The More Things Change ... The More They Stay The Same
The POS landscape is rapidly changing due to the emergence of disruptive technologies, such as self-checkout, mobile devices and pay by touch. However, the traditional hardware-based approach to POS is still alive and well, and should be for the foreseeable future.
“Self-checkout is hardware-driven,” said Nikki Baird, partner at retail technology research firm Retail Systems Research. “It’s about the pod at the front of the store. Some retailers use a mobile application to enable a self-checkout experience. However, you can’t always do that due to hardware constraints, such as scales at a grocery store. POS hardware won’t go away.”
Although Baird said that mobile technology will have a big impact on the future of the POS, particularly in the area of cash management, hardware supporting tablets will still play a major role in the mobile POS environment.
“As retailers implement more tablets, they are doing things like putting a docking station on the cash drawer,” Baird explained. “They can share resources, with multiple tablets using the same drawer or leveraging the same printer while attached to another device. With network peripherals they can leverage any piece of POS equipment anyplace, wirelessly.”
Adopting the Biometric System
Baird also touched upon advancements in biometric POS technology, both on the consumer- and employee-facing sides.
“Biometric has been done, but Apple is changing things on the consumer side with mobile pay by touch,” said Baird. “With Apple you open your phone, not put your whole life at risk. They are solving real problems everyone has to face. In the past, the attitude has been, ‘I have cool technology. How do I use it [and still] protect my company?’ not ‘How do I benefit the consumer?’ ”
On the employee-facing side, Baird said some POS systems include biometric sign-in applications, but retailers need to decide whether to turn them on.
“You can use biometrics to solve problems like ‘buddy punching’ (employees fraudulently punching in and out for absent coworkers),” stated Baird. “But what’s the retailer willing to invest in and roll out? As people get used to biometrics and Apple makes them comfortable using biometrics on the consumer side, you’ll start to see more of it in the enterprise.”