What most people will picture when they hear the term “legacy POS” is probably something like the standard bank-issued card readers, with the LCD display and the red, yellow, and green colored buttons. It’s easy to beat up on this work horse of the world of commerce, but is it really so inadequate as to not be relevant anymore? Let’s look at what differentiates the newer cloud-based options like the Poynt POS from their forefathers.
On first thought it seems intuitive that newer, more ‘fashionable’ hardware should cost more than the old legacy “dinosaur” machines. While that may be true in some situations, it is increasingly the case that the overall cost for new, cloud-based solutions is comparable, if not cheaper, than the correlating solution with the dusty old LCD card reader. When you choose to work with Moolah, this is especially true, as, not only do we give businesses access to the Poynt Smart Terminal, one of the more aesthetically beautiful POS machines out there, we give it to new clients for free. It’s our way of saying “welcome to the 21st century.”!
“Because everybody else is doing it” typically isn’t a reason to do something, but in the business world you have to temper your desire to listen to your mom’s advice and be yourself with the common-sense admission that consumer expectations change over time, and successful businesses do their best to keep up with the times. It’s increasingly true that customers like to see a modern, convenient point of sale in place. It’s not the first thing that a customer will thing of, but it does make an impression.
The biggest factor in the decision to move on from typical legacy POS solutions is all the added functionality that comes with a cloud-based POS. It’s the same as the transition from old flip-style cell phones to the iPhone. This is especially true with the Poynt POS. Developers continue to work to enable a wide range of solutions, from inventory tracking, to CRMs, to accounting software, to be at the fingertips of any business with a Poynt Smart Terminal. The cloud also makes it supremely easy to track the activity of multiple locations, if that’s your thing, which is something that more traditional wired units didn’t really help out with.
Back to the question: is it really so bad to hang on to the older Legacy POS devices? At the end of the day, it’s up to you. As with the handful of people who still swear by their flip phone for the ease of operation, or nostalgia, perhaps, sometimes, the legacy model is all you need. But if you’re talking about functionality, style, and even affordability, a Poynt POS may just be your ticket to the 21st Century.