By

Serving the Industry, One POS at a Time

For SSCS, being a leader in poller interface software is challenging, but fulfilling.

In 1989, SSCS introduced a piece of software simply named, “Poller.” It supported communication between our Computerized Daily Book (CDB) back office system and the Wayne Decade 2400 point-of-sale (POS), followed by the Gilbarco TCR-G/2. (Remember them?)

The solution was one of the first in the industry to provide seamless, accurate transfer of sales data between the CDB and the register. Almost 30 years later SSCS remains firmly established as a leader in providing POS-back office communication, offering our poller interface software in a variety of technological flavors.

Our experience with this specific technology produces much benefit for our customers, which this blog post from August describes in detail, including a few words on our expertise in converting price book information from one POS format to another (a service we call Point to Point Conversions).

The other day, during the course of a conversation, the blog staff came to a collective realization that we probably take our technology lead in this area for granted. We thought, really thought, about the coordination needed to fashion interfaces to a variety of POS systems. After all, we’re obligated to stay on top of each POS system’s technical evolution to ensure our back office data formats remain compatible, and we imagined how challenging this might be for one POS system, not to mention the 10 or so that we currently support.

To get some additional insight on the subject, we caught up with the in-house technical expert who maintains SSCS’s relationships with its POS partners and technical staff. He’s charged with staying on top of development changes at these companies, finding out how they will affect our back office software, and testing data transfer and communication in our POS lab. He’s spent decades doing it, has seen almost every scenario possible, and remains unabashedly enthusiastic about his work.

“In my opinion, the number of POS interfaces we provide for customers is a fundamental company strength, which is why we’ve always striven to lead in this area,” he says. “Offering retailers POS flexibility is a big advantage for them; they can make the POS decision that is best for them without feeling limited by proprietary constraints.”

Our approach is also ideal for retailers who want to grow to stay competitive. “Maybe a customer buys a store or a group of stores from another operator,” the specialist continues. “And maybe that operator has been using a completely different POS than the one that they are accustomed to. If they choose SSCS technology, they can keep using the CDB in the acquired sites without having to switch out to a new POS. The savings and convenience are noteworthy, and an indispensable part of our value proposition.”

SSCS recently released its newest poller interface software, B-Poll, for Canadian users that use the Bulloch Technologies, Inc. BT9000, the most popular POS in that country. Other leading POS systems with which the CDB interfaces, the name of the poller interface software that works with them, and a link to the provider’s website are listed below:

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *