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The Seamless Future of Mobile POS Systems

POS system repairThere have been plenty of blockbuster movies that have shown us what the future of retail shopping could look like. In the Minority Report, eye scanners identified customers walking through the door and projected holograms of sales catered to the shopper. In Wall-E, shoppers never have to leave their hover chairs as they simply request the service or product they want and a robot brings it right to them. While some of these technologies are closer than others, the ultimate goal they convey is the same – we can use mobile technology to make the customer experience a seamless one.

Point-of-Sale systems (POS) have come a long way from the days of the first electronic cash registers. The original purpose was to process payment transactions, that’s it. Now there are POS systems available that essentially act as the brain of your business. They track inventory, monitor staff activity, backup your data to the cloud, and generate reports that lead to you running a leaner business. They can be built to provide customers and staff with information right on the sales floor via touchscreen kiosks and mobile units.

Here is what we can look forward to in the future:

“A truly seamless in-store experience will feature mobile technology at virtually every stage of the shopping journey. Geofences will give consumers access to exclusive in-store experiences within a retailer’s mobile app, and beacons placed throughout the store can trigger specific actions or content displayed through that app based on a consumer’s location in a store.

Stores can update and coordinate digital signage through mobile management services while creating new experiences through the use of smart mirrors and other futuristic retail technologies that are quickly entering the mainstream.

Increasingly, brick-and-mortar retailers are putting mobile technology into the hands of their workers. According to Retail Dive, 89 percent of retailers intend to arm in-store employees with mobile technology within the next three years. The goal is to make these employees more productive, valued resources for shoppers who need assistance.

With mobile technology in the hands of every worker, retailers can embrace a clienteling approach to customer service that uses mobile technology to pull up customer shopping profiles, check inventory both in-store and at nearby store locations, make product recommendations and many other services that expedite and improve the in-store shopping experience.” (MobileBusinessInsights.com)

POS systems are enabling brick and mortar retailers to provide the same information-centered sales experience an online retailer can. This is a great way to bring some of that business lost to internet shopping back in through the door. Regardless of who is doing the selling, customers will continue to benefit from a more tailored, seamless experience.

Great Lakes Computer can ensure your POS System gets the job done.

No matter how old-school or advanced your POS system is, Great Lakes Computer Corporation has the expertise to repair and maintain it. Great Lakes Computer ensures peace of mind with POS Systems uptime through our specialized on-site POS repair services. We fix the problem the first time and avoid costly interruptions to your business. We carry on-site spares to secure a quick and cost-effective response to your POS Systems repair needs. Our POS Depot Repair Services will provide you with a substitute POS System to keep you going while your POS equipment undergoes repair.

Learn more about Great Lakes POS Systems Depot Repair

 

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Outsourcing Your Printing Makes Smart Business Sense

managed printIf your business is reliant on printers, for documents, labels, blueprints, or anything else, you know how much time and money can be wasted on print. You can potentially benefit from Managed Print Services (MPS). These services include a wide range of activity and supply management that can save you money. Here we make the business case for outsourcing your printing needs and saving some of that money you’ve been wasting.

Managed Print Services is an umbrella term. It includes:

  • Routine Printer Maintenance
  • Toner and Print Supply Monitoring and Ordering
  • Software Updates
  • Help Desk Support
  • Analysis of Print Activity to identify wasteful printing

This group of services is generally wrapped up into a “per page” pricing model. This allows you to pay by usage with the costs it takes to successfully print one page.

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You may read that list and think that these are certainly tasks you, or your IT staff, can handle in house. And you are mostly right. However, ask yourself these questions:

  • How much time can you afford to spend on monitoring your ink levels, ordering supplies, and troubleshooting printer issues?
  • What business functions are you not giving your time to when you are dealing with your printers?
  • How much time does your IT staff spend on print-related issues?
  • Could your IT staff be using that time to find ways to enhance or grow your business instead of fire-fighting?

When you think of your work load in terms of what you are doing versus what you should be doing, it’s plain to see why outsourcing functions like printing is a smart call.

Every facet of Managed Print Services can help you save money and time.

Routine maintenance elongates the life expectancy of your hardware. That means you purchase less printers over time as well as decrease the likelihood of downtime. Supply ordering is simple enough, but monitoring the levels and getting them ordered before you run out again saves you, again, from downtime. Software updates are more critical than ever with the increase in cybersecurity breaches these days. Help desk support gives you access to expert technicians that can potentially fix your issue in a single phone call versus an in-house staffer poking at the printer trying to diagnose it.

Some of the biggest savings come from the print analysis. There are many ways to lean the print operations of a business. If there are more printers than necessary, you may be wasting money on unused capacity. You may be printing at best quality for documents that only require a draft level. Little bits here and there all add up to major waste. An expert analyst can help identify waste and eliminate it, saving you money in the process.

Great Lakes is a Managed Print Provider

We offer a Managed Print service that can potentially cut your print expense in half. Begin with a free assessment for 30 days. We can see look at your print use and decide if managed print makes sense for your operations.

