About Your Counterpoint Subscription Renewal

About Your Counterpoint Subscription Renewal

When I was visiting the dentist as a child, I complained about having to floss my teeth every day. When I asked the dentist why I had to do this, he replied, “You only have to floss the ones you want to keep!”

I think about this quip when I send out Subscription Renewal notices for Counterpoint. Sometimes people will question why it’s necessary to be current on their renewals, but there are many reasons. It depends on what you want to keep!

  • Do you want to keep your system up-to-date with feature enhancements such as critical updates and corrections?
  • Do you want to keep PCI DSS compliant and be able to access the CP Dashboard?
  • Do you want to keep the ability to purchase additional users, options, or remote sites from your Counterpoint Reseller?
  • Do you want to keep the ability to participate in the Counterpoint User Forum discussion area for sharing information with other Counterpoint users?

All of these important features (and more!) allow you to fully utilize options that can save you time, money, and hard work.

Keep current—keep your Subscription Renewal up-to-date!

Questions? Call us today at 425-672-4806 or email us. We have the answers to your needs!

Marlene

Counterpoint V7 to SQL Yearend Discount Special!

Counterpoint V7 to SQL Yearend Discount Special!

 

 Happy Holidays

It’s Time to Think About Migrating to Counterpoint SQL!

Considering New Hardware and Windows10 Packaging? Remember CPSQL Supports Windows 10!

Here’s Our CPSQL Upgrade Special for You!

SPECIAL BUNDLE AND PRICING, INCLUDING TWO EXTRA BONUS ITEMS

Limited Time Special of 25% Off the List Price of Counterpoint V7 Upgrades to Counterpoint SQL.
1 Month of FREE Smart Alerts Counterpoint System Monitoring and Alerting to Your Mobile Devices.
1 Month of FREE Customer Connect Integrated Counterpoint Email Marketing.

NCR Smart Alerts is a mobile alerting tool allowing you to keep track of what happens in your store at all times We know the world is a stage, but that doesn’t mean you can be everywhere at once. Like your own personal assistant, our software makes you feel like you’ve got everything covered. Our mobile alerting system informs you of all store operations across your locations, keeping you up-to-date on sales information, any fraudulent activity, or day-to-day operations.

NCR Customer Connect is a powerful integrated email marketing system helping you grow your business by driving sales. The show’s not over yet—get them asking for an encore! Send follow up emails to connect with your customers after their experience. Our integrated, automated email marketing system enables you to use customer data and preferences to send them personalized offers.

More …

Don’t Miss This Limited Time Offer. Special Pricing Ends December 22, 2017.

Call CCS Marilyn at 800/425-672-4806 or Email sales@ccscentral.com

Counterpoint v7 migration to Counterpoint SQL Special

Counterpoint v7 migration to Counterpoint SQL Special

It’s Time to Think About Migrating to Counterpoint SQL!

Considering New Hardware and Windows10 Packaging? Remember CPSQL Supports Windows 10!

Here’s Our CPSQL Upgrade Special for You!

SPECIAL BUNDLE AND PRICING, INCLUDING TWO EXTRA BONUS ITEMS

Limited Time Special of 25% Off the List Price of Counterpoint V7 Migration to Counterpoint SQL.
1 Month of FREE Smart Alerts Counterpoint System Monitoring and Alerting to Your Mobile Devices.
1 Month of FREE Customer Connect Integrated Counterpoint Email Marketing.

Don’t Miss This Limited Time Offer. Special Pricing Ends December 22, 2017.

Call Marilyn at 800/425-672-4806 or Email sales@ccscentral.com

XR7 And XR5 Terminals

 XR7 And XR5 Terminals

Ready for a sleek new look to your retail cash wrap? Look no further, The NCR XR7 and XR5 Terminals are here!

Here are some of the features of the XR7

The NCR RealPOS XR7’s sleek, modern appearance—with its slim profile, zero-bezel design, and elegant styling—sets it apart from other point-of-sale solutions. Powered by 4th-generation Intel® Core™ processor technology, the NCR RealPOS XR7 delivers amazing performance and future-proofs your investment. On-board “odometers” capture vital health and usage statistics to help us keep you up and running.

The NCR RealPOS XR7with its rugged die-cast aluminum chassis, long-life LED display, projected-capacitive or resistive touchscreen, and enterprise class solid state drive (SSD) or hard disk drive (HDD), the RealPOS XR7 is built to last. Our comprehensive environmental and compatibility testing, along with stringent manufacturing standards, ensure years of dependable operation.

