Selecting the best and most trusted point-of-sale POS software for your hospitality business; it can be a difficult and often confusing task. This is just the beginning though. The next chapter which is far more important - is ascertaining how your business is best to implement POS software and evolve into using it efficiently and confidently.
Effectuating a POS system can be an intricate process, but once put into full force - you will wonder how you ever ran your business without it. It’s important to note however, all staff members are to be trained up sufficiently, ensuring your POSQuote is brought to fruition seamlessly and successfully.
We’ve put together a list of Positive implementation tips that you can deploy to help get staff excited and on-board your new POS system. Ultimately, this will result in a triumphant transitional and introductory phase, helping take your business to new culinary strengths in the operations sense.
Involve Staff From the Get-Go
So many business owners fail to recognize that a socko POS implementation roll out begins before the software has even been decided upon. The level of importance in including and engaging staff throughout the POS selection process cannot be stressed enough. Business owners need to understand where pain points lay for staff across all operations and departments before any research into purchasing the right POS system for their business takes place. They should then use these pain points to create a detailed needs and wants deed; outlining all the key features the new POS application should contain.
For example, if your kitchen staff are protesting about a lack of communication from waitstaff, your new system should include functions that enables better cross-team communication, such as custom notes on kitchen tickets. Creating this indenture will assist in uncovering any previously-unknown issues, as well as inform POS suppliers you consult with how their system’s features and capabilities will address your needs.
Schooling Staff
Once you’ve chosen the right system for you and your staff, you’ll need to train employees up on how to use it. Suppliers will offer a variety of training options, from instructor-led courses to online resources such as knowledge based and support forums.
Continuing the theme of engaging with your staff, we strongly suggest that all POS demos and training options address the issues previously identified in the deeds document. For example, if managers want more detailed reports from each waitstaff at the end of their shift, part of the training should focus on teaching waitstaff on how to create those reports correctly. Put simply, tailor the training to meet the goals the POS system must achieve.
Thorough training is even more paramount for businesses that want to include mobile devices including iPads or Tablets to conduct point-of-sale operations. This is a huge, evolutionary, and positive change for many businesses. This is especially true for restaurants who use their newfound mobility to take and send orders and process payments right at the customer’s table.
Establish Guidelines Or References
As a part of training, set up some initial best practices and guidelines clearly outlining how you want your staff to use the POS applications especially across multiple devices. Be sure to update these guidelines regularly as you decipher what works and what doesn’t.
Set Up Security Measures ASAP
Security should be top of mind when implementing a new POS system, primarily in terms of credit card and customer history data. Speak to your POS supplier for more information pertaining to security. Another security measure your new POS system should have in place are safeguards to deter possible theft from dishonest staff. This can range from alerts or dashboard notifications, or being alerted to when there are more than seven ‘no sales’ or ten voids during one shift. Such precautions will notify you or the manager on duty if there’s a suspicious amount of activity within a time period. It also prevents staff from giving away freebies.
We hope this list acts as a helpful guide for when you’re ready to implement your new POS software into your dining domain!
