Free On Site Consulting - well kind of free

So, I have some vacation time coming up in a few weeks but no real vacation plans at this point so I'm making this offer on a first come first serve basis: I'll waive our normally hourly rate for onsite retail point of sale consulting services. All that needs to be covered are my actual travel expenses.

Who is this best suited for?
Small to mid sized chain retailers with between 4 and 400 locations who either want to get the most out of their existing point of sale system or are searching for a new/replacement point of sale system.

What locations?
Geographically, the following areas are the easiest for me to travel to and I've been to in the past as well:

• All of Idaho
• All of Utah
• Western Wyoming
• Western Oregon
• Seattle, WA area
• Portland, OR area
• Reno, NV
• Los Vegas, AZ
• Phoenix, AZ
• Tuscon, AZ
• Portland, OR
• Las Angeles, CA
• Sacramento, CA
• San Jose, CA
• Denver, CO
• All of Texas
• Lincoln, NE
• Omaha, NE
• All of MN
• All of WI
• Other?  I'm not limited to just the locations listed above.

What sort of services can be provided?
No actual technical or programming work but instead a focus on the following:

• Process analysis and documentation
• Budgeting for a new or replacement POS system
• Options for Microsoft Dynamics RMS/HQ users
• Creating a wish list for a new or replacement POS system
• Solution comparison
• RFP/RFQ/RFI Creation

How many days would you be onsite?
I'm very flexible here but I'm normally onsite for at least 2 business days all the way up to 5 business days..

Whats the cost?
Actual travel expenses - best estimate is $1000 to $1800. Terms are 50% down and remainder due upon completion of the onsite visit.

What's the dollar value?
Our normal hourly rate at RITE is $90 to $125/hour so even 25 hours of onsite consulting would normally run $2400.

What's are the non-monetary benefits?
This will depend greatly on your goals but some common past outcomes have been:

• Labor cost savings via
• Increased efficiency
• better understand of what is needed in a POS system
• Process documentation
• Reduced research time 
• Having an "expert" onsite to help coordinate steps to obtain goals and objectives
• Using pre-existing documentation versus creating your own documentation
• Full understanding of all options that are available
• Q and A style assistance for multiple goals and objectives

Do we get our money back if not happy or if we purchase something from RITE?

• I would not come onsite unless we both agreed that my time would be beneficial and my skill set matches your goals and objectives.
• If you happen to purchase a POS system (Cloud Retailer, Retail Management Hero, or Microsoft Dynamics 365) from RITE "down the road", the travel costs would be applied as a discount towards the total purchase price.

Next Step if Interested:
Call (208-340-5632) or email (kevinantosh@gmail.com) me so we can have a general conversation about your goals and to ensure that my skill set would be beneficial to you.

Point of Sale Best Practices - Natural Disasters

What if this was happening to you and your retail business?

• Schools are closed for 9 days straight
• The roof of your building collapses
• Your stock and technology products are destroyed by water damage
• Your sales decline by 95% 
• Power goes out in -10 degree F temps
• Store stock is depleted
• Stock can not be replenished as trucks can not travel to your area

Well, right now all of the above is happening as a I type this right in the area that I live in - we are actually under a state of emergency due to a weather related natural disaster. Obviously I hope that this never happens to you or your business but here are some best practice tips when it comes to natural disasters and point of sale technology equipment:

1. Make sure that all of your point of sale technology equipment is documented for insurance records (make, model, serial number - pictures or videos are even better if they clearly show the actual equipment as well as the details about each product).
2. Ensure that all of your data is being backup up offsite - whether that be a removable drive or to a cloud based backup service.
3. Have good power protection in place (line conditioner, battery back-up, etc) to help prevent power fluctuation related damage to the hardware.
4. Make sure that you have the correct business insurance to cover technology products like point of sale software and hardware.
5. Do work with the business that sold you the point of sale equipment to provide cost estimates for insurance claims.

As always, do contact me at 208-340-5632 or kevinantosh@gmail.com if I can be of further assistance - I have dealt with this on multiple occasions but this is the first widespread incident that has happened right where I live.

RITE Achieves PCI QIR Certification

Retail Information Technology Enterprises (RITE) of Sartlell, MN and Boise, ID has achieved PCI Qualified Integrated and Resellers (QIR) certification.

While this may not sound important - it is when looking for a point of sale company that provides complete point of sale solutions that include the ability to process payments made by debit and credit card. In fact, VISA has mandated that all level 4 merchants need to have a "Qualified Install" done for any payment applications.  In other words a QIR certified individual must perform the installation (or update) of any PA-DSS compliant payment applications.  This is to ensure the installation and configuration of the application is done in a PCI complain manner.

I'd recommend that you check to ensure that your point of sale VAR/Dealer/Partner has achieved the same level of qualification.  From a security stand point, this would be a "best practice" when working with a business for point of sale equipment.  Here are the websites that allow you to search to see if the company that you are, or will be working with, has the mandated certification:

https://www.pcisecuritystandards.org/assessors_and_solutions/qualified_integrators_and_resellers

http://www.visa.com/splisting/searchGrsp.do

http://www.gorspa.org/professional/industry-certified/ 

As always, contact me at 208-340-5632 or kevinantosh@gmail.com with any questions.

Best Practices Advice for Public Sector Agencies Search for Point of Sale Systems

As I have worked with a lot of State, City, County, and other public sector entities over the years, I thought that it would be helpful to create a 'best practices' video specific to point of sale systems and public sector organizations.  This would be geared towards the following that are operated by a state, county, city or similar government organizations:

1. Museums
2. DMV's
3. Golf Courses
4. Gift Shops
5. Retail Stores
6. Restaurants
7. Thrift Shops
8. Permits
9. Payment Recording and Collection
10. Fish and Game/Hunting

Here is the video:

I ran through a lot of information very quickly in the video so please contact me for more information (I do have a slightly more detailed document that I would be happy to email you or we can chat more to see if I can help you in any way - this is completely unbiased information).