Change is Always in Season
By John Florinis
Product and Segment Manager
Moneris Solutions
The ancient Greek philosopher Heraclitus once proclaimed that: “the only constant in life is change.” In the fast paced world of retail, nothing can be truer. Today’s retailers are being faced with several societal and business challenges that simply did not exist a decade ago. Consumer shopping habits are constantly evolving, new competitors are aggressively entering the marketplace, and the pace of technology adoption can quickly spell the difference between success and failure.
In this respect, it’s not only a retailer’s responsibility to recognize changes, but more importantly, to understand the role that innovative technology can play to help support their operation(s) to drive success.
Technology is often viewed as, “a double edged sword.” Learn how to harness it and a retailer should reap the rewards of enhanced insight into their customers purchasing habits, and identifying opportunities to increase the effectiveness and efficiency of their business. Conversely, a retailer’s choice in failing to adopt new technology may quickly ignite the fuse that leads to wasted time, loss of customers, and inevitably, sales revenue.
There are several types of technologies that retailers can adopt, but none are more important than point-of-sale (POS). POS software can be considered the central nervous system of any retail operation. However, a large portion of retailers continue to struggle with the dilemma of double entry and reconciliation issues because they are entering transaction details into their Electronic Cash Register (ECR) or into an non-integrated POS system and then into a POS terminal to process the debit or credit card payment. Isn’t there a better way?
Leading POS solutions like Microsoft® Dynamics RMS truly provides retailers with the ability to better manage their business. It solves the dilemma of integrating credit and debit processing directly into their POS system. Today integrating payments into your existing POS solution is easy. This can help to remove tedious and error prone double entry tasks can become a reality and by doing so, you and your staff can focus on serving customers and managing your business, not paperwork.
Change is upon the retail industry and integrating payments into your POS system is something that should be a top priority for 2007. Moreover, the movement towards integrated payment processing will allow you to better accommodate the movement towards CHIP cards. Within the coming years, consumers will have their magnetic stripe credit and debit cards replaced with cards that house a micro chip. This is initiative is geared towards reducing fraud and protecting both consumers and merchants alike.
The time for change is now. Moneris will work with you to ensure you are properly enabled to integrate payments into your POS solution and receive the proper pinpads to help you prepare for the major changes that will impact the Canadian payment landscape within the next 3 years.
For more information on Moneris’ numerous Partners and Partner Programs, click here
John Florinis has over 6 years experience within the telecommunication and payment processing industries. Throughout this time Mr. Florinis has performed several duties, including product management, segment marketing and sales engineering. His current mandate is to strengthen and grow Moneris’ position within the card-not-present and retail industries.
® Microsoft is either a registered trademark or trademark of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries.
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