Shopping is a favourite past time in Singapore and at the heart of the vendor’s efficiency and the consumer’s experience is the Point Of Sale (POS) being used.
As we step into 2015, Bikash Kumar shares his thoughts on some of the key trends shaping the evolution of POS technology in 2015.
Mobile POS enables greater consumer interaction with the sales staff.
* This article is a guest post written by Bikash Kumar – MD, Integrated Retail Management Consulting Pte. Ltd. The opinions expressed are his own and do not represent that of tech4tea.com.
Bikash Kumar has a Bachelor of Business Studies (1988-91) from the College of Business Studies in the University of Delhi; and an MBA (1991-93) from the Faculty of Management Study from the same university.
The Point of Sale (POS) system is where consumers pay for their purchases in a retail store.
Traditionally, the POS systems have been used to generate information on transactions within a retail outlet.
However, the POS technology has been improving significantly, allowing retail staff to deliver multiple operations, besides just scanning merchandise and generating bills.
According to Integrated Retail, a firm that specialises in designing, deploying and maintaining POS systems across the region, the POS systems are likely to see further enhancements in 2015.
Here are five key changes that we are likely to see.
Morphing from Point of Sale to a Point of Service
POS is increasingly mobile and it is lighter
POS systems are becoming inter-connected
POS system activities are traceable in real time
POS is driving up productivity
Below are my thoughts on each of these key changes.
The TomTom Multi-Sport Cardio GPS Sport Watch comes with built-in Heart Rate Monitor. The watch works for running/treadmill, cycling and swimming activities.
The TomTom Cardio GPS Sport Watch comes in Runner or Multi-Sport versions.
The built-in Heart Rate Monitor is in the base of the watch, and measures your heart rate the moment you put on the watch.
Purchase any TomTom GPS Watch from the TomTom Booth on the Harvey Stand and receive a Bonus Travel Case valued at S$34.95.
While stocks last.
This means you do not need to wear a separate chest strap or place a finger on a separate heart rate monitor (say on a smartphone) every time you want to take a reading.
You can vary the heart rate zones and vary the intensity of training depending on the goals you want to reach.
The embedded GPS receiver provides real-time exercise information at a glance, tracking your distance, time, pace, speed and calories burnt as you run, cycle or swim.
After the activity, users can view their routes and other key stats on TomTom MySports and other popular sites, such as, RunKeeper, MapMyFitness, TrainingPeaks and Strava so that they can monitor their progress over an extended period of time.
Earlier this month, Palo Alto Networks discovered ten critical vulnerabilities in Internet Explorer browsers, underlining the importance for businesses to focus on knowing the risk of running vulnerable software.
Check out five core concepts on how to protect your organisation against vulnerabilities.
Sharat Sinha – Vice President, Asia Pacific for Palo Alto Networks – shares his views on how businesses and organisations can protect themselves against malicious attacks and avoid compromises to their network security.
The Personal Data Protection Act (PDPA) comes into force in Singapore tomorrow (Wednesday, July 2). Sharat Sinha – Vice President, Asia Pacific for Palo Alto Networks – shares his views on what this means for businesses in Singapore and how this relates to cybersecurity.
“Following the Singapore Government’s introduction of its five-year National Cybersecurity Masterplan last year, the introduction of PDPA will work to further strengthen Singapore’s position and reputation as a trusted, world-class hub for business,” says Sinha.
The PDPA (Personal Data Protection Act), which comes into force on Wednesday July 2, aims to safeguard individuals’ personal data against misuse by regulating its management by companies.
Palo Alto Network’s recent 2014 AUTR Report, highlights how threats to enterprise networks may be ‘hiding in plain sight’, gaining access to the networks via commonly used enterprise applications like Drop Box, Skype and Microsoft Exchange, to name a few.
The Act is based on the understanding that individuals have the right to be informed of the purposes for which organisations are collecting, using or disclosing their personal data, giving individuals more control over how their personal data is used.
It recognises both the rights of individuals to protect their personal data, including rights of access and correction, and the needs of organisations to collect, use or disclose personal data for legitimate and reasonable purposes.
