 30 locations throughout the Middle Atlantic states. The grocer opened its doors in 1948, currently employs 800 people, and boasts $150 million in annual sales. Murry's experienced problems approving and reconciling credit card transactions because its legacy POS system and payment processing system were separate entities. To complete a transaction, a cashier had to first swipe a card on the credit card terminal. If payment was authorized, the card was then swiped on the register's POS system. If payment was denied, and the sale was not voided on the POS system, the POS system recorded that the retailer should expect a payment from the provider.