Reasons to ditch your cash register for our ePOS

Software plays a more central role in hospitality than ever before. Using cloud-based ePOS systems to improve everything from workflow efficiency to labour management and customer experience is now standard practice.

But how can you tell one piece of tech apart from another, and how do you know when it’s time to switch?

That’s what we’re here to answer. Here are 5 reasons why you should ditch your cash register for Lightspeed ePOS.

1. Improved mobility

One of the most striking differences between a cash register and an ePOS is portability. Cash registers and legacy POS systems have traditionally stayed fixed to a counter. Customers and waiting staff must travel over to a station to process a bill or punch in orders before sending it to the bar or kitchen.

ePOS systems, on the other hand, can often be used from an iPad. That means transactions can be made at any point in the premises provided there’s an internet connection.

An ePOS system can also be used in this way to take diners’ orders right there at the table and send them to the kitchen. A table’s order is taken, split by courses or seat, then sent directly to the bar or kitchen all from one place, no extra trips required.

 

 

But the benefits extend further than that. For example, say your restaurant is participating in an outdoor food festival where you sell samples of your products, and you decide to take a cash register or legacy POS system with you to handle sales.

Not only would it be clunky to transport, but you’d also have to add all the sales from the trade fair into your fixed point of sale manually.

Whereas with a cloud-based ePOS system, all your sales data can be fed back into one back office, no matter where they’re made.

Are you feeling limited by a stationary cash register? Wasting time and energy moving back and forth between tables and your terminal? Then it may be high time to switch!

2. Greater scalability

Now don’t get us wrong, a cash register or legacy POS is still a great piece of gear for a small business that isn’t expecting much growth.

But your sights are set on bigger things: a cloud-based ePOS system is definitely the way to go.

 

 

Why? Because they’re cloud-based, no single ePOS screen exists in isolation. Sales, staff performance and inventory can all be tracked across several locations from a single screen.

And when you need to add a new location, getting set up is a quick and easy process.

Unable to consolidate all your locations’ data on one system? Time to switch to Lightspeed!

3. Ease of Use and Updates

Anyone who has ever used a legacy point of sale will know that the user experience leaves something to be desired.

Interfaces are often slow, and the system rarely updates. This makes a lot of legacy systems unsuitable for keeping up with the ever-evolving demands of a business.

This is a crucial difference between legacy point of sale cash registers and cloud-based ePOS systems.

Most modern ePOS systems are continually updating and evolving their software to meet the needs of the market.

4. Access to a network of integrations

The mark of any good restaurant point of sale is it’s flexibility. Many cash registers and legacy point of sale systems fall behind in this regard due to their inability to integrate with other hardware.

Most modern ePOS systems have custom Application Programming interface (API) capabilities that allow business to create bespoke software to suit the unique needs of their business.

An API  is the meeting point between two pieces of software. At that meeting point, the two programmes can communicate and share data.

Most ePOS systems these days have integration partners that they’re able to connect with through an API. Users can purchase these integrations and use them alongside their ePOS systems.

APIs allow business operators to ‘call’ their data from one system to another. In other words, it integrates with a system to make use of the data it stores. Together they can create something greater than some of their respective parts.

Lightspeed integrates with some of the finest restaurant technology to give operators all the tools they need.

5. Better access to data

A traditional cash register offers little in terms of reporting, except for maybe an overview of your transactions within a given time frame (and even then, probably only cash transactions).

While some legacy POS systems do have reporting features, it’s usually unsophisticated and lacks the depth and detail to reliably inform business decisions.

 

 

With a cloud-based ePOS system like Lightspeed, in-depth reporting is part and parcel:

• Business reports: track your financial information across a given time period, including gross and net sales.
• Product reports: Crucial part of good inventory management is knowing how your different menu items perform. Product reports give you a detailed breakdown of which items are bringing profits and which are costing you.
• Shift reports: Track sales by shift to get a snapshot of employee performance, utilise your best staff and optimise your labour costs.

Invest in tech for the future

There’s never been a more crucial time to invest in tech solutions to drive your business forward. If you would like to book a no obligation demo of our Restaurant POS, click here.