Heartland Letter about Oct 20th 2020 Deadline for Backend Change

Letters and emails have been going out to Heartland customers about a change they are making that could effect the retailers point of sale system.

I can not speak on behalf of all the POS systems but indications are that Cloud Retailer, Retail Management Hero (RMH), and Microsoft RMS users should be OK. This assumes that retailers using RMS or RMH are also using the Card Defender payment processing plug in for RMH and RMS. 

If you are concerned, be sure to contact your point of sale provider and your Heartland Rep for assistance.

Planning for 2018

OK - first thought to pass along is that there is still time to get in payment for a POS system to write off as a business equipment expense deduction on your 2017 taxes (consult with your bookkeeper or accountant first). Just about ever year since 1998, I seem to have retailers who want to pay for a POS system to "get it on their 2017 taxes". No problem at all as along as payment in full is processed before the last business day of 2017.

Now on to advice for 2018:

• Plan for new payment processing requirements to be introduced and ensure that you have payment processing hardware in place that can be upgraded or updated to handle any new requirements.
• Still on Microsoft Dynamics RMS? We still have a couple of years before full support ends for RMS and HQ. Never hurts to start planning now to replace RMS (and HQ). There are several low cost replacement options that allow you to keep your existing information so you are not starting from scratch with a whole new point of sale system.
• Omni-channel: most of the retailers that I work with have a single store in a small town and have no need for, or interest in, e-commerce, customer business intelligence, or similar offerings beyond the in store point of sale system. Unsure? Let me know and we can chat about the different options and how they can effect gross sales. Other chains that I work with have grown their e-commerce revenue to exceed a million dollars in annual revenue.
• Cloud versus non-cloud: Don't feel pressured to hop on the cloud band wagon. Instead, look at your operations, staff, equipment, and budget. A 5 to 7 year total cost of ownership, along with personal preferences, will help determine whether you are a "cloud" / subscription based type of POS user or not. Even Microsoft had to cave on the recently released Dynamics 365 software to offer a locally hosted version. The decision to go cloud/non-cloud and subscription/upfront purchase can be complicated so please let me know if I can help.
• Solution and vendor consolidation: There are flat out too many point of sale systems on the market presently. Look for some of these solutions to fade away or consolidate with other vendors. I'm also seeing the various software companies start to tighten their requirements for dealers, VAR's, and re-sellers. Be wary of working with anyone who has a staff of less than 3 and a limited customer/client base.
• Given what happened in the Atlanta airport, don't forget to have battery backups/UPS's in place as well as some sort of payment processing backup if this is critical to your business. The reality is that long term  power outages will effect everyone but its nice to have protection for your hardware to help reduce damage due to power outages or power fluctuations. 

I can think of plenty of other topics that should be discussed but this would turn in to a short book instead of a blog post. Key points are to plan, budget, analyse, research and seek help for point of sale resources.

You can reach me at 208-340-5632 or kevinantosh@gmail.com as needed. For those of you keeping track, I've well exceeded helping over 1500 retailers with advice or sales & service needs. 

Annual Payment Options for Card Defender and Cloud Retailer

Wanted to pass along some information on annual payment options for the Card Defender EMV/Chip Card add on for Microsoft RMS as well as the Cloud Retailer point of sale software program.

As some folks prefer to pay the on-going support and upgrade fee's for Card Defender and Cloud Retailer by ACH, Invoice or Cheque (or a one time per year payment via debit/credit card). these fee's can now be paid annually or monthly.

This allows for more flexible billing options and mirrors the method used specific to how some companies charge for their software programs annual maintenance agreement.

Current Card Defender and Cloud Retailer customers can switch from monthly to annual billing at any point by contacting RITE at billing@rite.us or 888-267-7483.

If you have general questions, please contact me at kevinantosh@gmail.com or 208-340-5632.

Microsoft Dynamics RMS Users Wanting to go Back to RMS

Yup - you read that correctly!  Over the last couple of months, I've had around 6 retailers contact me about wanting to move back to Microsoft Dynamics RMS after trying a different point of sale software programs like Lightspeed, Shopkeep, and NCR Silver.

Here is the advice that I have been offering in these situations along with the particulars that can effect the final decision:

• Do you still have the dongle or licenses keys for RMS?
• Are you current on your annual software maintenance or still have an RMS Partner?
• Are your computers and peripherals still compatible with RMS?
• Do you still have an RMS database with your PLU's/SKU's and customer information?
• What payment processing hardware do you have?
• Who provides your merchant services?
• Are you under any contracts or early termination fee's for your current software program?

In some cases, you may be able to simply go back to using RMS with little effort if you still have all the required hardware and stand alone payment processing terminals.

Otherwise, it may actually be smarter and less expensive to jump right in to one of the low cost direct replacement programs for RMS like Retail Management Hero or Cloud Retailer which allow you to take advantage of RMS user discounts, keep of your RMS data, and move to a POS system that is designed for 2017 and beyond.

Each situation is different so please contact me at kevinantosh@gmail.com or 208-340-5632 for advice as I have worked extensively with RMS back to the QuickSell 2000 days and also have access to full sales and support capabilities for RMS, HQ, Cloud Retailer, Card Defender, and Retail Management Hero (RMH).

More Shout Outs to New or Upgrading Customers

OK - looks like these are going to be monthly posts as we are adding around 1 new customer per week. Its pretty cool that I've been able to meet in person (or will be meeting in person) with many of these retailers!

A heads up that I am also working on a fairly in depth video explaining options for RMS users as I am now booked through July with face to face meetings with Microsoft Dynamics RMS software users who have between 1 and 40 store locations.

Now on to the welcome shouts outs:

Takashima

Great group of folks to work with and there are several more projects we are working together on.

Trouts Fly Fishing

Added our Card Defender EMV system for Microsoft Dynamics RMS at 2 stores in conjunction with Gravity Payments.

Bird House Habitat

Added Card Defender EMV system for Microsoft Dynamics RMS at in conjunction with Gravity Payments.

OK - I realized that I've missed a few here but will try and catch up in a few weeks - thanks again for selecting me as your point of sale system solution partner!