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How to Determine the Lifespan of Your Server

server repairWhen you buy a car, you have a number in your head of the miles you expect to get out of it before the parts start to fail. You use that number to weigh the price of the vehicle. When investing in server equipment, you may be tempted to try a similar tact, replacing miles with years. However, there is a flaw in that line of thinking. Here’s how to best determine your server lifespan.

First, the flawed logic. Cars, no matter how well you maintain them, will eventually wear out. It is the nature of moving parts. Your CPUs, memory, and motherboards aren’t operating on moving parts that wear down with use. As long as you keep these parts properly cooled, perform routing maintenance, and prevent electrical surges, these parts will last indefinitely. There is one part that moves however, your hard drive. These generally last about six years. But, these are relatively inexpensive and easy to replace. 

How Long Will Your Server Last?

“Most people will tell you that servers will last about five years and should then be replaced. That’s the rule of thumb that has developed in the industry. As noted above, however, that’s not the right way to think about server lifespan.

A server that receives routine maintenance, and whose hard disks are replaced as needed, could continue to run for decades – although it will likely not remain cost-effective for decades.

However, when considering cost, you need to take into account how long your server will efficiently keep up with your workload and changing demands, like a growth in your workforce. Older systems are also inherently less energy efficient, and can increase utility costs. They may take more physical space to house than newer models (and then you also have the cloud, which can take up no space at all), which means square footage and thus higher rent. Legacy systems also take manpower to troubleshoot and maintain, as well as replacement parts which may be less and less available as the systems ages.

So, rather than assuming that there is a universal answer for how long a server can last, you should tailor the answer to your situation. Calculate your maintenance and operating costs for your current servers and determine the point at which those costs become significantly greater than the cost of running more modern hardware. Replacing your servers every five years just because that’s what other people do is not necessarily the most cost-effective way to manage hardware.
It’s also not exactly environmentally friendly – if that’s important to you.” (MSPMentor.com)

We Can Make Your Server Last.

At Great Lakes Computer Corporation, we know that IT hardware is a major, and critical, investment. While many operations are shifting to the cloud, there are plenty of businesses that need to stretch their legacy investment as far as possible. Great Lakes Computer repairs all types of storage devices including tape drives, tape libraries, optical and disk based storage systems from manufactures such as IBM, HP / Compaq, Quantum and others, whether they are under warranty or not. We offer maintenance programs to fit your budget. Our service is unmatched, and our response times are fast. We can make sure you get the most out of your tech investement.

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Create a Culture of Security in Your Office

data securityEven with the most robust security measures available, one uninformed employee can open the door to catastrophic data loss with the click of a mouse. In our current threat environment, you need more than strong software, you need smart practices and trained people. Creating a culture that values data security in all aspects of your business can be the best defensive action you can take.

From the National Cyber Security Alliance:

Think of your company as a community. Most observers say there are three primary factors that help ensure law and order in a community.

1. Risk Perception

Members of the community can only act to prevent or report crime if they know what it looks like and have a certain level of fear about it. This is why the police departments in some communities work so hard to establish trust in their communities, and it’s the origin of the byword, “See something, say something.” In a company, you can take advantage of risk perception with user awareness training. Teach all employees what cybercrime looks like and how it is likely to affect them.

2. Social Norms and Conformity

Most human beings behave well because of social norms — informal understandings about the proper way to behave. Most of us go through our everyday lives with a sense of these informal understandings. Yes, the laws are there, but the opinions of our neighbors are keeping us in line. Just like every community, every organization has a culture that includes social norms, often ones we aren’t even aware of. Finding ways to incorporate security into those norms will go a long way toward protecting your organization’s assets. Here’s how you incorporate security into your organization’s social norms. Make sure the leadership of the organization stresses the value of security and backs up these values by modeling appropriate behaviors. A CEO who talks about the importance of security and then writes his or her password on a sticky note on the computer monitor will harm more than help the culture of security.

3. Routine Monitoring

Studies show that companies with skilled incident response teams suffer fewer catastrophic data breaches and lower average cost when data breaches do occur. This is because incident response teams reduce the “dwell time” of criminals that manage to invade your network. But incident response teams themselves also contribute to the culture of security, because their presence reminds employees of the importance of security.

 

Great Lakes Computer Corporation Values Your Security

Whether you want to upgrade your antivirus, install a complete backup and recovery platform, or want to train your staff on the best practices in security, we can help. Contact us today. 

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Choosing the Best POS System for Your Business

pos system repairThere are no shortage of options when it comes to Point-of-Sale systems, which is good because every business has its own needs. While there are many differences, there are some commonalities that any user should expect in today’s market. We’ll outline the features you should demand as well as share some top picks based on category of use.

What makes a best-in-class POS System

The POS systems of today are so much more than just payment vessels. They should be affordable. They should be user-friendly. They should help you save time by providing sales analytics, inventory data, and metrics on customers as well as staff. They should also integrate your marketing objectives, like loyalty programs and emails. We also believe that the best ones operate on the cloud. This allows you to access data from the floor in the back office or on-the-go, from any device you prefer, as well as providing automatic data backup.

