RSPA/ VSR  2008 Best of the Best Award Winner:
CAP Software

Innovative Solutions

RSPA and Vertical Systems Reseller, VSR, teamed up in 2008 to present the Innovative Solution Awards. The Innovative Solution Awards will be given to those nominated companies that have created a dynamic solution in their respective market; Credit Card Processing, Family/Fine Dining, In-Store Customer Touch Point, ISV/VAR Collaboration, Quick Service/Fast Casual, Specialty Retail, and Supermarket.

Credit Card Processing:
Delaware Business Systems
Mercury Alerts Solution

Providing integrated payment processing is one thing. Making sure daily processing tasks occur smoothly and safely is quite another.

But it’s just that kind of value-added service that is helping Delaware Business Systems stand out from its competitors, providing in real time info that it could otherwise take a month to uncover. MercuryAlerts is a free service offered to Delaware clients that use Mercury Payment Systems for payment processing in which Delaware staff monitor merchant payment processing and flag activity outside of pre-set limits, such as missed batches. In the first week of operating the service, launched on Jan. 1, Delaware discovered 15 missed deposits, capturing $300,000 in unclaimed merchant funds.

Based in New Castle, (Del.), Delaware resells hardware and Digital Dining, Maitre’D and Catapult software into hospitality and retail in the mid-Atlantic region.

Delaware’s Operations Manager Bill Fultz and his colleagues were meeting with the folks at Mercury, who were explaining some behind the scenes activities at the processor, when the idea came to light.

“Different people have access to this information in real time, but they weren’t acting upon it,” says Fultz. Mercury doesn’t have the manpower to monitor tens of thousands of customers, so they can address only extreme risks or violations uncovered in daily processing data. “But all I care about is the 400 companies who use me,” he says. “I said, ‘give me the info and I’ll take it. I know how to fix it’.”

So Delaware developed the solution and sought Mercury’s approval on the types of data the company would need: refunds, keyed entries, failed batches and so on. Delaware would never have access to the credit card numbers themselves, but rather, the merchant settlement information, making the service PCI-compliant. The solution provider chooses what events to be alerted about, such as batch close, purchase, return, percentage keyed and idle time. If activity exceeds the limit in any chosen category, everyone designated on the account receives an email alert, allowing Delaware and other participating solution providers to proactively solve problems quickly and provide first-rate support.

“If we see a $5,000 transaction, and a normal one is $200, we’ll call the customer and ask if it’s o.k. Nine times out of 10, it’s very explainable,” but sometimes it isn’t. Discovering missed batches also pays dividends, not just in ensuring the transaction is completed, but in avoiding card association penalties. When batches go unclosed for days and weeks, the merchant can actually overwrite previous transactions, which results in a mess that can take a long time to sort out.

Detecting fraud quickly is another benefit of monitoring. Fultz caught two different managers abusing their management access by issuing credits to their personal debit cards. He notified the owners immediately, and both people were caught and successfully charged with the crimes.

MerchantAlerts also makes Delaware’s processing services stickier; merchants considering a processor switch tend to change their minds when informed that the service is not available for other processors.

Family/Fine Dining:
Managed Data Group
dinePoint Solution

dinePoint is the overnight sensation eight years in the making. Following careers as a physicist at Bell Labs and manager of two hedge funds, CEO David Hwang saw the opportunity to invest in a technology company as the smartest move for him and a fellow investor. So they bought a company that had little more than an idea and some talented programmers, and spent the next six years turning those raw materials into a service.

The result is dinePoint, a web-based, back-end reporting service for hospitality POS systems, which was finally unveiled in 2007. Hwang and his staff spent those six years on the arduous task of integrating their tool with the lion’s share of hospitality POS systems, applying accounting-system-level rigor to a data export schema that ensures that data is clean, correct and properly formatted. dinePoint uses ASP.NET, AJAX, Visual Basic and SQL Server to seamlessly integrate POS data from multiple POS systems into a normalized database.

“We have to keep up with the POS versions as they change, but we have a herd of technology tricks to keep up with them,” says Hwang. “That’s the value we bring to the picture.”

dinePoint enables restaurant management to get anywhere-access to POS data from across their chains, even if they own multiple brands and vintages of POS. The product is already integrated with Micros, Aloha, PosiTouch, PixelPoint, Restaurant Manager, Digital Dining, DiamondTouch, HotSauce, OnePos, Vitallink, rPower, Microsoft Retail Management, VisionTouch, RCS, Dinerware and Volante.

The developer also private labels the service to several POS developers so they can brand it as their own back-end service.

dinePoint is hosted in a secure technologically advanced data center serviced by redundant OC-12’s and multiple power grids, the latest innovations in server technology and the use of an N+1 architecture to ensure uptime and security. Users may opt to host their own copy of the application, but so far, no one has chosen that option. The hosting model helps users avoid investment in hardware, software and maintenance.

So far, dinePoint has attracted several hundred customers through its partnerships with VARs and software developers, with a sweet spot in chains of about 50 units. Users gain access to normalized data from different types of POS systems that they can then integrate with accounting, inventory and other third-party packages.

