Keeping your POS and payment systems running on busy nights

When the point-of-sale system or card terminal stops working, a busy venue grinds to a halt. Most outages come from a handful of weak points that are cheap to strengthen.

Common weak points

• Terminals and tablets relying on patchy Wi-Fi.
• A single internet connection with no backup.
• Equipment plugged into an overloaded power board, or losing power in a brief cut.
• Software that has not been updated, or that nobody knows how to restart properly.

Make it more reliable

1. 1Wire fixed POS stations and printers to the network with cable where you can.
2. 2Add a backup internet connection that switches over automatically, such as a mobile data router.
3. 3Put the router, switch and main POS station on a small UPS (battery backup) so a flicker in the power does not take everything down.
4. 4Check whether your POS has an offline mode and make sure staff know how it works.
5. 5Keep receipt printers, cash drawers and kitchen printers on their own labelled connections.

Security and compliance

Card payments come with security requirements, usually set out by your payment provider under the card industry standard known as PCI DSS. Keep payment devices on a separate network from guest Wi-Fi, update them when prompted and only let trusted staff access the admin settings. Ask your provider what applies to your set-up.

Find technicians with POS and payment system skills, or see the IT checklist for small businesses.