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owners alike. Today's Subway franchisees can set up
The very point of salery point of sale shop in diverse countries throughout the world, and it is
The ve
basically the same show—everywhere. So why are some
merchants acting like it's 1965, remaining stuck within the
confines of analog technology?
POS to POI

Maybe it's time to change the way we're selling. Let's face
it: "omnichannel commerce" and "integrated POS systems"
are a big yawn for most small and midsize merchants.
Payment networks Those are our terms and we're even getting tired of them.
But if we talk about meeting customers wherever they
come of age shop, being discoverable and providing a secure, enjoyable
experience, we're speaking their language.

In the old days, being "on the network" meant connecting
By Dale S. Laszig to card rails and secure methods of transport. Today's
rails and communications protocols are flexible, scalable
ears ago, Fred DeLuca made a great sand- and interoperable; their frameworks make it possible
wich, and Subway was born. Stores opened for consumers to transact anywhere and everywhere in
from Connecticut to California, serving fast, the world: in stores, online, in the cloud and on mobile
Y made-to-order meals. After saturating North apps. Managed services facilitate remote diagnostics and
America, Subway moved on to Bolivia, Luxembourg and updates, making countertop terminals easier to maintain
the Philippines. Today, more Subway shops are serving and conversant with other commerce methods. These
customers than any other restaurant in the world, accord- capabilities enable merchants to send personalized offers
ing to the company's website. to customers across all channels.

When you have more than 42,000 locations in 100 Already in motion
countries, updating your POS is not easy. But thousands
of independently minded franchisees liked the idea of a Shaun Donaghey, senior vice president and managing
standardized POS system, so Subway sought advice from director, payments market, North America at Transaction
payments experts. Worldline brought flexible technology; Network Services, observed that retail's transformational
Amadis brought a global standard called nexo; together shift was in motion for years before COVID's accelerating
they created a perfect recipe for global deployment. factor.

When covering this story in "Age-defying secrets of retail "People refer to the pandemic as a catalyst around technology
tech leaders," The Green Sheet, issue 21:03:01, I saw how easy adoption or change, but I think the transformation journey
it would be to get caught up in the details and magnitude has been underway for a number of years, borne by retailers'
of this project—but the real magic was that it just worked. need for wallet share and staying relevant in an era of
Participants understood the goal and their respective roles online and ecommerce," he said. "What does that mean
and created a frictionless experience for franchisees and for retailers with physical stores and how can technology
their customers. improve their business and make things easier?"
The long game Donaghey noted that managed network solutions used to
be difficult, specialized and inflexible, but TNS has been
When the first Subway store opened in 1965, it probably had evolving its technology for 30 years. Network services have
a cash register, maybe one made by NCR Corp., an iconic come of age, he added, decreasing compliance burdens
brand founded in 1884. Companies like Subway and NC, and supporting all points of interaction, even terminals.
which have been innovating for long periods, show how far He believes TNS's SD-WAN is a perfect example because
we can go with a bit of daring, teamwork and technology. it's transport agnostic. "It's the United Nations from a
connectivity perspective," he said. "You can manage
If DeLuca were to open his first Subway store this week, different circuits and connectivity points and deploy other
he might employ an NCR system, but he would also have services as needed, with this flexible solution."
a mobile app, website and Instagram page. His technology
stack would simplify bookkeeping, inventory management
and data analytics to help attract and retain customers with Dale S. Laszig, senior staff writer at The Green Sheet and managing
personalized offers. That's what we're selling today. director at DSL Direct LLC, is a payments industry journalist and con-
tent strategist. Connect with her on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.
We're no longer just selling equipment; we're selling an com/in/dalelaszig/ and Twitter at https://twitter.com/DSLdirect .
uninterrupted experience for consumers and business
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