The NCR RealPOS XR7 represents the latest evolution of NCR’s design and usability thinking around point-of-sale terminals. The product form, materials and user interface builds on over a century of knowledge and global experience. The result is a culmination of design, functionality, and quality that goes beyond any point-of-sale solution in the market.

The XR7 comes Pre-loaded with Windows 7 Pro or Windows 7 Embedded (64-bit)

Here are the XR5 Features

The NCR RealPOS™ XR5 is powered by the latest Quad core Intel® Celeron® processor-based system-on-chip (SoC) technology to give you high energy efficiency, lower operating temperature, and uncompromised performance. This means lower power cost and higher reliability. The associate display provides support to boost associate productivity and lets them interact in a way that is familiar to them.

Like our NCR RealPOS XR7, the XR5 was With its rugged die-cast aluminum chassis, long life LED display, resistive touchscreen, fan-less design, solid state drive, and long life components, the RealPOS XR5 will provide years of reliable operation.

The XR5 comes pre-loaded with Windows 10 (64-bit)

Both terminals were designed to offer the sophisticated elegance of the latest consumer technology, but with the robustness and reliability of industrial grade, purpose built POS technology – giving you the best of both worlds.

Both terminals also offer built-in encrypted card swipes (P2Pe) to further enhance the security of your environment. Along with NCR Secure Pay payment gateway, your customers data is safe and secure.

For more specs and information, please contact the CCS Retail Systems sales department at sales

-Bryan

 

 

NCR Ranked #1 in Global POS Software by RBR in Second Year of Market

NCR Ranked #1 in Global POS Software by RBR in Second Year of Market Report

New RBR “Global POS Software 2017” report identifies NCR as leading point-of-sale software provider in the retail and hospitality industries for the second consecutive year

Duluth, Ga. – October 31,2017NCR Corporation (NYSE: NCR), a global leader in omni-channel solutions, remains the leading point-of-sale (POS) software provider for the retail and hospitality industries according to a study published by the strategic research and consulting firm RBR.

RBR’s research “Global POS Software 2017” is an in-depth international study of this dynamic market, analyzing more than 1,400 projects, by more than 60 vendors. The report shows that major retailers and hospitality operators account for 7 million POS installations worldwide, with NCR as the market leader for the 2nd consecutive year.

Additionally, nearly 300,000 new POS installations occurred from June 2016 to June 2017, and NCR led this growth with 14% global share.

“Retail and hospitality businesses are increasingly turning to our Omni Channel Decision Support Solutions and capabilities as NCR delivers proven value to our customers as a critical partner in shaping the customer experience,” said Dirk Izzo, senior vice president and general manager Industry Solution Group, NCR Corporation. “Our point-of-sale software delivers a consistent consumer experience across all touchpoints.”

The NCR software portfolio is leading transformational change across the entire retail and hospitality ecosystem, as these markets will increasingly rely on omni-channel platforms that can capture and provide actionable customer insights. NCR’s cloud-based infrastructure and APIs, combined with NCR point-of-sale software, will enable integration of third party applications and various types of data analysis to drive smarter, faster business decisions. This enables businesses to select and easily integrate different types of technology with their current systems, ultimately helping to save them money, time to market and helping them future-proof their business and transform at their own pace.

About NCR Corporation
NCR Corporation (NYSE: NCR) is a leader in omni-channel solutions, turning everyday interactions with businesses into exceptional experiences. With its software, hardware, and portfolio of services, NCR enables nearly 700 million transactions daily across the financial, retail, hospitality, travel, telecom and technology industries. NCR solutions run the everyday transactions that make your life easier. NCR is headquartered in Duluth, Ga., with about 30,000 employees and does business in 180 countries. NCR is a trademark of NCR Corporation in the United States and other countries. NCR encourages investors to visit its website which is updated regularly with financial and other important information about NCR.

Website: www.ncr.com
Twitter: @NCRCorporation
Facebook: www.facebook.com/ncrcorp
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/ncr-corporation
YouTube: www.youtube.com/user/ncrcorporation

6 top reasons for using bLoyal as a Customer Relationship Management tool.

 

6 top reasons for using bLoyal as a Customer Relationship Management tool.

bLoyal adds an extension to what NCR Counterpoint standardly offers for loyalty programs.

1. Offers and Promotions

Loyalty Offers and Promotions

Offers and promotions enhance your loyalty reward programs by offering short-term values that generate immediate sales and complement long-term loyalty member rewards. Offers and promotions work to your advantage in many ways. They provoke interest in new products, give members an opportunity to try something different, provide added value to your customers to help encourage loyalty, and ultimately generate more revenue for your business. bLoyal’s loyalty system gives you endless opportunities for offering sales and promotions to members and member segments.

