Impact of the New POS in Four Seasons Greenhouse

The aim of this report is to evaluate the impact of the new POS on the operational effectiveness of Four Seasons Greenhouse and Nursery. A survey on the use of the POS by the employees, management, and customers of the business was conducted. The results found that the new POS played a significant role in the growth and expansion of the business. The report recommends that the Four Seasons Greenhouse and Nursery should concentrate less on the manual data backup and put more emphasis on the new POS.

The report gives the information acquired through a survey conducted in regards to the impact of the new POS on the operations of the Four Seasons Greenhouse and Nursery. The report focuses on the advantages and disadvantages of the POS. The role of the system in enhancing competitive advantage is also evaluated. The other issues considered are the advantages of a centralised database and the POS facilitates decision making. The risks associated with the POS and their preventive measures are highlighted.

Introduction

The Four Seasons Greenhouse has recorded increased profits over the last few years. The report uses the Four Seasons Greenhouses as an example to illustrate the impact of the POS in business. The other items considered are the advantages of a centralised data base and how the POS facilitates decision making. The report suggests the recommended telecommunication options for the POS. Finally, the report evaluates the risks associated with the POS and the preventive measures.

Advantages of a POS

The POS allows the firm to trace all the useful sales information. The business produces several goods that have to be sold in the market. The sales of these products depend on the market performance. The POS helps in the determination of the market performance in future, which helps the investors in making sound decisions.

The POS ensures that the organisation’s information is well stored for future references. The management can, therefore, use this information in formulation of the business’ policies.

The POS has special features that give customers a chance to pre-order goods thus saving time. The other advantage is that the POS saves time. Since POS keeps records, entrepreneurs can identify goods and services required in the firm when the sales have increased without necessarily checking the stock (Elliott and Gilmore 2002, p.300).

Disadvantaged of POS

The main disadvantage of the POS is that sometimes, updates on the central computer may be delayed which can cause a loss of specific goods (Latapy 2017, p.201). The users of the POS have to pay monthly fees to the providers of the POS (Kimmons 2017).

Benefits of a POS in Business Competition.

The POS is used in managing inventory and analysing sales patterns (McCarthy 2010). The benefits associated with the POS in regards to competition are as follows.

Accuracy

The POS aids investors in making accurate investment decisions. With a POS, information on the flow of goods and services in the market is provided to enable the owner of the business to venture into businesses that have low competition (Bandung 2015, p.74).

Time-saving

The POS helps the management to save time which is used to check the flow of the business transactions.

Good Decision Making

While selecting the best business to venture into, the business owners make decisions easily based on the data stored in the POS (Standards Australia International Limited and Standards New Zealand, 2003 p.112). The investor is able to access all the information required to determine the best business plan from the POS.

Recommendations

The POS should be used in the following types of networks. These cables are IAN, WAN, and MAN.

Local Area Network

The Local Area Network (LAN) is a network that is commonly found in a small range, mostly, a single building. The POS facilitates connections between the management and the employees in this areas effectively.

WAN

The Wide Area Network (WAN) is a type of network that connects computers that are widely spread. Having access to every computer, the entrepreneurs can run several businesses within different geographic regions.

MAN

The Metropolitan Area Network (MAN) connects computers that cover a broader region. It works mostly in organisations or companies that have ample space.

The enhancement of wired technologies should be effected by use of various types of cables. They include; optical fibre cables, twisted pair cables, coaxial cables, patch cables, and optical fibre cables.

Recommended Cables

The unshielded twisted cable is the best cable to use with POS (Harding 2009, p.100). The rationale behind this argument is that the POS can have a multi-purpose function. It can be used as a cable to connect to the internet all the machines in the company. It is reasonably applicable to a large business since it can support up to 100mps speed of a network.

The fibre optic network uses pulses of light and strands of glass (Kim 2011, p.94). With POS, great traffic communication may be experienced. Fibber optic cable is the most appropriate in this situation. There are two types of fibre optic cables, which include the single mode which is the best for large companies that are not in the same area since it has a high capacity of high width (“POS Accessories – Bezels, Cables, Chargers,” n.d.). The second type of fibre optic cable is the multimode, which is more appropriate in a small organisation.

Advantages of Having a Centralised Database.

The POS gives an excellent inventory tracking system. The investors use the tracking system to determine the orders in progress, what merchandise is in stock, and what they have sold among others (Tracking inventory 2006). The investors also use it to plan purchases.

The other benefit of the POS is that through its reporting features, it can help business owners to gain better control of their business POS packages are available for all types of businesses.

