Liquor Store Operatiosn Crash Course

Wanted to say thanks to the folks at WestSide Liquor in Waite Park, MN for today's crash course in liquor store operations.  It was a very eye opening experience and helped me understand what challenges liquor store retailers are facing (even beyond what the point of sale system can help with)!







Curious to have me come onsite to learn more about your retail operation? You can reach me at 208-340-5632 or kevinantosh@gmail.com for more information.

News Flash: Important Retail Management Hero (RMH) Upcoming Price Changes

I wanted to pass along some VERY important information regarding the pricing for the Retail Management Hero (RMH) Point of Sale software. this includes information on the Microsoft RMS to RMH discount schemes.

1. Effective Immediately: RMH iPOS license prices are now $495/each instead of $695/each.
2. Effective August 1st. 2019: RMH Base license price will be $1300. Additional lane and manager licence pricing will remain the same.
3. Effective August 1st, 2019: Payment Processing through RMH will carry a $7/month per lane charge to new users or users who let their annual maintenance lapse. This will not apply to users who do not process payments via RMH.
4. Effective October 1st, 2019: Microsoft RMS users who wish to migrate to RMH will only receive a 50% RMH license discount if current on RMS maintenance. The discount will be reduced to 20% for RMS users who are lapsed on maintenance.
5. Effective April 1st, 2020: All RMS license discounts end. There will be no RMH license discount available to RMS users.

For more details, please contact me at kevinantosh@gmail.com or 208-340-5632.

T Minus Less Than1 (or 2) Years to RMS End of Extended Support

OK retailers, we are just over one year away from the end of extended support for the Microsoft Dynamics RMS point of sale software.  Two years if you are current on annual software maintenance.  July 2020 and July 2021 are the key dates to remember.

Many of you have been asking me what will and what won't happen on these days. Here is a summary:

What will happen:

• All support from Microsoft will end
• No new feature packs, updates, hot fixes, etc (although we have not seen anything for a couple of years anyway)
• No ability to add new licenses
• No ability to activate licenses whether new or existing (if you replace a computer, you will not be able to activate the RMS POS module)
• Support will be limited as Dynamics RMS Partners/VAR's/Dealers/Resellers will only have their own internal resources

What will not happen:

• RMS will magically stop working
• You will lose all your data (assuming that you are backing everything up daily)

What we don't know just yet:

• Will support for payment processing cease since the software will likely no longer meet compliance with the payment processing industry?
• Will support for the various RMS plug in's and add on's end?
• Will the license swap program end for Retail Management Hero (yes it will! More information coming soon as this will end in 2020!)
• Will RMS be compatible with newer versions of Windows and SQL Server?
• How many current companies supporting RMS will continue to support RMS past 2020/2021?

Summary of what other retailers who use the Microsoft Dynamics RMS point of sale software are doing regarding the end of life/end of support dates for RMS:

http://www.pospondering.com/2018/11/what-microsoft-rms-users-are-doing-for.html

What should you do?

Have a plan to replace RMS before the deadline so you are not scrambling at the last minute. I've worked with many retailers to help them migrate to Retail Management Hero or Cloud Retailer over the last year.  If you truly want to hang on to RMS past 2020/2021, then be sure that you are backing up your data and that you have a contingency plan in place should RMS stop working.

Each retailer is different, and I have worked with well over 2000 of you since the late 1990's. Please contact me at kevinantosh@gmail.com or 208-340-5632 for some personalized advice.