Mark continues: “The Open Solutions EPoS pulls
all the data it needs from the GMS system because
it’s been set up by the provider to recognise all our
members’ existing details residing in GMS. This
of course now helps to identify their card
numbers and to generate their bar
accounts’ data – sales, times of
purchase, type of product and
so on.”
Bar service speeds
improved
Another very welcome
benefit has been the
much faster speeds of
the transactions in terms
of the Open Solutions
EPoS and till system, and
especially those involving
the new Paymentsense PDQ
machines and members’ bank
cards. As Mark points out: “This
sort of thing makes a big difference
when the bar’s busy and a member needs to
top up or pay by bank card.”
He adds: “The Open Solutions EPoS also allows for
order interruption, so that instead of one member of the
bar staff having to wait until his or her colleague has
completed their order, they can ‘interrupt’ it without any
problem and key in their own order. That all helps speed
things up at busy times.”
Useful business tool: a Bookings system
The Open Solutions EPoS application comes with a
bookings system as well, and it’s also improving matters,
as Mark comments: “We’re also making full use of this
feature for booking all our club and outside functions,
celebrations and so on. It’s a very useful business tool,
given we’ve got a clubhouse that was refurbished with
the aim of generating additional income from venue
hire.”
Improvements for the
membership services as well
From the members’ point
of view, there are a range
of benefits: they can
now go online and see
their bar balances, pay
for everything such as
membership
renewals,
functions, match fees and
kit, and top up online from
home or work 24/7.
Integration: a good
decision
Mark summarises: “When we
realised that we were running an EPoS
system that wasn’t integrated with our GMS,
we faced a major decision. But with the integration
benefits now much better understood, we’re very glad
we went ahead and installed both the Open Solutions
EPoS and the Paymentsense PDQ machines. This has
also helped us make better use of the GMS as well.”
He adds: “Running a major community rugby club
is a major challenge. Making sure our GMS, EPoS
and PDQ machines were all fully integrated makes
things significantly more straightforward and error free
– and while we hadn’t thought about this at the time,
the faster bar service and order turnaround as a direct
result of the new software makes a great deal of sense
whenever there’s a busy match day!”
www.rugbyclubmag.com
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