Since POS data is the key data feed for many other restaurant management systems, dinePoint has also created an ecosystem of partners, including accounting, labor management, beverage control, inventory, menu pricing, training and security, all of which can help customers maximize the use of their data.

In-Store Customer Touch Point:
Encore Associates
Altierre Electronic Shelf Labels

Electronic shelf labels are the next big thing in retail technology — at least, that’s what we’ve been hearing for the last 20 years. But some significant obstacles have stood in the way: wired or older wireless technology, poor battery life, difficult administration, the requirement to use?error prone?labor-intensive paper overlays. Cost per tag has also been an obstacle, one that has helped limit adoption to jurisdictions with item-pricing laws.

But the cost/benefit ratio now makes sense, says Gary Smith, CEO of Encore Associates, a San Ramon, Calif.-based consultancy to retail and consumer products companies and an affiliate of Altierre Corp., an electronic-shelf label and radio-frequency company. Technology has progressed to the point that Altierre can produce more robust miniature displays at a far lower cost, with much improved,?4- to?5-year battery life, centralized management and no manual steps to maintain.

So these next-generation ESLs can finally deliver the benefits long-attributed to the technology, Smith says. Chief among them is?making the entire price and promotions update process “push-button,” eliminating manual updates of price labels every week, an error-prone, repetitious task that few store associates are eager to perform. Since ESLs are getting data from the same?source as the POS, consistent prices are guaranteed, eliminating the customer aggravating, and sometimes illegal, problem the consumer press calls scanner error. According to Encore, the solution increases net margin?significantly.?The ESLs?can be?administered centrally, so price changes are enacted simultaneously across the chain. “This gives you the ability to consider an entirely new business model with regard to pricing?and promotions, because of the ability to price?and appropriately message?items according to market conditions on a more timely basis,” Smith says. Altierre also establishes a RF platform on which retailers can deploy other RF applications often simply by adding new software, he adds.

The Altierre ESL is essentially a miniature computer screen, so the retailer can create a series of templates for the tag content, design them remotely on a computer and download them to the tags. A competitive differentiator, says Smith, is the fact that it’s one display rather than a segmented display panel, giving more design flexibility, and that no paper overlay is required. Generating and applying paper?overlays?defeats the purpose of a paperless solution?and does not provide an ROI, he says. The tags are linked to an ultra-low-power wireless network powered by an Altierre in store server. A few long range access points in the ceiling — or the retailer’s own RF network — cover a 60,000-square-foot store with 40,000-plus ESLs. A software gateway connected to the retailer’s headquarters manages information.

Encore and Altierre are currently in pilot mode with?multiple large supermarkets. So far, they’re using it strictly for?pricing and promotional messages, but the opportunity is there to add other messages to the screens for use by the consumer.

Quick Service/Fast Casual:
Advanced Business Products
SoftTouch POS Solution

Back when he was a rookie on the job selling cash registers, Bryan Griffin pledged to spend a year cold-calling. That year was educational to say the least — Griffin learned that “there are worse things you can hear than no!” After six months, he learned to stop pitching and start listening. “I learned a lot,” including letting customers describe what they need, and fitting the product to meet that need.

It’s that attitude that Froots, a Cooper City, Fla.-based healthy quick-service restaurant franchisor, embraced as the company sought to replace its rigid POS system with one that was more flexible and expandable. But its No. 1 priority was a POS system that could be drop-shipped and set up by its store opening crew, rather than by technicians.

Griffin, now vice president of operations at Orlando, Fla.-based Advanced Business Products, recommended SoftTouch, a restaurant POS solution he felt would offer the stability the company needed as well as the capability for the VAR to remotely access and support those sites.

Hardware selection was also key — Griffin knew non-technical people wouldn’t want to deal with lots of components, but would need a solution that was “plug and play,” yet full-featured. All-in-one touch-screen terminals are staged in Advanced Business Products’ offices and shipped out in waves to franchisees. Integrated training videos help ABP to service Froots remotely.

Another requirement was that the system be deployable on one register per store, rather than the two its prior solution required, to comply with a new store design. The operator was also interested in confining its printing needs to one printer — even though franchisees need to print both receipts and nutritional labels for their “to-go” wraps. ABP resolved the issue with SoftTouch POS and the capability to run Ethernet cables. Currently, Froots franchisees can print a receipt and 60 different labels with nutritional information from one hub.

ABP provided Froots with integrated online ordering through SoftTouch POS. Online orders are received and printed directly to the kitchen printer with no data entry required.

By definition, drop-ship rollout requires quality customer service and support. Advanced Business Products worked closely with Froots management through several proposals and demonstrations before settling on a final solution, a process that built up the restaurant management’s trust in the VAR.

Multi-tier remote access security allows corporate to see all locations while franchisees can remotely access only their own. ABP also provided secure wireless access to customers by issuing a password on the order receipt to access the restaurants’ Wi-Fi while protecting the restaurants’ business information. Security also extends to time and attendance and exceptional transactions — registers are equipped with biometric readers for employee clock-in and override authorization.

