Handheld Units are the Future of POS, Panelists
May 18, 2002 – Hundreds of restaurateurs packed the NRA Show's Technology Pavilion on the Show's opening day to hear more about the future of point-of-sale (POS) equipment – and got a glimpse of a rapidly evolving market in which handheld units are reshaping the nature of tableside ordering. "Handhelds will be as ubiquitous five years from now as touchscreen is today," predicted Alex Malison, president of the Silver Spring, Md.-based Action Systems, Inc. (ASI), and one of six panelists participating in the "Handheld POS Systems: How to Increase Customer Service and Lower Labor Costs" seminar.
ASI is one of dozens of exhibitors at the NRA Show promoting the latest innovations in restaurant POS equipment. Many of these technology exhibitors can be found in the Technology Pavilion, a dynamic and growing section of the NRA Show floor devoted solely to ways restaurants can use technology to improve customer service, lower costs, increase sales, and recruit and retain employees.
Panelists at the seminar noted that handheld units are making their way not only into markets like stadiums, casinos and outdoor patios, but also smaller tableservice restaurants. Better wireless connectivity, lighter equipment, and competitively-priced handheld units are driving the changes, they said.
Panelists reviewed the benefits and the operational challenges involved in implementing a handheld POS system. Ray Morrison, owner of the 2,000-square-foot, 26-table Royal Mile Pub in Wheaton, Md., has been testing ASI's new handheld unit since February. He said the new wireless devices enabled him to eliminate one touchscreen station from his operation, monitor restaurant sales in real time from his own handheld unit and cut back from four servers to three on his busy Friday nights because the devices make it possible for servers to handle more tables.
Among the challenges panelists mentioned: Coming up with simple interfaces that make it easy for servers to place orders while maintaining good eye contact with customers; finding affordable units that are durable enough to sustain the impact if dropped; and ensuring that systems are flexible enough to accommodate menu changes and specials.
Panelists also discussed handheld-unit enhancements that are either already available or in the works, including handwriting-recognition software that accommodates abbreviations and misspellings, the ability to use handheld POS units to take inventory and record shipments, and integration of credit-card processing into the units.
The seminar is one of 15 technology sessions scheduled during the NRA Show. Get the full list of technology seminars here: http://www.restaurant.org/show/events/techprogs.cfm