Troubleshooting Your POS System: How To Avoid POS Downtime

A point-of-sale (POS) system sits at the heart of businesses within the retail or restaurant sector. By managing transactions, payments, and inventory, daily operations are made more efficient and the customer experience is maximized. 

System downtime has a serious impact on how a business is able to operate, causing significant delays and frustrations. With 81% of retailers experiencing POS downtime at least once a year, this poses a lot of risk for businesses.

With 87% of retailers claiming they wait up to 4 hours for support during an outage, this is simply not an option for many business owners. 

In this article, we discuss five techniques that you can use to source the most likely cause of POS downtime, as well as ways to prevent issues from occurring in the future.

Check Connectivity Issues

Many business owners fear an issue with their POS system when their payments fail to process or their inventory does not update in real-time. 

Before rushing to customer service or your technical support team, checking the internet connectivity can help identify whether that may be the cause of the problem. Since a POS relies on internet connectivity, internet downtime will also cause the POS system to go down.

To troubleshoot, check whether your connection is active and that the router is performing as it should. Switching to a wired connection may help stabilize the connection, or if using a cloud-based POS system, check whether the hosting server is active.

Test Hardware

The physical devices that work alongside the POS system can create unexpected downtime, and the cause may not be immediately obvious. Hardware such as printers, barcode scanners, and cash registers are all important parts of daily operations, and failures can cause disruption across larger processes. 

To check whether the hardware can be the reason behind downtime, start by ensuring that all devices are properly connected and appear to be on. Testing each device one at a time will help ensure they are working as they should, being able to quickly identify the source of any system outages.

All hardware should be regularly inspected for any signs of damage or fault, maintaining safety standards and getting any issues resolved before they escalate.

Consider User Errors

In some cases, a business will struggle to figure out what is going wrong within its system when, in reality, the cause of the issue relates to human error.

Whether a member of staff has been using the system incorrectly or multiple employees are carrying out conflicting actions, these mistakes can lead to frequent delays or system crashes.

All staff should be thoroughly trained on how to use the POS system, having their daily responsibilities clearly defined so they are aware of what tasks need to be completed. 

For any members of staff who appear to be struggling with their duties or are causing disruption to the POS system, extra support or training sessions could be beneficial.

Update Software

If software is glitching, it can cause problems in the overall running of a POS system. To troubleshoot where the issue is coming from, manually check for any updates that are available to ensure that all software is up to date. If software is running off an outdated version, it can lead to issues with compatibility or pose security threats.

Whether using a physical POS or a cloud-based POS, updates troubleshoot issues promptly so business can get back on track. 

Many modern POS systems automatically check for software updates, and if using a cloud-based system, these updates should be handled by the provider.

If an update is required, it is often best to schedule for this to occur during closing hours. The software may not be usable during the update or may run at a slow speed, so avoiding this during peak hours can avoid disruption.

Run a Malware Check

Malware attacks are an unfortunate occurrence that pose a real threat to businesses. If security is breached, unauthorized personnel are able to access internal systems and cause system downtime or put sensitive data at risk. These issues can remain undetected for some time, so ensuring your business stays on top of security will prevent cybersecurity issues.

To ensure your system is protected from these security threats, installing a firewall and reputable antivirus software will help shut out any suspicious activity or unsafe malware. If they detect any existing concerns, they are able to remove these from the system and prevent further threats.

Keeping POS Downtime At Bay In The Long Term

With your POS system being at the forefront of daily operations, downtime can have serious consequences for a business.

In the event of unexpected disruption, running through the discussed troubleshooting techniques can help identify the source of the issue in a timely manner so it can be resolved as fast as possible.

Staying proactive through ongoing measures such as running hardware inspections, updating software, and installing antivirus software will ensure the risk of downtime is minimized moving forward.