Prepare for internet outages with a modern point-of-sale solution

Internet outages in a retail store, restaurant, or service-based business can be very stressful for staff and customers. Your customers will likely feel frustrated with longer wait times and have payment security concerns; meanwhile, your staff can feel helpless without valuable tools and an internet connection. Research from the Uptime Institute* shows that internet and power outages are becoming less common and less severe as industry players boost resiliency, but it is still important to plan for any potential business disruptions. The key to surviving these situations is preparedness – here’s what you need to know.

Take stock of the key business functions you still need during an internet outage
While your business can likely still do some tasks without an internet connection, taking care of customers will likely be more difficult. That’s why it is important to proactively identify the types of business activities that you need to create backup plans for in the event of lost connectivity. These tasks may vary by business type – restaurants still need to be able to take orders, while retailers need to be able to take customers through the checkout process – but in general, there are four key areas to proactively strengthen:

• Taking orders: In the event of an internet outage, you still need to be able to access your menus or catalogs and place orders for customers to stay open.
• Accepting payments: Have backup options for accepting payments safely and accurately for your customers.
• Tracking inventory: Make sure any products or services sold during an offline period are still tracked in your inventory management system.
• Maintaining customer relationships: Most importantly, make sure the customer experience remains largely unchanged to ensure satisfaction and loyalty to your business.

Use your point-of-sale solution to keep operations moving
Thankfully, modern point-of-sale (POS) solutions are no longer limited by local information storage or lack of offline functionality. Due to the widespread adoption of cloud storage for business data*, many POS solutions allow you to access anytime, anywhere and ensure heightened levels of security and resilience.  Additionally, modern POS solutions have more offline functionalities that will help get your small business through a tough day:

• Accept payments while disconnected from the internet
  Data caching* is the key to accepting payments during an internet outage; this happens during any transaction, online or offline, but is particularly helpful when you experience a disruption in your internet access. When you process a digital payment, data points are caught and temporarily stored in the POS system. These data points, like the cardholder’s name and card number, are then sent to the payment processor. If those data points can’t be transferred due to lack of internet connectivity, they’re stored locally on your device until reconnected to the network.

• Enable local pre-authorization during internet outages
  When connected to the internet, payments are authorized upon approval from your payment processor. If that connection is missing during an internet outage, your POS solution still needs the ability to process offline transactions until the cache (temporary system memory) can be cleared. With modern POS technology, you can choose to turn off this validation step and proceed with the order. As soon as internet is restored, your payments are authorized if the customer has available funds.

This is a great solution for keeping register lines moving – however, it should be made available with some precautions. If the customer doesn’t have funds, you risk dealing with a bad transaction once your internet access is restored.  To minimize risk, it is important to set a maximum purchase limit on your POS solution for pre-authorized transactions. You can also keep customer-signed receipts, SMS confirmations, and key details such as transaction ID, cardholders’ information, proof of goods and services handy to help you to raise disputes if your payment is not authorized after internet is restored.

• Keep accurate inventory tracking even while offline
  Whether you operate a restaurant, retail store, or service-based business, you need to keep close track of inventory – especially on a day with connectivity issues. Your POS solution can help you log inventory changes while you are disconnected from the internet and will then reconcile those changes with your cloud-based data once reconnected to the network. This will help your staff get through tough days without losing track of stock levels or creating additional manual work to recover.

• Prepare your staff and communicate with your customers about limitations
  When not connected to the internet, an offline POS system can complete a wide variety of functions – but some tasks will be unavailable until you are reconnected. During an internet outage, your business likely will not be able to sell or use gift cards, complete refunds or exchanges, edit your catalog/menu or synchronize data on separate POS devices. Make sure to train your employees on how to handle these situations and be ready to explain operational limitations to customers during an internet disruption.

Prepare for internet outages by setting up a mobile POS solution
It is important to choose a POS solution that offers robust offline features, but you should also have a backup plan. A mobile POS solution can help fill operational gaps during an internet outage by leveraging cellular data networks. Your business should keep a mobile device (like a smartphone or tablet with cellular data) loaded with your payments processing app on hand, so you can use your full POS solution during an internet outage. Having a backup option on a smartphone or tablet will allow you to use 4G and 5G data to send transactions to your payment processor, rather than relying on Wi-Fi or ethernet connections. This will keep operations running smoothly, even during a disruption, and keep your customers happy.

When choosing a POS provider, ask about the functions available during an internet outage. From offline payment processing to mobile POS options, make sure your business is prepared for any disruption.

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