Tag Archives: hardware

Steps in Implementing POS Systems

The first step in implementing a POS system is determining that you need one.  Beyond that, how do you proceed in choosing a vendor, deciding on features, or evaluating the needs of your business?

A good place to start is by reviewing the reasons you want to purchase a POS system.  Are you hoping to increase employee efficiency?  Is your goal monitor sales more closely?  Write down a list of all the reasons you think a POS system would help your business.  This should give you a clue as to type of system you might need.

Research the type of vendor that might suit your business.  It is a good idea to consider which qualities are most important to you in choosing a vendor- do you prefer a local company that can provide on-site help on short notice?  Will your employees need training to use the system?  Make sure you choose a vendor you are comfortable with. 

Once you have settled on a provider, it is time to choose the actual system- the software and POS equipment that you will be using.  The vendor will be a big help in this process, helping you evaluate the type of system you need (depending on your industry and the size of your business) and a time frame for installation and setup.  If you are installing large equipment, like computer stations, that require physical changes to your business or construction, take these costs and time frames into consideration.  If the vendor allows you to “demo” or try out the system, do this before you make any physical changes to your work area, if possible.

The vendor should also be able to provide a time frame on how long the system will take to set up.  The vendor will need to order the software and hardware, setup and install both, and program information specific to your business, such as your products, discounts, employee names.  The vendor will need to link any credit card processing functions to your merchant services account. This can take anywhere from a week to a few months, depending on the system.
If you currently have a POS system and are switching to another one, you’ll need to choose a good time to make the switch.  Whether you are switching systems or implementing a POS system for the first time, the transition should be as seamless as possible.  Test the system during “down time,” and make sure all employees are trained in using the system before you make the transition.  If you are buying a new POS system because your old one isn’t working, make sure to input the inventory correctly.  Don’t import all your records over because most likely the data from the old system isn’t accurate.  Import your customer list only and start inventory fresh with the  new system.

Once the system is up and running, communicate regularly with your vendor about how it is working.  Are you using the reporting features in the way you anticipated?  Are any components of the system difficult to use, or not working the way you thought they would?  Any malfunctions in the system should be covered by a warranty.  If there are any applicable upgrades, make sure that you understand how to use the new features they provide.  A reputable vendor will be happy to show you new features or suggest different ways the system can be altered to meet your needs.

source: http://www.resourcenation.com/buyers-guides/steps-implementing-pos-systems?utm_source=BlogGlue_Network&utm_medium=BlogGlue_Plugin

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Google Fiber Project: Programming Key to Success

Google has officially rolled out its long-touted Google Fiber Project showcasing what broadband should look and feel like to all users. Yes, it sets the new standard for broadband connections with a 1Gig speedster, over 100 times faster than current broadband offerings in the U.S. Not-withstanding, just speed will not be the determining success factor; the availability of competitive programming will become the deciding judgment in Google’s move to tout reasonable costs to bundled broadband.

Programming Rights Historically Elusive

Obtaining rights to mainstream content producers is the key to a Google Fiber success. Without the likes of HBO, The Discovery Channel and other must-have content for any TV package, the prospects dim for any competitor trying to enter the broadband-cable bundles which dominate the market. Time Warner Cable will be watching closely as Google moves forward to secure rights and compete head-to-head in Kansas City. Just broadband alone, using Netflix, YouTube and others to compete is not enough. Historically, incumbent service providers have been able to lock-down competitors in any semblance of affordable programming from top content producers.

"Fiber’s biggest problem is that it needs backing from the big players, says Marguerite Reardon at CNET. The Discovery Channel, CNBC, AMC, TNT, Comedy Central, ESPN, CNN, and HBO are all glaringly absent. And Google may have a hard time convincing the owners of those channels — like Disney (ESPN, HBO) and Time Warner (TNT) — to climb onboard." From (Can Google conquer Cable TV?)

Google needs economies of scale going forward. That means it must target additional cities for Google Fiber, and quickly, in demonstrating to programmers it has staying power to compete effectively. Otherwise, programmers will shy away from any substantial deal with a new entrant. This entails having deep pockets and a willingness to compete for the long-haul.

By-Passing Hardware Vendors

Google Fiber seems intent on holding costs down by combining its own research and hardware. Project engineers have taken research from related Google hardware molding new hardware into low-cost products. The devices include a cable box, and hand-held device all seem to come from Google resources, like Google TV, Nexus 7 Tablet. New devices created include a stackable storage and network box. All these components add up to a quick and nimble broadband and TV package available for $120.00 per month. Boxes for additional TV’s are separate from this package. Learning from those going before it, Google is forging a seemingly level-headed approach to combine resources in the venture, thereby keeping the $500 million price tag in check.

Potential Customers Must Show Interest

Kansas City’s potential customers must register online for the project by paying a $10.00 fee, and their neighbor’s must do the same to get in line for initial installation of Google Fiber. This pre-qualifying aspect is the marketing component which Google foresees as a must-have in moving forward with actual deployment. If the interest is not concentrated enough within neighborhoods, roll-out will be delayed until enough interests warrant the cost of installation. This could save tons of money on the front end with less truck-roll for individual installations.