Business News Daily published an article outlining the systems the liked best.

Here are factors they considered while evaluating the systems:

  • Cost, such as monthly fees (or swipe rates, where applicable)
  • Contracts and service terms
  • Merchant services options
  • Ease of setup and use
  • Back-end features, such as reporting and inventory management
  • Built-in solutions, such as customer relationship management (CRM) software
  • Industry-specific tools, such as online ordering for restaurants
  • Customization options
  • Third-party integrations
  • Customer service

Here are their picks for 2017 best POS System

Best All-in-One POS System for Small Business: Vend

Vend has everything you need to run and grow a brick-and-mortar store. Beyond processing transactions, Vend has reporting and inventory management features and provides access to a variety of integrations that can help you run your business, save time and boost sales. This vendor is suitable for many different types of stores across a wide variety of industries. Whether you run a clothing store, a sporting goods store, or a specialty service-based business such as a car wash or computer shop, Vend has the features you need.

Best Mobile POS System for iPad: Bindo

Bindo is a cloud-based POS system built especially for the iPad. It offers an intuitive user interface, is packed with business management tools, and comes with advanced capabilities like its product database that simplifies inventory input and its time-clock technology that photographs your employees when they clock in and out, ensuring accurate timekeeping. It also integrates with QuickBooks and has an API that you can use to create custom integrations. Bindo provides 24/7 customer support via email and in-app chat and is competitively priced.

Best POS System for Retail: ShopKeep

ShopKeep is a budget-friendly, cloud-based iPad POS system packed with all the time-saving features retailers need to run and grow their businesses. It comes with a wide range of advanced yet easy-to-use tools to help you save time and boost sales, without any long-term contracts required, though signing a contract may qualify you for discounted rates. The company provides free 24/7 phone and email support and also has live chat, a searchable knowledgebase, small business resources and more.

Best POS System for Restaurants: TouchBistro

TouchBistro is a simple and affordable POS system that focuses on the unique needs of restaurant owners, such as table, reservation and delivery management features. It’s suitable for all types of food establishments – fine dining, casual eateries, cafes, pubs, food trucks and more. It works with the iPad, iPad Pro and iPad Mini, giving you flexibility and mobility, no matter which type of restaurant you own. TouchBistro offers 24/7 phone and email support, video tutorials, and setup guides.

If you’d like to read more about their methodology and testing results, go over to their article here.

No Matter What POS System You Use, We Can Maintain or Repair It.

If your POS system goes down, your business comes to a screeching halt. Great Lakes Computer offers POS System repair and maintenance. We can conduct preventative maintenance to prevent downtime. We can also get you back online quickly in the event of an issue. Our service is unmatched.

Learn more about Great Lakes POS Systems Depot Repair

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The Latest News in Ransomware

cyber securityRansomware is a hot topic these days. We’re seeing it in the headlines far more than we’d like. The trick about digital attacks like this, and most malware attacks in general, is the ever-changing nature of them. The ransomware attacks we saw a year ago aren’t the same as they are today. Here’s an update on some of the latest variations.

From CSO.com:

Attackers have adopted new strategies for infiltrating networks, improved their ability to do damage, and, just as important, have embraced sophisticated growth-enabling business models.

For example, users have been getting training on not clicking on malicious attachments or visiting malicious sites, and anti-malware vendors have been getting better at spotting those sites and attachments. But worms spread themselves without the user needing to do anything at all. “The worm will look and scan its surroundings on the network that have the vulnerability that it is looking to exploit, and copies itself onto the exploited machines,” says Robert Simmons, director of research innovation at ThreatConnect, Inc., a security vendor based in Arlington, Va.

A company that has a vulnerable machine connected to the internet is an easy target, for example. If a company has locked-down all its public-facing computers, an employee might use a mobile device or laptop to connect to an insecure network that has another infected machine on it, Simmons says.

Then, once the employee is back on the company network, the ransomware can spread from there. Once inside, the attackers don’t only launch encryption right away, he adds.

“With Petya, they found that in addition to its ransomware capabilities, it had a tool to provide an additional capability of attacking Windows domain controllers, the locations where the credentials and passwords to your network were kept,” he says. “So they’re branching into other capabilities that would let them pivot around the network.”

The attackers can steal data, for example, or do other damage. Then the ransomware will go off, and help the attackers cover their tracks. “The ransomware would be used as a smokescreen,” he says. “It would make it more difficult for a responder to find evidence of the original attack.”

With the rate of change associated with these attacks, unfortunately there is no simple solution. However, following some simple best practices for data security, like keeping your software and antivirus up-to-date and backing up your data regularly, you can lessen the likelihood of catastrophic data loss. The IT experts at Great Lakes Computer can help. We can not only provide you with best-in-class protective software and backup, we can also remotely monitor your network for suspicious activity. Data security is a full-time job and we’re here to take on that role.

Learn About Our  Backup & Recovery Platform

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