Offers and Promotions from bLoyal allow you to go beyond the old style punch card by introducing exclusive loyalty program member benefits, scaled to help meet your specific needs and goals.

  • Gift Card Sales Promotions

Gift card marketing and promotions give you multiple opportunities to gain return customers and repeat sales.

As an example: If you offer a $5 gift card with a purchase of $25 or more, there’s an excellent chance that customer will either return to use the gift card or give it to someone else. Either way, statistically, there’s a 68% chance that the returning shopper will spend significantly more than the $5 offered.

Also, since bLoyal gift cards are loyalty enabled, every gift card can become a loyalty card, creating a new opportunity for building customer relationships.

  • Buy One Get One Loyalty Promotions

By one get one (BOGO) loyalty promotions are easy to configure within the bLoyal system, and despite the name, you aren’t limited in what you can offer. Buy-one-get-one promotions can span multiple product categories and use any combination of qualifiers and quantity pairings.

For example,

offer a buy two get one 50% off, promotion, or buy three and get bonus loyalty points.

With bLoyal’s loyalty system, the combinations are limitless and give you opportunities to create unique offers.

  • Coupon Loyalty Offers

Digital and print coupons significantly influence customer loyalty, sales, and word-of-mouth marketing. Customers are much more likely to be loyal to a business that provides coupons and more willing to tell friends about that business, however, the coupons need to be relevant to the consumer. bLoyal combines the power of loyalty member segmentation with targeted coupon creation and distribution, so you can create exclusive coupon loyalty offers for your members and distribute them through bLoyal built-in outbound marketing tools, or post shareable, viral coupons across your social media accounts.

2. Frequent Buyer Programs

  • Frequent Buyer Programs with bLoyal’s Loyalty Software

The following feature would be in addition to or instead of anything that you might currently be doing through NCR Counterpoint.

Building loyalty with frequent buyer programs provides a great way to reward customers for shopping with you often, or for choosing specific products or manufacturers regularly. bLoyal’s loyalty system lets you configure any frequent buyer rewards that you want, in real-time or for any other reason. With flexible points, coupons, and recurring purchase benefits, you can configure custom programs that provide value to your members instantly while encouraging more return visits.

  • Frequent Buyer Loyalty Reward Points

Rewarding your customers doesn’t mean you need to give them discounts every single time they shop. Establishing a point’s reward system provides incentives that add up over time, so your members know that once they reach a certain level of point’s rewards, they can redeem those points for a valuable rewards experience. You can set thresholds to reward customers for a certain number of visits, spending a set amount of money over time or within a limited period, or award bonus points for specific products or categories. The options are truly limitless.

Frequent buyer programs from bLoyal were designed so that you can reward loyal customers for what you want, when you want, how you want.

  • Dollar Amount or Cash Back Loyalty Rewards

Launching frequent buyer programs that are based on dollar amounts are effective at increasing both short and long-term customer spending. For example, you can offer $10 back on purchases of $150 or more, and provide a dollar reward amount on a gift card, or offer a coupon with a time limit. Dollar loyalty programs sometimes offer shipping credits based on spending caps, dollar amount discounts on future purchases, and more.

  • Award Programs with Tiers

Offering tiered loyalty rewards programs gives your members goal-based incentives to shop more often. Tiered programs can be implemented based on the number of visits, point value, or how much a customer spends during a period. Each rewards program

tier offers new benefits and rewards, with incentives to either maintain that loyalty tier, or reach it again after the related rewards have been redeemed.

  • Electronic Punch Card Loyalty

Electronic punch cards are a simple way to award members for frequent visits, purchasing a particular product, or choosing items from a certain manufacturer repeatedly. Digital loyalty punch cards can be configured in multiple ways and activated through many member check-in options from point of sale devices to mobile phones or loyalty gift cards.

  • Segmented Frequent Buyer Programs

One of the most powerful features of bLoyal’s loyalty software is the ability to segment loyalty members based on anything you want and reward customers based on where they are in the buyer’s journey as an individual. This level of targeting is powerful and personal, and with bLoyal you can offer targeted frequent buyer programs to different market segments based on

their interests, demographics, preferred store, or custom channels.

Frequent buyer rewards programs configured through bLoyal’s loyalty software are completely customizable to reach your customers in personal ways to create stronger, longer lasting relationships and boost the lifetime value of your members.

3. Outbound Marketing

Engage program members with the outbound marketing tools that are built right into the bLoyal system. You don’t need a separate, third-party system to send out exclusive offers through email, text, social blasts or remarketing campaigns. Segmented lists and categories keep your member contacts organized, so you can send targeted promotions to users based on their demographics, behaviors, and preferences without the hassle of managing separate mailing databases.

