Review: Quickbooks Point of Sale

f you own, run, or administer IT for a retail business, you know how important a Point of Sale can be. So important is the POS component, that a poorly designed, managed, or installed POS can cause a seemingly infinite amount of headaches. But these headaches go beyond the usual poorly designed software headaches. POS issues hit owners where it hurts the most - the bottom line.

A good POS can resolve a lot of those issues. A great POS can not only help you get beyond the issues common to POS systems, but it can also help your business grow well beyond what you might have thought was your peek potential. If you’re looking for the best of the best, look no further than Quickbooks Point of Sale.

Specifications

• At least a 1.8GHz processor
• At least 256MB of RAM (512MB if running Windows Vista) for a single user
• At least 512MB of RAM (1GB if running Windows Vista) for multiple, concurrent users
• .NET Framework 2.0 or greater
• Data1.cab file must be present on the PC
• Additional vendor information
• TechRepublic Photo Gallery

Who’s it for?

Quickbooks Point of Sale is for any size business looking to make the most out of their POS system. Quickbooks POS can handle a single register at a single location or multiple registers at multiple locations. Quickbooks POS is for any business owner serious about maximizing profits, sales, and margins.

What problem does it solve?

Quickbooks Point of Sale makes simple the often overly complex problem of tracking and quantifying the numerous aspects of running and managing a business at the point of sale. And because Quickbooks POS integrates seamlessly with Quickbooks Financials, this duo can cover all of your business financial needs.

Standout features

• Simple interface
• Multi-user
• Groups allow different security levels for different users
• Helpful learning center
• Automatic backup
• Integration with all Quickbook titles (including Quickbase)
• Manage multiple stores from one location
• Outstanding support from Intuit Service Providers

What’s wrong?

If you are looking to cut costs, and only purchase one license of Quickbooks Point of Sale, you will only be able to have the POS open on one machine at a time. This works fine if you have a single register and a back office, where the back office need only run the software at the beginning or end of day. If, however, the back office and a single register need to run POS simultaneously two licenses will have to be purchased.

Another issue is that if you have installed Windows XP without the .cab files you might have trouble getting the installation to work.

Competitive products

• Comcash
• Microsoft Dynamics POS

Bottom line for business

If you are looking for the de facto standard POS software look no further than Intuit’s Quickbooks Point of Sale. Whether you have a single location or multiple locations, Quickboooks POS can empower your business to maximize effort and profits. Quickbooks POS is easy to use, easy to manage, scalable, and reliable.