Switching POS systems is disruptive enough that it's worth getting the decision right the first time. Here are ten questions worth asking any vendor (including us) before signing anything.
1. What happens when the internet drops?
Get a specific answer, not a reassurance. Does the terminal keep taking orders, or does service stop?
2. What's the true total monthly cost?
List price rarely includes the terminal, payment processing, add-on modules, and per-location fees. Ask for the fully-loaded number.
3. Does it integrate with (or replace) your other tools?
A POS that requires five separate integrations to match a unified platform's included modules often ends up costing more and breaking more.
4. How is guest and payment data protected?
Ask specifically about encryption, PCI compliance for payment processing, and role-based access. Not just "we take security seriously."
5. What's the contract length and exit cost?
Locked-in multi-year contracts with early termination fees are common in this category. Know the exit cost before you need it.
6. Can it run multiple venues from one login?
Relevant even if you're single-venue today. Growth shouldn't mean a system migration.
7. How is staff trained, and how fast?
A system that takes weeks to onboard new staff has an ongoing labour cost baked into it that never shows up on the pricing page.
8. What does support actually look like during service?
Ask what happens if something breaks at 8pm on a Saturday, response time and channel, specifically.
9. Is reporting real-time or batch?
Decisions made on yesterday's data are a different product than decisions made on tonight's data.
10. What does the AI (if any) actually do?
"AI-powered" is on a lot of pricing pages now. Ask for a specific example of a decision the system makes or a task it automates, not the marketing description.
We'd rather you ask us these directly than take a features list at face value, book a demo and put the questions to a real person running the product.