  • Loyalty Marketing with Email

Bulk emailing within bLoyal is simple. You can create newsletters with custom branded templates and send them to member groups or all members. Send event announcements, promotional campaigns, exclusive member content, surveys, and easily track engagements from

and promotions based on real engagement metrics.

  • Text Message Marketing

Schedule promotional announcements, coupons, event invitations, and more to reach your members anywhere through text message marketing. Members can opt-in or out at any time, and you can personalize messages for each user. Text message loyalty marketing is an excellent way to grow your audience, and it’s all possible in the bLoyal system without leaving your loyalty dashboard.

4. Remarketing with bLoyal

Remarketing helps you increase average order value and frequency by targeting loyalty program members based on their purchase history and other trackable loyalty program behaviors. Create remarketing campaigns by downloading segmented customer lists from bLoyal and

adding this data as a ‘custom audience’ on your next campaign.

  • Loyalty Rewards and Outbound Marketing

bLoyal offers a single platform for managing all of your outbound marketing and loyalty program efforts from one location. Engagements are linked to each member’s profile in our 360 CRM, as well as our reporting system, so you can view loyalty program engagement history

and evaluate the effectiveness of your targeting.

5. Segmentation

Marketing and Loyalty Segmentation

Member segmentation is a fundamental part of every loyalty rewards program and outbound marketing campaign. bLoyal’s built-in options give you the power to deliver the right rewards to the right customers at the right time. bLoyal provides static, dynamic , and SKU level dynamic segmentation options to help you make sure your engagements are on target and truly relevant to each of your members.

Members can be added to segmented loyalty lists automatically during sign-up, based on their demographics or where and how they signed-up, as well as being able to opt into segments online. Managers can create segmented loyalty lists manually, or lists can be automatically populated based on user behaviors and more.

Valuing your customer’s time is key to building a successful loyalty program. Marketing segmentation from bLoyal allows you to send the right message to the right customer’s at the right time.

  • Static Segmentation

Static segmentation is simple and intuitive within the bLoyal system. Mailing list managers can create member lists based on any criteria, directly within the system and use bLoyal’s outbound marketing tools to send out targeted sales, promotions, announcements, and more. Once created, managers can make changes to static lists manually. Static lists are useful for running short-term campaigns or sending engagement announcements that only apply to a very particular group of people.

  • Dynamic Segmentation

Dynamic marketing segmentation is an automated grouping of members based on any combination of behaviors and/or demographics.

For example, you can configure bLoyal to add every member of a particular demographic who has shopped at a specific store location to a precisely targeted mailing list. Customer history can be automated based on order history, purchase history, and even purchase of an individual product.

  • SKU Level Dynamic Segmentation

Product or SKU level segmentation is a highly targeted way to reach members based on their past purchases. bLoyal can automatically group customers that buy a particular product or brand into a list that you can use for precision marketing and promotions.

Highly Targeted Loyalty Solutions

With bLoyal’s loyalty and rewards system, customer partitioning is easy. Our solution allows you to create outbound marketing campaigns that will activate and engage your loyalty program members based on products they’re really interested in. You’ll also have access to analytics based on the member segments you provide, so you can quickly report on results and make adjustments as often as you need.

If you’re looking for a powerful loyal marketing solution for your business, call CCS to schedule a demonstration and learn more about bLoyal’s powerful features.

For more information on the above, please contact the CCS Retail Systems, Inc. Sales department (sales) or 1-800-672-4806.

– John

Are You Ready For EMV Security?

 

Are You Ready For EMV Security?

Before you start taking chip cards (EMV) with your NCR Counterpoint System there are a few thing that need to be done.

