| Now the last thing I want is for this be a shameless | | | | provide Point of Sale Software that forces you into |
| promotion of the software we develop. But my | | | | expensive service agreements and fees. Often times |
| position gives me a unique insight in the business | | | | this goes beyond the reasonable fees assumed for |
| models followed by different software companies. We | | | | support. A small business should not have to pay for |
| produce a no cost point of sale software package | | | | an entire support division just for their point of sale |
| and can testify that the free and low cost software | | | | software. |
| model is a viable enterprise. Instead of focusing on | | | | Business managers need to look at the lifetime cost of |
| selling the product and slowly building a user base and | | | | the Point of Sale Systems. Is the hardware efficient or |
| then relying on selling upgrades to continue the | | | | overpriced and way too powerful for the task? Is the |
| momentum we're finding that charging a steady | | | | software streamlined for my vertical market? Will it |
| monthly fee for support and updates actually reduces | | | | increase costs and lower expenses? Will it provide |
| customer cost and increases the quality of service we | | | | statistical sales data that can be imported into |
| can provide. | | | | accounting packages? What is the true cost and |
| Look at the commercial viability of Linux and you | | | | savings of the system? What kind of support is |
| understand what's going on. Free software is free to | | | | available and is it priced reasonably? If you can |
| use, but if you need help (and everybody does) then | | | | answer those questions and feel satisfied with the |
| support plans are available from industry experts for a | | | | answers then you've found the right system for you. |
| monthly or single incident fee. By sending software out | | | | So the price of the software is only a concern for |
| into the world you capture a large audience and can | | | | those tight on budget for getting started. The real cost |
| quickly establish a presence on the market. | | | | is in the efficiency of the software and the support |
| Point of Sale systems can be especially expensive for | | | | network it provides. Take time and evaluate several of |
| small businesses and most resellers offer so many | | | | the tools available on the market for your point of |
| options that it can be easy to get lost. You not only | | | | sales system. Learn what makes each one special |
| have software to consider by the wide range of | | | | and has the features that most closely match your |
| hardware available. We focused our products on two | | | | business. Find out what kind of support you get and |
| vertical markets; Computer Service & Retail Point | | | | decide if email only is really support. If every business |
| of Sales and Restaurant Point of Sales. Both | | | | took the time to evaluate their point of sale software |
| businesses can be very expensive to setup and | | | | and the true cost then we'd find a lot of companies |
| maintain. Saving costs and increasing profits is vital and | | | | changing software. |
| many software companies position themselves to | | | | |