`PATENT OWNER
`
`EXHIBIT 2049
`EXHIBIT 2049
`
`
`
`
`
`A S U P P L E M E N T T O
`H O S P I T A L I T Y T E C H N O L O G Y
`
`July/August 2004
`
`THE TOP
`
`10
`
`Performing POS Companies
`Based on User Satisfaction
`and Functionality
`
`Top 10 POS Companies >> Medal Winners >> Top Rated POS Products >>
`User Satisfaction Scores >> Segment Watch
`
`
`
`4 Top 10 POS Companies
`
`7 User Satisfaction Scores
`>> Overall Performance
`>> Total Cost of Ownership
`>> Return on Investment
`>> Ease of Integration
`>> Quality of Service and Support
`
`10 Industry Breakdown
`>> Quick Service
`>> Table Service
`>> Hotel
`>> Casino
`
`11 Top Performers
`
`CONTENTS
`
`Group Publisher ................................Andrew Gaffney
`Associate Publisher..........................Lenore O’Meara
`Editor-in-Chief...........................................Reid A. Paul
`Associate Editor ............................Nicole Richardson
`Creative Director..............................Colette Magliaro
`Account Executive...................................Ryan Baxter
`
`www.htmagazine.com
`
`POS SCOREBOARD ■ HT July/August 2004
`
`3
`
`Score
`Keeper’s
`Note
`W hen Hospitality Technology magazine first
`
`conceived of the POS Scoreboard we knew
`we had a challenge in front of us. With
`more than 50 companies selling point-of-
`sale systems to the foodservice industry, it is both a
`diverse and at the same time highly competitive
`industry segment.
`Many people told us it couldn’t, or shouldn’t be
`done. After all, how do you compare a POS system
`designed for pizzerias with one used only by hotels?
`How do you write about global companies with
`years of experience and new start-ups? Needless to
`say, we ignored that advice. It wasn’t easy to
`balance all these competing concerns, but in the
`end we created what we believe is the most
`accurate,
`fair and appropriate analysis of
`foodservice POS technology that exists today.
`We at Hospitality Technology would like to thank
`the more than 350 respondents that took the time
`to evaluate their POS systems. Whether it was a
`senior vice president information technology at a
`Fortune 500 company or a restaurant general
`manager we counted every vote and listened to
`every comment.
`And we hope the technology vendors do too.
`The results of this study should provide a powerful
`indicator of which POS companies are hot. All ten of
`the companies to make the top 10 should be proud.
`Some excelled in ROI, others in service and support,
`some had a highly regarded POS solution while
`others performed well across the board. However it
`happened, they all made it to an elite list of top POS
`performers.
`The ultimate goal of the POS Scoreboard is to
`provide a benchmark for judging POS solutions in a
`crowded field. The challenge for the ten companies
`in the top ten and all the top performers is to
`maintain their elite positions. Now the competition
`really begins.
`
`
`
`Top10
`W hat does it take to have a top rated
`
`POS solution? The answer is simple: A
`broad range of POS functionality that
`answers the needs of restaurants and
`foodservice operators and happy users. That’s it. The
`ten companies listed below are focused in a variety
`of markets, ranging from hotels and casinos to table
`service restaurants and quick-service restaurants.
`The POS Scoreboard was built in much the same
`way as many RFPs. More than 50 POS companies
`were identified for the purposes of this study and
`each company was sent a detailed questionnaire.
`Foodservice POS vendors were given a list of 42
`specific POS functions designed for foodservice
`operators. Companies could receive a maximum of
`40 points in this section for functions like, gift card,
`drive thru, kitchen display and more. In addition,
`companies could receive up to 10 points for the
`
`number of foodservice terminals installed (not just
`sites) worldwide. Another five points were awarded
`for company revenue (at the request of a number of
`companies, the installations and revenue data have
`been kept confidential). Companies could receive a
`maximum of 55 points in this “objective” part of the
`study.
`The second part of the POS Scoreboard is drawn
`from a survey of point-of-sale system users. More
`than 350 users answered nine questions evaluating
`their POS systems on a scale of 1 to 10 (for more on
`the questions, see page 7). Each question was worth
`a maximum of five points, for a total of 45 points.
`Taken together the user responses and the
`company survey offer a balanced view of POS
`software companies. POS companies could receive a
`maximum of 100 points. The top ten POS companies
`all displayed broad functionality to serve the
`
`Continued on page 6
`
`Company
`
`POS
`Functionality
`
`Company
`Total
`
`User
`Satisfaction
`
`Total
`Score
`
`54
`52
`44
`48
`42
`38
`37
`37
`40
`33
`
`30.1
`30.2
`36.7
`31.5
`32.9
`35.9
`36.1
`32.5
`29.5
`36.0
`
`84.1
`82.2
`80.7
`79.5
`74.9
`73.9
`73.1
`69.5
`69.5
`69.0
`
`39
`37
`34
`36
`27
`30
`32
`27
`28
`25
`
`MICROS Systems
`Aloha by Radiant Systems
`Maitre’D by Posera
`Positouch
`ParTech
`Restaurant Managers by ASI
`Volante Systems
`InfoGenesis
`Squirrel Systems
`PC America
`
`21 3456789 1
`
`0
`
`4 HT July/August 2004 ■ POS SCOREBOARD
`
`
`
`Top 10 Continued from page 4
`
`Top POS
`System Solutions
`
`■ Micros 3700
`■ Radiant Systems Aloha 5.2
`■ Positouch Table Service
`
`foodservice industry and high
`customer
`satisfaction. POS
`companies
`that had high
`customer
`satisfaction, but
`narrowly targeted solutions, or
`broad
`solutions but poor
`customer satisfaction did not
`fair as well
`in
`the POS
`Scoreboard.
`It should comes as no
`surprise to anyone
`in the
`industry that MICROS Systems,
`Radiant Systems and Positouch
`all finished at the top of the
`Scoreboard. Not only do these
`companies have
`a
`large
`installation base and high
`company revenue—factors that certainly helped their
`scores—but more importantly, they finished in first,
`second and third place for POS functionality. Having a
`diverse array of customers to support, Micros, Radiant
`and Positouch offer the broadest range of point-of-sale
`functionality in the industry. Bolstered by strong User
`Satisfaction scores, these three companies exhibited a
`comprehensive approach to providing technology to
`the foodservice industry.
`The other companies in the POS Scoreboard Top 10
`took a different route. Maitre’D by Posera, ParTech,
`Restaurant Manager by ASI, Volante Systems,
`InfoGenesis, Squirrel Systems and PC America have all
`developed more specialized products. Each of these
`POS solutions still offers a range of POS functionality,
`but tend to be more focused on specific segments of
`the industry. The focus of many of these companies is
`evident in the Industry Breakdown section (p. 11). Not
`surprisingly these companies received the highest User
`Satisfaction scores as well.
`Top POS Systems
`The strength of a point-of-sale company is built upon
`the power of the systems they sell. Nearly all the POS
`vendors sell multiple versions of POS software, ranging
`from high-end
`solutions
`to others designed
`for the budget conscious. While there is no single
`solution that works for every restaurant or foodservice
`operation, some systems clearly represent the cream
`of the crop.
`Survey respondents identified and rated 162 distinct
`POS software solutions. Many of these systems rated
`
`6 HT July/August 2004 ■ POS SCOREBOARD
`
`quite well, but only received a few
`votes. The Micros 3700, Aloha 5.2
`by Radiant Systems and Positouch
`5.2 POS systems all received at
`least 10 votes, which is more than
`enough
`to make
`the
`results
`statistically significant.
`
`Systems
`
`MICROS
`3700
`Based on the results of the POS
`Scoreboard Survey, the Micros
`3700’s strong suit is its overall
`performance. Only one of the
`seventeen respondents gave the
`Micros 3700 POS system a score
`lower than 8 (it was a 7) for overall performance. In
`addition, the Micros 3700 rated nearly as well for its return
`on investment, total cost of ownership and ease of
`installation.
`The respondents represented quick service, fast casual,
`table service, hotels and casinos, although the bulk of the
`respondents were table-service restaurants. The flexibility
`of the Micros 3700 is also evident in the eleven 10s the
`system received in the voting, with at least one for each
`criteria.
`
`Aloha by Radiant Systems
`Version 5.2
`The second most popular system in the POS Scoreboard
`is the Aloha 5.2 POS by Radiant Systems. Of course, is you
`go to the Aloha website, you will be hard pressed to find
`Aloha 5.2 anywhere. So what is the solution the
`respondents like so much? Aloha TableService, which
`received high marks for its ease of installation, low total
`cost of ownership and strong return on investment.
`Although called a TableService solution, one-third of the
`respondents were quick-service restaurants.
`
`Positouch Table Service
`All but four of the respondents evaluating Positouch use
`Positouch Table Service solution version 5.2. The system
`received the highest rating of the three systems for
`Return on Investment, but also scored well for overall
`performance and ease of upgrade. In fact Positouch Table
`Service received an impressive 14 scores of 10 and two
`for sales and support. ■
`
`
`
`User Satisfaction
`T he “User Satisfaction” ratings are a central
`“
`
`Twenty percent
`gave their POS
`company a 10
`for overall
`performance.
`
`to companies with large-scale installs, we counted
`the number of actual terminals are not the number of
`installed locations. Nearly all the companies agreed
`that the division was the fairest way to compare
`companies of varying scale. Of all the
`companies in the POS Scoreboard,
`only PC America had a single solution
`for both foodservice and retail POS.
`We placed PC America in the “fewer
`than 20,000
`installed
`terminals”
`category because although PC
`America has more than 20,000 total
`installed terminals, it is unclear how
`many are foodservice-specific.
`Three
`hundred
`twenty-three
`respondents completely filled out the
`survey
`representing quick-service
`restaurants, table-service restaurants,
`hotels and casinos. Interestingly the
`ratings were quite positive. While one
`would expect an average score to be
`five on a scale from one to ten, the average scores for
`each question was much higher, ranging from 7.1 for
`integration to 7.7 for overall performance.
`
`”
`
`element to the POS Scoreboard. As a
`publication, Hospitality Technology has
`always believed that the most valuable
`opinion on any technology is that of
`its users. The User Satisfaction
`scores provide a new way for
`foodservice
`operators
`to
`communicate what they like (and
`don’t like) about their POS systems.
`That the respondents include a
`Fortune 500 company VP as well as
`small franchisee owners reflects the
`Scoreboard’s broad appeal.
`Survey respondents were asked
`to evaluate their POS system on
`nine distinct criteria on a scale from
`one to 10 (one being the lowest
`and ten reflecting a perfect system).
`The nine criteria were Overall
`Performance,
`Total
`Cost
`of
`Ownership, Return on Investment, Strategic Value,
`Ease of Installation, Ease of Integration, Ease of
`Administration and Quality of Support and Service.
`The scores of each company were taken and
`averaged so that each company had an equal
`opportunity to succeed. To provide balance to the
`scores, companies that received the most votes were
`awarded additional points. A company receiving
`more than 10 votes received one bonus point, up to
`five points for more than 50 responses.
`In the further interest of fairness, we decided to
`breakdown the results in two categories, companies
`with 20,000 or more installed terminals and those
`with fewer than 20,000 installed terminals. To be fair
`
`Overall performance
`It should come as no surprise that when survey
`respondents were asked, “Which single criteria is
`most important in deciding on a POS system?”,
`overall performance was the run-away winner. Half
`of the respondents indicated that they look at the
`overall performance as the most important criteria.
`Of equal
`importance
`is the high-level of
`satisfaction with foodservice POS systems’ overall
`performance. Among the top 10 companies, scores
`
`Overall Performance
`
`20,000 OR MORE INSTALLED TERMINALS
`1. Maitre’D by Posera
`2. InfoGenesis
`3. ParTech
`4. Positouch
`5. MICROS Systems
`
`FEWER THAN 20,000 TERMINALS
`1. Restaurant Manager by ASI
`2. PC America
`3. In-house/proprietary
`4. Volante Systems
`5. HSI
`
`POS SCOREBOARD ■ HT July/August 2004
`
`7
`
`
`
`User Satisfaction
`
`Total Cost of Ownership
`
`20,000 OR MORE INSTALLED TERMINALS
`1. Maitre’D by Posera
`2. ParTech
`3. InfoGenesis
`3. Positouch
`4. Panasonic
`
`FEWER THAN 20,000 TERMINALS
`1. PC America
`2. Restaurant Manager by ASI
`3. Volante Systems
`4. In-house/proprietary
`5. HSI
`
`Return on Investment
`
`20,000 OR MORE INSTALLED TERMINALS
`1. Maitre’D by Posera
`2. Positouch
`3. ParTech
`4. InfoGenesis
`5. Squirrel Systems
`
`FEWER THAN 20,000 TERMINALS
`1. PC America
`2. Restaurant Manager by ASI
`3. Volante Systems
`4. In-house/proprietary
`5. HSI
`
`ranged from a strong 7.6 to a truly impressive 9.4.
`The average score for all the companies was 7.7,
`which was the highest among all the categories.
`Twenty percent of the respondents gave their POS
`company a score of 10, and 63% of the respondents
`gave a score of eight or higher.
`
`Total cost of ownership
`The ranking for Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) are
`very similar to those for Overall Performance, which
`is probably the result of an increasing close
`examination of the costs associated with POS across
`the system’s entire life. Hospitality IT executives are
`paying far more attention to TCO measures now
`than in previous years.
`Interestingly, while proprietary systems ranked
`very well in overall performance, these in-house
`systems dropped from third to fourth in terms of
`TCO. This may reflect inherent costs associated with
`
`continuing to support in-house systems. The
`responses of Panasonic users, although the company
`just missed the top 10, indicate that its POS systems
`excels particularly at TCO.
`
`Return on investment
`Increasingly, return on investment has become a
`mantra for the foodservice industry. When investing
`in technology, IT executives need to determine a
`specific timetable
`for achieving a return on
`investment. The fact that 22% of the respondents
`rated their POS a 10 out of 10 for ROI, is perhaps the
`clearest indication of just how essential a strong POS
`system has become.
`The scores for the top 10 companies ranged from
`7.5 to 9.3 and both Maitre’D by Posera and PC
`America achieved average scores above 9.0. Squirrel
`Systems users indicated that ROI was Squirrel’s
`strongest attribute with an average score of 8.0.
`
`8 HT July/August 2004 ■ POS SCOREBOARD
`
`
`
`Ease of integration
`for any POS
`Perhaps the biggest challenge
`implementation is integration with other key
`systems. The POS has become the heart of any
`restaurant or foodservice operation, and the ease of
`integration directly correlates to the company’s
`ability to work efficiently and smoothly. This issue is
`even more difficult and critical for hotels and casinos
`and other foodservice operations that are embedded
`in larger enterprises and as a result the companies
`that cater
`to
`those markets—HIS, Micros,
`InfoGenesis, Spring-Miller Radiant Systems—are
`most likely being judged even more rigorously.
`Given the challenges, it should come as little
`surprise that the overall average score (7.1) are lower
`in this category, then the others. Only one company,
`Volante Systems, had an average score above 9.0.
`
`Support and service
`The quality of support and service ranked second
`among respondents in terms of importance, with
`
`12% indicating it is the most important criteria for
`selecting a POS system. While it is often a point of
`frustration for users, it rang in at a very solid 7.4.
`Interestingly, 23% of respondents gave their POS
`vendor a 10 in this category and 57% gave their POS
`company a score of 8 or higher for support and
`service. While we expected to see quite a few
`disgruntled respondents in this category, that clearly
`was not the case.
`A strong showing by Micros indicates that even
`with an enormous support network across it is still
`possible to provide quality service. Equally strong
`showings by ParTech and Positouch also indicate that
`bigger companies can still deliver quality service.
`In addition to these five categories, POS vendors
`were also evaluated in terms of the strategic value,
`upgradability, ease of installation and ease of
`administration and maintenance. Fewer than 15% of
`the respondents indicated that these four remaining
`criteria were the most important in deciding on a POS
`system. These categories were nevertheless still used as
`part of the overall POS Scoreboard results. ■
`
`Ease of Integration
`
`20,000 OR MORE INSTALLED TERMINALS
`1. Maitre’D by Posera
`2. ParTech
`3. InfoGenesis
`4. Radiant Systems
`5. Squirrel Systems
`
`FEWER THAN 20,000 TERMINALS
`1. Volante Systems
`2. Restaurant Manager by ASI
`3. PC America
`4. In-house/proprietary
`5. Progressive
`
`Sales and Support
`
`20,000 OR MORE INSTALLED TERMINALS
`1. Maitre’D by Posera
`2. ParTech
`3. InfoGenesis
`4. Positouch
`5. Radiant Systems
`
`FEWER THAN 20,000 TERMINALS
`1. Volante Systems
`2. Restaurant Manager by ASI
`3. PC America
`3. In-house/proprietary
`4. Springer-Miller
`
`POS SCOREBOARD ■ HT July/August 2004
`
`9
`
`
`
`Industry Breakdown
`T he foodservice industry is a big place with a highly
`
`diversified range of operations. The needs of a
`casino with high volume QSR, fine dining and bar
`establishments all integrated under one roof differ
`dramatically from those of a neighborhood pizzeria. As one
`VP at a major restaurant chain insisted, “I am not sure a
`general POS survey for POS in the food service industry is
`that useful. You should at least break the survey down
`between QSR and full-service restaurants. “ Well that’s
`exactly what we did.
`In the survey, respondents were asked to identify their
`foodservice operation. Table-service restaurants represented
`39% of the respondents, followed by QSRs (26%), Hotels,
`Resorts and Spas (25%) and Casinos (4%). Another 6%
`selected other and wrote in answers ranging from bars to
`pizzarias to a zoo.
`One of the biggest surprises in the POS Scoreboard was
`the large number of responses from hotel operators. Since
`many hotel management companies use more than one
`POS system, the selection of a POS system becomes an
`especially important one. On more than one occasion, hotel
`IT executives contacted Hospitality Technology to evaluate all
`their POS systems, one at a time.
`The Industry Breakdown scores were developed by
`taking all the responses for each industry segment and
`looking at the composite User Satisfaction scores. So for
`example ParTech ranks number one in QSR because it had
`the highest composite average of all nine User Satisfaction
`questions from respondents that indicated they represented
`a quick-service restaurant. In some cases POS vendors are
`not on the list because they did not have the minimum
`number of votes for the segment.
`
`Quick Service
`POS solutions for quick-service restaurants have made
`tremendous progress in recent years. And QSR represents
`an increasingly competitive market. Clearly in this market a
`large footprint is extremely important. Only one company
`made the list with fewer than 20,000 installs, although as
`has been previously stated, PC America has a large install
`base when retail locations are factored in. Among the four
`companies with more than 20,000 installed foodservice
`terminals, all four are well known solutions.
`
`Table Service
`Given the longer history and near universal coverage of POS
`systems in the multi-unit table-service restaurant category, it
`comes as no surprise that the largest number of survey
`respondents represented table-service restaurants. Maitre’D
`by Posera topped the list with a astounding high score of
`
`10 HT July/August 2004 ■ POS SCOREBOARD
`
`9.5. Among the smaller companies, both Volante Systems
`and Restaurant Manager by ASI also topped 9.0.
