There are two forms of cloud POS software: web-based and app-based. A web-based POS relies entirely on the magic of the cloud, and is accessed through a web browser. Nothing is local to your operating system, meaning that everything—your inventory, sales data, employee timekeeping, customer information, etc.—is tied up in a system that needs to be in constant communication with the servers hosting your data through an Internet connection.
The front end that displays all the information is basically nothing more than a screen that’s showing you what’s really happening somewhere else. Without an Internet connection, the servers don’t receiver the request and so all you see is that little “Unable to connect to the Internet” dinosaur. Very few of web-based POS systems use HTML5 and its offline cache capabilities, so you can continue to ring up sales during internet outage. Operating during an outage does leave you with very limited functionality, which does not make web-based POS ideal solution for business operations with unpredictable internet connectivity.
On the other hand, Shopify POS is a Windows 10 app-based point of sale system, takes a hybrid approach to the cloud. We use locally-installed Microsoft SQL Express database to mirror the Cloud database. This means that even when your connection to the cloud kicks it, all of your customer data, inventory, employee accounts, etc. are still accessible locally so you’re not losing valuable data during the outage in Shopify Inventory Management software. All the sales and customer data you entered will sync back up to the cloud as soon as the connection is reestablished and you might not even notice that you lost your Internet in the first place. Because Shopify POS has a mirror copy of full cloud database in the local network, all functionalities will work perfectly when internet is down.
One exception could be integration of credit card processing if it depends on internet. Credit Card Imprinter or Offline Credit Card Processing could still store the card information to be processed when it comes back online, but you take the risk of running a purchase on a card that could be declined later. This will not be a problem if you choose not to integrate your credit card processing, or you have backup phone line to process credit cards.
SooPOS shows you exactly how far cloud-based POS software can be developed. This full-featured Windows POS client is quick and painless to install, powerful yet easy to use, and has minimal hardware requirements allowing you to utilize existing hardware. Internet disruptions are no longer a dilemma. Shopify Inventory Management software works both online and offline utilizing its best in breed Cloud Hybrid technology. POS registers can function offline, store data locally, and synchronize back to the cloud once the Internet connection is re-established.
Currently, over 88% of all POS terminals utilize Windows as their main operating system. This is not a step back in technology, but rather providing the answer to all retailers considering the cloud’s burning question “what if my internet goes down?” Enjoy the benefits of web based POS software without the worry of Internet dependency. Besides the key worry of sales coming to a halt, Shopify Inventory Management software also solves another issue that comes along with Internet reliance: sluggishness.
The new Windows offline POS software improves significantly touch-screen responsiveness and helps maintain working speed even during the busiest hours. Don’t feel comfortable utilizing the touchscreen? No need, there is also an option to use a keyboard & mouse instead. If you run retail chain or franchising with multiple locations, the most significant cloud computing benefit is in terms of IT cost savings. With the cloud database, you will save thousands of dollars on dedicated server computers and another thousand of dollars on SQL Server licensing, not to mention the associated operational and maintenance costs. Best of all, Shopify Inventory Management provides you cloud database service with no extra cost for you.
This is by default. In this mode, all tills (computers) are connected to a local SQL Express database inside a local-area network (LAN). The local databases will be automatically synchronized to cloud database as long as you have Shopify Inventory Management software running on any computer. You probably won’t notice any difference if the internet is offline. As long as you have internet for a couple of hours once a week, you are all good.
You don’t have to install a database on the local network. Or sometimes your local database server is down for some reasons, Shopify POS will automatically connect to cloud database or another available database.
As mentioned earlier, you have a full mirrored copy of cloud database on your local network, all functionalities will work perfectly when you are offline.