Friday, January 24, 2014

Software Reviews and/or Company Reviews

I've noticed that some of the most highly read pages on this blog site are post related to point of sale software reviews (it is tough to find valid reviews of any point of sale program as the reviews seem to be fake, highly favorable, or high critical - this is why I always used live copies of the different point of sale programs that I used to sell so I could see first hand the good and bad in each system).

My question to you would be whether I should also start searching for reviews of the companies actually selling, installing, and support retail point of sale solutions?  I know that I have gathered a lot of feedback on several companies over the years but I would want to most more specific review information as I come across it.

Let me know what you think on posting reviews of the companies actually selling point of sale solutions - see the blurb below for my contact information:

Are you in the US and in need of no cost retail point of sale advice? I'm happy to help and can be reached on my cell at 208-340-5632 (mountain time) or via email at kevinantosh@gmail.com.

Update 8.Feb.2014: I am in the processing of creating some posts that offer a basic review of the point of sale products that I have worked with as well as customer feedback on some companies that sell point of sale solutions. These reviews will all be posted between now and the end of Feb 2014.


2 comments:

  1. Dear Mr.Kevin,
    First of all, many thanks for sharing your insights on POS softwares. I am currently given a task of evaluating some of the retail applications and propose the right one for a growing retail chain. I chose to evaluate Microsoft Dynamics, Oracle Retail and Retailpro. But I am finding it difficult to get the information about these softwares and therefore to prepare a comprehensive evaluation report. I would request you to guide me with an approach to evaluate them and prepare a comprehensive report.

    Thanks in advance

    Robin T Daniel
    Bangalore, India

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    Replies
    1. Hi Robin, it is tough to go into too much detail but here are the basic steps to take:
      1) Prepare a budget for how much can be spent on a POS system (include hardware, software. peripherals, training, installation, and on-going support). A general guideline would be taking 3-5% of the businesses annual gross sales as the valid budget amount (so if the business generates $500000 in annual gross sales, then up to $25000 can be spent on a point of sale system.

      2) Generate a wish list of the various features and functions needs to have. See this post for some ideas to get you started: http://retailpospondering.blogspot.com/2014/01/point-of-sale-buying-tip-developing.html

      3) Make sure that the programs you are looking at can can your countries unique currency, tax, and date requirements (many can not as the software does not use settings from Windows).

      4) Obtain demo's of the different programs you are considering to see if they can handle everything on your wish list and how easy it is to learn and use the different systems.

      5) Obtain a quote from each company that includes software, hardware, installations, training, and one year of support.

      The final step is to factor what means most to you in terms of price, functionality, and service.

      I hope that helps. Cheers!

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