Residents can either pay a $300.00 fee or sign up to an initial package like broadband and TV or just broadband to waive that fee. There will be a 2 year contract for packages. Signing up for free broadband is also available, but does not include the 1Gig version, only a standard speeds. Google is playing it smart, at least on the front end of their historic project, using milestones to move from one level to the next in roll out. If insufficient interest by neighborhood does not materialize, those neighborhoods will have to wait for the fastest broadband available.

Conclusion

While these factors; using in-house hardware, and qualifying potential customers will save money on the front-end, as stated, the determining factor will be competitive programming acquisition. It is worth watching to see how Google handles entrenched competitive forces with what many think is an innovative project at its best. But the Internet giant must not only navigate a competitive environment, it also must offer the best product on the market. That will ensure success over the long-haul, which means, pouring money into build-outs, programming, and marketing costs for a multi-year investment.

source:

http://www.circleid.com/posts/

0120805_google_fiber_project_programming_key_to_success/

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The Great New American Outsourcing, Clouds to China?

Fast forward to Olympics 2016.  Senator Reid is still the majority leader.  (It could happen.)  This time he’s not calling for the burning of our Olympic team’s Chinese-made uniforms as he recently did, but instead that we boycott watching the games on streaming video.  Why? Because, quelle horreur, in 2016 the gazillion gigabytes of Olympic video featuring our athletes are all stored in the Chinese Cloud.

It’s a future, just four years from now, when we could discover we’ve outsourced not just what remains of our 200-year-old textile industry, but the infrastructure of the 21st century’s information superhighway.

The Cloud is the fastest growing infrastructure on the planet.  Every sector of the world’s economy is migrating to it, from entertainment to medicine.  Accordingly to Cisco’s on-going forecasts, data traffic is growing at a torrid pace.  The numbers and prefixes are beyond easy comprehension: enter the zetabyte era?

Soon hourly traffic on the Internet will exceed annual traffic of a few years back. Data traffic is already bigger and growing far faster inside these warehouse-scale computers, where information is stored and first processed, than the data flow on the network.  Quite rationally, China has targeted outsourcing the West’s soaring appetite for Cloud services.

For the non-cognoscenti, data centers are stadium-scale buildings filled with tens of thousands of power-hungry computer chips and vast digital storage arrays. Inside, a data center resembles the set of a Ridley Scott science fiction movie, or perhaps the Borg ship from Star Trek.  But this is the real world.

China’s Cloud capabilities are being built out at four times the rate of growth of China’s own domestic Internet services.  In fact, China’s Cloud is being built out faster than data demand in the entire Asia-Pacific region.  Unlike many other products and services, the big market for data services is outside of Asia-Pacific. Ripe pickings for outsourcing.

Analysts at India-based Netscribes forecast China’s Cloud spending will rise from under $20 billion today to $150 billion a year before the next Olympics. With that kind of capability, the Cloud epicenter will move from where the Internet was born, just outside the Washington beltway, to Inner Mongolia.

Everyone that matters in the Cloud industry, including industry leaders IBM [NYSE:IBM] and HP [NYSE:HPQ], are doing big business building Cloud infrastructure projects across China.

Here’s one telegraphic bellwether. The world’s biggest single data center, the size of 20 football fields, is under construction in Chongqing and, coincidentally, will be completed in 2016, in time for the next summer Olympics.  The $1.6 billion Chongqing Data Center is triple the size of Apple’s newest monster center in North Carolina.  The Chongqing facility and thousands more nearly as large, form the heart of the expanding Cloud infrastructure.

And the Chongqing center by itself will need 200 megawatts of electric power – consuming the entire output of a city-class generating station.  Therein lies the clue to China’s advantage.  It’s not cheap labor.  The core advantage resides with another infrastructure build-out: China’s electric grid.

A data center’s electric demand can rival a steel mill.  In this case the demand for bits, unlike steel, is accelerating.  Just like steel-mills, data centers crave cheap power.  And more than steel mills, they especially crave reliable, predictable power.

Unknown outside of the cloistered specialists in the data-center world, we’ve quietly entered an era where the cost to powercomputing rivals will soon exceed the cost to buy the computing hardware itself. (For more on these power trends see Price Matters.) It’s no surprise then that a recent global survey by Datacenter Dynamics found that “Energy cost and availability is the #1 worry of data center operators.”

That’s why Apple and Facebook built their massive new data centers in North Carolina where the grid is 85 percent coal and nuclear — the anchors to predictable, long-run reliable and cheap power. That’s why China’s government, having built a spanking new electric grid as big as America’s has designated Cloud computing as a “Strategic Emerging Industry.”  Note too that China’s grid is 80 percent coal-fired.

source:http://www.forbes.com/sites/markpmills/2012/07/16/the-great-new-american-outsourcing-clouds-to-china/

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