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Education

An inside look at involved in today's most advanced smartphones and
tablets. The difference is that smart terminals are designed
smart terminals from the ground up with business in mind, so they're
often outfitted with card readers, the ability to accept near
field communication or Bluetooth payments, and thermal
printers. The only limit for businesses is how well they put
these devices to work.

When compared with traditional POS terminals, smart
terminals are sleeker, more portable and often more flexible,
so they can serve a variety of business functions. However,
large enterprise-level corporations with lots of inventory
or need for maintaining large databases may find the small
units don't quite fit the bill. Because most smart terminals
are running as software as a service (SaaS), they're limited
by their connection to the Internet for functions that might
require constant access to very large databases.
What makes smart terminals special?
Besides their familiar tablet-like designs that can give the
impression that a business is invested in cutting-edge
technology, smart terminals are special because of the care
that has gone into developing them as a whole new product.
Small to midsize businesses love them because very little
By Jeff White maintenance goes into keeping these units in good health
TouchSuite due to their SaaS backbones.
eeping pace with the changing world of POS SaaS has represented a huge step in POS technology,
systems can be a harrowing proposition for allowing companies to abandon costly computer
business owners and ISOs alike. Not only is the maintenance contracts. Instead of the software and data
K tech changing at a dramatic pace, but the many that your terminal requires for proper functioning being
ways that business owners can benefit from adopting a hosted on large servers that you have to physically store,
range of different form factors is also expanding. upgrade and repair, SaaS moves the bulk of an end user's
information to the cloud, where it becomes totally portable.
POS systems of old could often perform only a limited
number of tasks without getting more hardware or custom- If your business-owner customer wanted to open a second
designed software involved, but the sleeker portable location, for example, all the information he or she would
systems of today can perform virtually any task a business need to start running a new franchise would be instantly
owner would need with only the push of a few buttons. available the moment the business connected the new
system. Many of these units even come with the option to
One of these new POS systems, known as the "smart use cellular signals, so the business can literally remain
terminal," is starting to gain popularity among business connected to its cloud component no matter what.
owners. Smart terminals are popping up everywhere, but What can a smart terminal do?
just because they're new doesn't necessarily mean they're
better or even well suited for any particular company. When considering a smart terminal, much of the hesitation
Let me give you an insider's peek into the world of smart from business owners comes from the concern about the
terminals so you can decide for yourself where these units ability of the hardware. Compared to a standard POS
will fit best among your clientele. system, of course, a smart terminal does look a bit like a
toy. This perception, however, couldn't be further from the
What is a smart terminal? truth. Just like smartphones are capable of amazing things
As you likely know, if you've ever been in a restaurant or when compared to desktop computers, smart terminals
shop that asked you to pay using a small, tablet-like unit, comprise a lot more than meets the eye.
you've encountered a smart terminal.
Not only do they boast interfaces that are immediately
These tiny units are designed to pack a powerful punch familiar to your customers and their new employees due
into a very tight space, using much of the same technology to their commonalities with smartphones, smart terminals
can do things like the following:

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