• Information Flow. Poor connectivity and information flow between store and host systems hinder restaurant chains from providing stores with realtime data. The intermittent frequency at which host systems are updated with data prevents multiple channels from accessing a synchronized view of the latest customer and inventory-related data.
  
  
• Interoperability Issues. Due to the monolithic nature of point-of-sale (POS) systems and lack of standards in existing applications, integration with new applications or hardware products present compatibility challenges often difficult or not viable to implement.
  
  
• High Maintenance Costs. POS systems nearing the end of their useful life are seven to ten years old and largely proprietary in nature. Most legacy POS systems operate on an MS DOS or proprietary platform and run software applications dependent on the POS hardware. The applications are developed in languages ranging from Pascal and B-Basic to various flavors of COBOL. During the past decades these applications have been subjected to myriad changes, resulting in convoluted code requiring a Herculean effort to maintain and enhance. Moreover, the lack of system documentation further adds to the maintenance overheads.
  
  
• Demanding Training Requirements. Employment statistics show that the average monthly cashier turnover rate for restaurants is approximately 20 percent per month. This high attrition rate coupled with the nonintuitive character-based user interfaces typical of legacy POS applications result in restaurants picking up a high cashier training tab each year.
  
  
• Centralized POS— The Answer? With the dominance of open architecture Windows-based platforms, current POS technology is paving the way for integrated software solutions that perform a whole slew of costand labor-saving feats. Thus, in addition to the obvious ordertaking and billing processes, today’s POS systems track customer buying and spending habits, cost out recipes, manage F&B labor and inventory, control food costs, monitor table conditions, process reservations, and order products on-line. POS hardware enhancements also are making advancements. Novelties such as touchscreen monitors and wireless handheld devices are becoming industry norms. And voice recognition technology, called Voice-Link lets users place orders into a POS via a hands-free headset with the mere sound of their voice.
  
  
• Integration & Centralization. POS products provide hoteliers and restaurateurs with valuable customer purchasing and preference information that enhances customer service, facilitates directmarketing campaigns, and supports revenue management. Thus, when vendors and operators talk about new enterprise-wide solutions, they are referring to integrated software packages.
  
  
• Centralized Savings. Mission-critical systems and mission-critical data must be managed, manipulated, and maintained. As data becomes more valuable, protecting data becomes more valuable. And centralizing has become the next solution.

Vendors have the technology to deploy propertylevel POS stations that are linked into a central server via a wide-area network (WAN). Such a system provides centralized or corporate offices up-tothe-minute reports and information on every imaginable aspect of unit performance, including sales volumes and product popularity, precise F&B costs, inventory availability, customer buying habits, impact of promotional programs, and employee performance levels. And, at the same time, performance data is coming from the property so central managers can download such operational information as training manuals, menu and recipe changes, and purchasing and marketing materials. With communication costs falling, the centralized POS becomes an inexpensive two-way electronic communicator between the restaurant and central offices, whether they be a chain headquarter or an F&B office within a large property with multiple outlets. Further, such two-way communication can virtually eliminate the need for additional management software and hardware at the unit level.

With the reduction in software, hardware and training, a company can save as much as 25 percent with a centralized POS system.

Frederick J. DeMicco, Ph.D, is professor and ARAMARK chair of Hotel & Restaurant Management, the University of Delaware. Contact Dr. DeMicco at fdemicco@udel.edu.