Currently, 16 Froots sites have been installed nationally, with six to eight more expected within the year. Sites already installed are reaping the benefits of a stable application, fully supported through remote access, and expandable to meet the franchisor’s growth plans as well as the desire for individual owners to easily add terminals, such as for a drive-through. They’ve also enjoyed lower labor costs and increased revenue, ABP reports.

“‘The Latest in POS Technology’ is our catch slogan,” says Griffin. “With this solution, we live up to that.”

Specialty Retail:
CAP Software
CAP Fresh Pay Solution

It’s a rare occasion when you can get someone else to fund a good portion of the implementation. But that’s just what CAP Software did with its CAP FreshPay, an RFID customer relationship management and payment application integrated with its Retail Manager 2007 product. CAP developed the solution on behalf of Fresh Lane Stores, a chain of drive-through upscale grocery convenience stores in the Dallas area.

Fresh Lane sought an easy-to-use payment and CRM application and considered issuing customers RFID fobs, as CAP had done with similar businesses. But then an idea emerged: why not use the RFID toll tags so pervasive throughout the Dallas area for toll roads?

The first time a new customer enters the drive-through, RFID readers installed in the two lanes read the tag and the system prompts the cashier to invite the driver to join the Fresh Pay program. Members can choose whether or not to link the tag ID to a credit card, and provide personal data. On subsequent visits, the cashier can greet the customer by name and see the last three transactions. That allows the cashier to ask the customer if he or she would like “the usual,” or upsell the customer based on preferences. The customer is asked if he or she would like to use Fresh Pay, and the transaction is quickly assigned to the Fresh Pay account. Fresh Lane uses SurePOS 500 POS terminals.

CAP approached the toll authority, but the agency was uncomfortable permitting access to the RFID holders’ database. So the solution provider worked with the TransCore toll tag equipment maker to attain the correct card readers and wrote the software to link that to its CRM database. The equipment is environmentally hardened and tested by the state authorities.

“Our goal was to use existing tags without having to issue cards or make an imposition on the customer,” says Will Atkinson, president of CAP Software. “There is a lot of cost associated with issuing RFID tags.” Toll-type tags typically cost $5 to $6, and require administration and maintenance.

Based in Fort Worth, Texas, CAP integrated the hardware platform with the IBM system and its in-house POS and CRM software. The process involved iterative design and testing using existing technologies combined with custom software design to make it apply to the customer’s needs.

Fresh Pay RFID payments typically take four to five seconds versus 15 seconds for a credit card swipe, or 30 seconds for cash or check.

“For a customer like this, it makes us as sticky as we can be,” says Atkinson. “We gave them what they wanted, that no one else could provide. We can say we are doing innovative and new things for customers that might need something different but can’t afford a custom solution of their own.”

Supermarket:
Agilysys Retail Solutions Group
NextManager Software Solution

Information drives retail. But sometimes dealing with data can rob store managers of time spent out on the sales floor, interacting with employees and customers.

Grocers had been telling the folks at Boca Raton, Fla.-based Agilysys about this challenge for years. By 2004, the solution provider finally had found enough time to create a technology to meet this need, unveiling NextManager. The application runs on handheld computers and makes the manager’s office mobile, enabling access to key data and applications throughout the store via the wireless network.

NextManager is a part of Agilysys’ NextVision suite, which provides access to a wide variety of operations via wireless terminals, including POS transaction processing, store and enterprise management functions; customer services utilities and security applications.

NextManager functions include pick-up required notifications, item-overrides or manager overrides, access to sales and item movement data and corporate email. Managers can also use the terminals to perform on-the-spot price checks on behalf of customers.

“Previously, if there was a void, the manager had to be called up front, see what’s happening and insert a key” to override the void, says Paul Civils, vice president, Agilysys Retail Solutions Group. “With NextManager, the manager can see the transaction on the screen,” and override it remotely, without a long interruption to whatever task he or she was performing, and without line-slowing delays in the customer transaction. The retailer can put parameters around such a transaction, say limiting items that can be voided remotely to $5 or less.

The first adopter is Wakefern Food Corporation, which selected NextManager to assist with streamlining front-end operations and improving customer service in ShopRite supermarkets located throughout their trading area.

“We have been very pleased with the functionality of the NextManager solution, and it has enabled us to run our front-end store more efficiently,” says Alan Aront, vice president, technology division, Wakefern Food Corporation. “Using NextManager also enables us to take advantage of our previous investment in Motorola handheld products which have been deployed throughout our stores.”

NextManager currently runs on Windows CE and Motorola’s MC50 mobile computers, which were already deployed in ShopRite for other functions. Like the rest of the NextVision suite, the application integrates with the IBM 4690 operating system. Eventually, Agilysys plans to make the application platform-independent.

The application includes a Windows-based, GUI configuration tool that allows the retailer to easily configure the 4690 messages that can be viewed and approved by the NextManager application. In addition to store managers, department and front-end managers can use the application. The retailer has the ability to configure groups of users and limit the types of messages, transactions and data those users can access. If a manager is unable to respond to a particular request, he or she can forward the transaction to another manager to address.

Future ideas for NextManager include mobile POS functionality and issuing terminals to customers to scan items as they shop, but Agilysys plans to let customer requests shape development activities.