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So you’ve picked your point of sale. Now what?
This is the second post in a series exploring best practices for common challenges facing enterprise point of sale (POS) platforms, co-authored by Cristal Ghitman, enterprise sales executive at Revel Systems. In case you missed it, check out the previous post on change management for an enterprise point of sale. In the post below, we’ll explore choosing the right stakeholders—and assigning them accordingly—when you take the plunge into transitioning to a new enterprise point of sale.
As if choosing the right platform for your enterprise POS and business management suite isn’t difficult enough, it takes on a whole new level of challenges when you consider all the players involved in switching and deploying a new system. There’s simply no way around it: change management is a team effort, and this holds truer than ever for your POS implementation.
The tricky part is making sure the right stakeholders are in place to facilitate this change (not to mention this major investment). So, how exactly do you choose the right stakeholders?
By definition, a stakeholder is anyone actively involved in a project, or whose interests may be positively or negatively affected as a result of project execution or successful project completion. With this in mind, you want to ensure all your key partners have a seat at the table, which includes decision makers from your enterprise, team members from the POS provider, and relevant integration partners. Each of these groups has a vested interest in the long-term success of your enterprise and the partnership. They will also all bring different perspectives and insights to the implementation process.
From the start of the project your project plan should outline clear paths for communication and planning. Map out communication cadence, whether team meetings or quicker status checks, as well as significant project milestones. You may want to start your rollout conservatively at first, leaving time for valuable learning and adjustments from a small sample size. From there, you can pick up speed, especially once you have systems and safeguards in place to help with project scalability.
Another piece of your communication plan should include role assignments. Know who the go-to person(s) will be for every major task within your rollout. Defining clear roles will save you time and money throughout the project, and can help with accountability and staying on track (as well as on budget) when it’s time for project updates.
“This work is not done in a silo—I get the chance to work with key teams across the company and it’s really exciting,” says Antonia Guerrero, enterprise project manager at Revel.
With a plan, benchmarks, and task owners to guide you, successful rollout of your enterprise POS platform is all but guaranteed.
Time, money and people are critical to your success, and it’s important to invest in each of them accordingly. Will break down each of these elements in a bit more detail.
Implementing an enterprise POS platform takes time. Allot enough of it in each stage of your rollout so that your business-critical systems are set up correctly the first time. Savvy business operators know time is money, and few things stall a project more than time wasted on a rushed job that needs to be redone. Allocating ample time for platform configuration and troubleshooting is an important factor to help you avoid process disruption and wasted resources.
How and where you prioritize your monetary investments is huge, especially when considering the scale of enterprise rollouts. You’re likely familiar with the adage, “You get what you pay for.” There’s wisdom in those words. Be cautious, and even wary, of deals that sound too good to be true. That’s nearly always the case, meaning you’ll uncover hidden costs or glitchy solutions down the road when at first you thought you were getting a great deal.
Your team will have a huge impact on your project’s success. After all, it’s ultimately people that make things happen. Put careful thought into who you have on the team and what role they’ll play to keep the project on track. Consider also the people you’ll want in place long after your installations. An enterprise POS platform has many moving parts, and a cloud-based platform comes with the benefits of regular updates and constant development for system enhancements and new features. It’s a great idea to invest in people with deep working knowledge of the POS platform who can act as advocates for you and assistants for you to help you get maximum value from your platform long after it first deploys.
Even with all the right stakeholders, implementing a new enterprise POS platform is going to hit speed bumps and unexpected challenges. With the right players at the table, though, you and your team are bound to make it through unscathed.
Are you considering a change for your POS? Check out Revel Enterprise® today and see how our team can help you successfully make the switch to a cloud-based solution.
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