Reporting through POS
Have you noticed that more and more businesses seem to function at the whim of a tablet or smart phone? Employees often circulate stores and restaurants with these devices and are able to conduct business on these small screens that previously was only done at server stations or check-out aisles? What is going on with this growth of mobile technology, and are traditional cash registers ready for the Smithsonian?
Many businesses are in fact transitioning from bulky registers or even computer-based units to cloud-based systems. What is a cloud-based system? This refers to a point-of-sale system that conducts the traditional tasks of totaling orders and creating checks and receipts, but also provides reports back with the data provided in these transactions. Why is this appealing to such a variety of businesses? While it is usually a good idea to keep up with technology, these aforementioned reports can be immensely beneficial to those in a managerial position.
Let’s say you have a restaurant that does lunch and dinner service. You might have an idea of what dishes will sell well at lunch and which will shine at dinner. You might create a schedule for employees based on previous experience. You may create daily specials and even holidays specials that should theoretically sell well. A cloud-based system can provide you with reports that can give you concrete data on each of these points, along with countless other factors. Managers can access a detailed report of what items sell and when, and also what items are creating a monetary loss. You may think you need 5 servers on for weekday lunches, and the report may show you 3 will suffice, or maybe that 6 would be more efficient and turn tables faster. You may find out through one of the reports that a holiday special sold exceptionally well and should be added to the menu regularly. You may also note that one of the daily specials is creating a loss and should be replaced with another item. The options are truly endless for the information you can obtain, and with a system like Focus, that Alpha POS utilizes, the information can be completely customized to your business.
Gone are the days of managers entering data into a spreadsheet to get any kind of report. Welcome to the days of getting meaningful data to help your business grow right on your phone or tablet.
