hat gave company managers timely access to POS information so that they could change guesswork into informed decision-making.
RCS offered two systems for review. One was based on Ibertech software running on IBM equipment with infrared touchscreens. The other ran on an NCR system with 7440 POS terminals and MicroTouch capacitive touchscreens; it had POS, cash-management, navigation, and labor software modules from Compris Technologies.
From these pilots, RCS and Unique Casual Restaurant selected the NCR/Compris combination because it offered a significantly better level of detail, especially in the area of inven-tory management, and a clearer graphical presentation. "We take the POS information and use it to populate the Oracle Financials applications that we have in the back office," explains
Ted Mountzuris
, CEO of RCS. This is basically a tool to connect th
e restaurants with the executive information systems being used by the executives."
The POS integration project at the Champs Americana franchises had different requirements. Unique Casual Restaurant wanted to migrate from a proprietary Panasonic solution because the company believed an open system would allow for reduced system costs. RCS recommended Ibertech's Aloha, a package that's particularly optimized for a Windows NT environment. Mountzuris cites NT as "a particularly excellent platform for point-of-sale technology."
"When I can use PC standards, I can control costs much better. And, with an open architecture, you have the ability to use the right software for the particular retailing situation," he explains. "Otherwise, you need to redesign the software to fit into your industry. Typically, your IS costs should be anywhere from 2 percent to 3 percent of your company's revenues, but with this system our costs are under 1 percent."
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"When I can use PC standards, I can control costs much better." -- Ted Mountzuris
A Smorgasbord of POS