`
`Hotel and Casino
`The only companies to excel among POS vendors with fewer
`than 20,000 installations are HSI and Springer-Miller—two
`companies with well established records in the industry. All of
`the POS companies with more than 20,000 installed
`terminals have long-standing relationships in the industry. In
`the case of Springer-Miller, their foodservice POS is primarily
`designed to add more functionality to their PMS.
`Springer-Miller’s popularity—and that of InfoGenesis and
`MICROS Systems—reflects the growing importance of
`integration among the issues that concern lodging IT leaders.
`That all three companies are involved in Hotel Technology
`Next Generation (HTNG), an organization focused on
`improving systems integration for the industry is no accident.
`Those patterns are even more pronounced in the casino
`industry. Issues of integration are critical in large scale casino
`operations and the fact that there are only two (fierce)
`competitors in the segment is more a reflection of the
`importance of size, scalability, integration and market
`presence than the relatively small number of responses.
`
`Segment Leaders:
`20,000 or more total
`installed terminals
`
`Segment Leaders:
`Fewer than 20,000
`total installed
`
`■ QSR
`PC America
`
`■ Table Service
`Volante Systems
`Restaurant Manager by ASI
`PC America
`HSI
`
`■ Hotel
`HSI
`Springer-Miller Systems
`
`■ QSR
`ParTech
`Panasonic
`Radiant Systems
`MICROS Systems
`
`■ Table Service
`Maitre’D by Posera
`Positouch
`Radiant Systems
`MICROS Systems
`Squirrel Systems
`
`■ Hotel POS
`InfoGenesis
`Micros System
`Radiant Systems
`
`■ Casino
`InfoGenesis
`MICROS Systens
`
`
`
`Top Performers
`
`Hospitality Technology thanks InfoGenesis, Maitre’D by Posera and Micros Systems
`for their support of the 2004 POS Scoreboard. Without their recognition of the
`importance of listening to POS users, this study would not have been possible. It is
`little wonder that these companies are the industry standard against which all their
`competitors are measured.
`
`InfoGenesis
`It is little wonder that InfoGenesis manages to retain more than 97% of its
`customers. Not only was InfoGenesis the number one POS solution for hotels and
`for casinos, but it also ranked highly in Overall Performance (No. 2) and Quality of
`Support and Service (No. 3).
`InfoGenesis develops point-of-sale (POS) solutions exclusively for the hospitality
`and foodservice industries. Its managed POS solutions include software, hardware,
`installation, training and consulting, and customer support.
`The InfoGenesis POS solution is designed specifically for table service restaurants,
`hotels, resorts, casinos, cruise ships, and institutional foodservice. The quality of the
`InfoGenesis solution is acknowledged, not only by its performance in the POS
`Scoreboard, but also by the list of prominent customers who use it, including the
`Westin Diplomat Resort in Hollywood, Florida; major cruise lines like Royal
`Caribbean Cruise Line; and the world’s largest casinos, like MGM Mirage and
`Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino. The InfoGenesis POS solution includes back-office
`management tools for stand-alone properties or enterprises of multiple sites, as well
`as flexible and intuitive touch screen terminal solutions.
`Founded in 1986, InfoGenesis is a privately held company based in Santa
`Barbara, California. InfoGenesis revenues have grown by a compounded average of
`40% throughout its 18-year history. For more information on InfoGenesis, visit
`www.infogenesis.com or call 805.681.8600.
`
`Maitre’D By Posera
`Focusing on its customers has always been a priority for Posera with its
`suite of Maitre’D POS products. And as the 2004 POS Scoreboard indicates, that
`attention to customers has paid off. Maitre’D had the highest overall User
`Satisfaction rating and was No.1 in Overall Performance, Return on Investment,
`Total Cost of Ownership, Ease of Integration and Quality of Support and Service
`among the POS vendors with more than 20,000 POS terminals installed.