Centralised database gives a good provision of security for all the useful information in an organisation because the protection can be well concentrated on one single point. It also enables the data to be edited or updated easily.

The POS terminal can be connected to other terminals (MCcarthy 2010). It can also be connected to the server in another location. Entrepreneurs can use it to track their operations and make appropriate adjustments as their needs change over time.

The POS provides sophisticated and detailed sales reports. Business owners use the reports from the POS to analyse their sales. They are able to identify the weaknesses and strengths. The profitability is, therefore, improves.

Security Risks of Point of Sale (POS)

The POS security is concerned with the analysis of risks, which are studied in retail checkpoints. The most significant risk of a POS security is the risk of credit card stealing. The major concern in this uncertainty is the POS malware. During the time of transactions, data is accessed by memory scrappers. The illegal access of data occurs in case there is no encryption of payment data (Barker 2011, p.44). The other significant risk of the POS security is outdated and unsupported POS, which provide the writers of malware with unpatched vulnerabilities (Bandung 2015, p.78).

Physical access to the POS is another risk. The activities of users of the POS can subject it to vulnerabilities. For instance, if a POS terminal is used for web surfing, the POS can be subjected to risk.

Privacy Risk

Improper installation and poor maintenance of a POS amounts the risk of compromise. The highly multifunctional and flexible POS terminals are susceptible to intrusion by outsiders if inadequately secured. The card holder’s data may be lost in this case. The POS records cashless transactions. Hackers can obtain consumers information if the system is not properly secured (Aberle n.d.).

Confidentiality Risk

The confidentiality risk lies within the host security. Most businesses payments are consolidated into a single central repository (Elliot 2002, p.88). The central repository accords access to data backup. It also grants access to managerial functions. The POS can be attacked by hackers which may lead to loss of card holder’s data. The impact of this may be loss of confidence in the business by its clients, which may lead to reduced profits due to decreased sales.

General POS Risk Control Measures

The most effective risk control measure is to isolate the network. Network isolation reduces the probable attack surface. It also makes it easier to identify suspicious activities.

The other risk control measure is whitelisting where communication is limited to the authorised sites only. Another risks can be controlled by proper maintenance and installation of a POS. The risks can also be avoided by adhering to the PCI-DSS.

How POS Facilitates Decision Making of an Enterprise.

Products Identification

The POS gives accurate data on the daily flow of sales. The owner of a business can, therefore identify profitable goods. POS also helps in determining the steady flow of goods which helps in identifying the stock balance (Barker 2011, p.40).

Supervision

The Point of sale efficiently enhances business activities (Kim 2011, p.39). The owner of the company can frequently supervise workers to give the best productivity. The POS helps the investors to do the calculations of the price tags giving them an opportunity to implement changes where necessary.

Manual sales tracking

Manual sales tracking involves data entry and getting product information from other sources (Kim 2011, p.50). The information provided will assists managers when they want to set the product’s prices. The sales records are used in determining the future patterns of selling and buying decisions (Tracking Inventory, 2006).

Types of Questions That Will Be Efficiently Answered by POS

Sales.

The goods sold are directly listed in a POS. The list is easy to use because one requires only getting an update on the products with the highest demand.

Cost.

The POS gives a simple link to countercheck the cost of all products in the enterprise. The business management can use this information to determine the cost of production. The data obtained is used in determining the policies employed by the company.

Profits

The POS can analyse and give an appropriate feedback of the profit made by the organisation (Elliot 2002, p.206). Information about the benefits accrued by the business is essential in the determination of the performance of an enterprise (Gomzin 2014, p.23). The management can, therefore, use this information to determine the probable future performance of the business.

Reports

The management requires making reports about the performance of the organisation. The POS provides all the information to make price tags, accounting statements, and invoices. The pricing accuracy can be improved by use of bar-code scanners (Tracking Inventory, 2006). The annual business records can be easily tracked (Dolibois 2014).

Ways in Which the POS Makes Business Better

The updates of the price tags are made at a single point, and they reach other machines via the central processor thus saving a lot of time. It reduces the transaction time. It also facilitates efficient and effective decision making.

Conclusion

The new POS has played a significant role in the growth and expansion of the Four Seasons Greenhouse and Nursery. It has proved to be important in the provision and distribution data required for the management and operation of the business. Sales tracking and product identification have been made easy by use of the POS. The inventory can be controlled at the cash register. The risks associated with the POS are easily managed which makes it more effective. It has also eased the process of managerial decision making. In regards to the benefits accrued from the POS, the Four Seasons Greenhouse and Nursery should concentrate less on the manual data backup and put more emphasis on the new POS.

References

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