  • First, you must be on at least NCR Counterpoint version 8.4.6.18, although this version of the software will work with EMV, it is recommended that you upgrade to the latest version of 8.5.3 so you may benefit from any fixes and new features.
  • With 8.5.3 in mind, it is also necessary that your operating system is at least Windows 7, as of 8.5.2, Windows 10 is supported. Windows 7 and above support the latest encryption protocols to help keep your data safe. Windows XP does not have these updated protocols and will not be updated by Microsoft to include them.
  • If you are already taking credit cards but have not updated to NCR Secure Pay, that will need to be done as well. With NCR Secure Pay, it will protect you and your customers data as it is no longer kept on your system and is tokenized to further protect the data. You may also need to update your merchant account to support NCR Secure pay. CCS can work with you and your merchant services rep to get your account ready for NCR Secure Pay and EMV processing.
  • You must be using an Ingenico ISC250 Pin Pad that has the correct version of firmware to work with your software AND NCR Secure Pay EMV processing. Firmware will vary depending on NCR Counterpoint version. CCS can help find your current firmware version and update (if necessary) to the correct version.
  • Pay codes (Touchscreen and Regular ticket entry) – the following pay codes must exist and be assigned to the store setup (but do not necessarily need a button) VISA, MC (or MasterCard), DISC (or Discover), AMEX (or American Express). Also there must be an EMV pay code button to activate the chip reader when processing a chip card. Note – If a card has a chip, it must be inserted into the reader, if a card does not have a chip it may be swiped just like before. In the case of a chip that will not read, a Manual EMV button can be setup to allow the customer to manually type in their card information securely through the Pin Pad.
  • Once the above has been complete, CCS can test the setup in a test environment to be sure that all settings both on the bank and the software side are correct. Once confirmed working, CCS can setup a time to implement and go through a test transaction so you can see the flow of an EMV chip card transaction.

If you need help with any of the above, please contact the CCS Retail Systems Support Department @ 800.672.4806 or send us an email to get you started on your way to EMV processing

-Bryan

NCR Counterpoint API Release

NCR Counterpoint API Release

releaseheader2.jpg
NCR Counterpoint API
greenbar.jpg

Great News! NCR is pleased to announce the release of version 2.0 of the NCR Counterpoint API, which includes several new features and resolves a number of issues in the initial v1.0 release.

If you are updating the NCR Counterpoint API from v1.0 to v2.0, you can install the new version over your existing installation by downloading NCRCounterpointAPI.exe from the Partner Portal and running it on your NCR Counterpoint API server. All existing settings, users, and endpoints will be retained when you update to v2.0.

Detailed information about the functionality and use of the Counterpoint Rest API is maintained on GitHub. Please visit https://github.com/NCRCounterpointAPI/APIGuide on GitHub for more information about the Counterpoint Rest API.

greenbar.jpg
    Powered by CustomerConnect

Migrating To NCR CPSQL

So you have decided to update your V7 Counterpoint to CPSQL. CCS Retail Systems is here to help!

One of the first steps to a successful update, is to make sure CCS has all the data from your current version.

We will usually ask for a complete backup of your entire V7 Counterpoint installation. This can be from a tape backup, a USB flash drive, or even a copy of the installation directory to a Dropbox or Google Drive account.

Once we have the backup, we can start with a test upgrade that will give us a more complete picture of how much time it will take when the final cutoff date is agreed upon.

The test upgrade is an important part of the upgrade process. Not only does it give us a complete picture of what it will take to get you upgraded efficiently, it will also allow you to review the data and test your equipment and infrastructure.

For example, let’s say you have older receipt printer, this is the time to test them out to be sure your receipts look professional, your cash drawer opens, and the performance of this equipment is optimal for your business.

This is also the time to put the new system through its paces to iron out the little tweaks and changes that may need to be made so when the final upgrade is complete, we have all the settings that were made in the test to transfer over to your live database so you are ready to go on your first Live day of use. When I say “put the new system through its paces”, I mean do everything you would do in a normal day. Put a few tickets in the system, if you use orders, put a few of those in as well, test your printers, all of them, print/review the different reports offered, create a PO and receive it, add a new item, new user, new category. I think you get picture. Test, test and test some more until you are satisfied that everything is working as expected.

In the many upgrades that CCS has done, I find that the more people test the different function of CPSQL, the more the learning curve lessens, less issues with hardware and everything is in place for happy customers and a successful first day using the new system.

Are you planning on updating your V7 Counterpoint to CPSQL?

CCS has done many migrations to CPSQL, it is not an easy tasks and requires a significant amount of time to properly upgrade.

If CCS Retail Systems is helping you with your upgrade, we have plans in place to help make the process easier for you.

Part of our plan is to do a test upgrade and let you (our customers) see the end result and check that the all data that has been upgraded is there and settings are set for the way you do business.

This test upgrade is the time when you should test every part of your business in the new software, to be sure work the way you expect.

This would also include testing your hardware and your environment to be sure all your devices, network, and report printers will work.

Bryan

NCR Vitalcast Digital Signage

NCR Vitalcast Digital Signage

Motivate desired customer behavior with  real-time offers and information

NCR Vitalcast Digital Signage enables you to connect with customers by offering information and offers that are  targeted to their needs at that moment. Organizations in a wide array of industries use our state-of-the-art,high resolution digital signboards for such applications as advertising and promotions, employee communications, digital menu boards, ticketing and box office advertising, and visitor information and directions. 

Continue reading NCR Vitalcast Digital Signage