It was 9pm and businesses on this busy thoroughfare has closed for the night. Cars on the road and passers-by along the 5-foot-way in front of the shops were much fewer than during the day.
Lone passer-by walking past shuttered shophouses. Photo taken with a Sony Cyber-shot RX100 II compact camera, handheld at f/1.8, 1/160 sec, ISO 12800. Photo credit: John Tan.
I was trying out the newly launched Sony Cyber-shot RX100 II compact camera and took a quick snap handheld of the shophouses across the road.
Details at 100% view.
The shot turned out relatively sharp with only some loss of details even at its maximum ISO setting of 12800.
Scott A. Woodward is a SanDisk Extreme Team member, a Nikon Professional Photographer and a Getty Images Global Assignments photographer. He shares his experiences and photography tips in a Q&A below.
Scott A. Woodward at one of four sessions of Nikon’s “I am a Fashionista” photography workshop in Singapore.
Woodward shared three tips for beginners who are starting out: Be inspired, Play with light, Experiment.
1. Be inspired
Do a little research about the who or what you will be shooting ahead of time. The more you know about what or who you will be shooting, the better prepared you can be.
Luerzer’s Archive has honoured Scott as one of the “200 Best Advertising Photographers Worldwide” and Nikon has named him “One of Asia’s Finest Photographers”.
Try to have some ideas for the types of photographs you want to create beforehand. There is no shame in looking at other photographers’ interpretations of a location or scene.
Use others’ work – there is an endless stream of imagery from photographers across the globe on Instagram and Flickr and Twitter – to be inspired and help get your creative juices flowing so you can create your own unique photography.
Technology advancements and developments move so fast these days it’s so easy to take them for granted. For those old enough, can you remember the world before the Internet came about?
Developed by SolarWinds Head Geek, Lawrence Garvin, this infographic explores tech developments – from wireless networking and virtualisation to basic screenshot tools and everything in between – which have significantly impacted our lives, but that we perhaps never thought we actually needed. Click to view full enlarged version.
And not too long ago, before the proliferation of mobile devices, wasn’t it so troublesome to make a call or check something out while on the road?
Here are the 10 IT innovations that changed our lives even though we never knew we needed them (according to Lawrence Garvin, SolarWinds).
The Internet
Remote Connectivity
Safari Books Online
Wireless Networking
Virtualisation
Putty
Wireshark
Fluke Tester
Screenshot Tools
A great Linux Boot CD
These innovations have definitely made it much easier for us to do many things that used to be so much more tedious and time-consuming to accomplish.
But here’s some food for thought – has our lives actually become easier?
Do you sometimes feel that life in the past was somewhat more blissful?
Perhaps it is our human propensity to fully utilise our time that – instead of sitting back complacently to enjoy the extra time gained from IT innovations – we try to use the additional time gained to do even more.
And the bosses certainly expect that.
Now that you can complete each project in one-third the time you used to take, you’re expected to complete three projects (maybe more) instead in that same amount of time.
On top of that, thanks to greater global and mobile connectivity, your boss can contact you no matter where you are.
And if he/she is in the opposite time zone, start getting used to taking calls in the middle of the night.
The result is that our lives havebecome more hectic.
Perhaps, life back then was really more blissful.
Apart from the list above that was compiled by Lawrence Garvin, the rest of this post reflect my own thoughts about the impact of technology on our lives.
The line of thought may sound negative, but I still love the beauty of technology, especially its ability to help the less fortunate.
I usually sit down with a cup of tea in the morning while I surf the Web for the latest tech news. Today, I sat down with three cups at The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf.
The three Tea Cappuccinos are available at all outlets at S$6.00 each for all three flavors (Chai, Scottish Breakfast and Anniversary Blend Tea).
The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf is celebrating its 50th anniversary with a frothy trio of tea cappuccinos at all its outlets.
The special concoctions will only be available until 25 May 2013.
These freshly brewed tea concoctions are layered with silky milk foam and drizzled with delicious vanilla bean sauce.
We’re into the month of May. Check out Page 15 in the latest issue of Jetstar Asia Magazine for some of the latest gadgets that you can get for yourself or your better half this month.