`One of Posera’s priorities is research and development, and therefore
`continuously enhancing their solutions and taking the right directions in R&D in
`order to best meet the industry’s rising needs. Posera always explores and evaluates
`emerging technologies to discover the best ways to meet these needs.
`Posera’s mission is to develop quality software solutions for the hospitality
`industry and to help its customers keep up in a fiercely competitive industry. Posera
`maintains a corporate office in Montreal, Canada, with a sales office in Seattle,
`Washington and a newly opened European office. Posera currently has
`approximately 200 active resellers worldwide.
`For more information on Maitre’D by Posera visit www.maitredpos.com, write:
`2020 University, Suite 1900, Montreal, QC, H3A 2A5, Canada, or call
`514.499.1312 (phone), 888.404.2662 (toll free) or 514.499.9951 (fax).
`
`MICROS Systems
`Not only is MICROS Systems the No.1
`company in the 2004 POS Scoreboard, but
`it is a leading developer of enterprise
`applications serving the hospitality and retail
`industries exclusively. Micros is a $400
`million publicly-traded company serving
`table service and quick-service restaurants,
`hotels, the leisure and entertainment
`industry, and specialty retail stores, with
`complete
`information management
`solutions including software, hardware,
`enterprise systems integration, consulting
`and support. Micros’ global network
`consists of over 3,000 employees, 43
`subsidiaries in major markets and 93
`distributors in 40 countries.
`Micros has more
`than 150,000
`installations worldwide and is the only full
`systems solutions provider for all segments
`with a global distribution and service
`network in place for major chains, regional
`chains, local independents, table service,
`and the quick service market. Micros
`provides solutions that combine unified
`access point-of-sale, back-office, and
`corporate-office applications.
`For large enterprises Micros provides a
`scaleable solution to manage the very
`large and very complex operational
`requirements associated with hotels,
`casinos, airports, theme parks, stadiums
`and cruise lines. Clients includes HMS
`Host, Ruby Tuesday’s, Whitbread, the
`Atlantis Resort & Casino, and Reliant
`Stadium, to name a few, including the
`largest POS installation in the world at
`Stadium Australia in Sydney, Australia.
`Through its global markets subsidiary,
`Micros-Fidelio International, Micros also is a
`premier provider of enterprise-wide
`integrated information technologies for the
`hotel industry, with over 15,000 installations
`worldwide. For more
`information on
`Micros, visit www.micros.com or call
`800.638.0985.
`
`POS SCOREBOARD ■ HT July/August 2004
`
`11
`
`
`
`SUMMER 2006
`A SUPPLEMENT TO HOSPITALITY TECHNOLOGY
`
`Rating TOP POS Systems
`
`B A S E D O N U S E R S A T I S F A C T I O N S C O R E S
`
`
`
`2006 • RATING TOP POS SYSTEMS
`
`Contents
`
`®
`
`4 Top 20 Systems
`Now in its third year, the POS Scoreboard offers the
`industry’s only ranking of the top foodservice point-of-sale
`software companies based on company size, number of
`installations and user satisfaction.
`4 Top POS Software Companies
`
`6 User Satisfaction Scores
`How do POS software systems compare in the opinion of
`foodservice operators? The user satisfaction scores offer
`charts and analyses of how systems fared in the criteria
`deemed most important by the operators themselves.
`6 Top POS Software Systems
`6 User Satisfaction
`8 Overall Performance
`8 Strategic Value
`10 Total Cost of Ownership
`10 Return on Investment
`12 Ease of Upgrade
`12 Support and Service
`14 Start-up Restaurants (1-4 units)
`14 Small Chains (5-50 units)
`14 Large Chains (51-200 units)
`14 Enterprise Chains (200+ units)
`
`14 A Final Word
`Who participated in the 2006 POS Scoreboard and what
`questions were asked? Look here for a final word on the
`study’s methodology why some responses were excluded
`from the study.
`
`FOUNDER
`Douglas C. Edgell
`1951-1998
`
`Summer 2006
`
`PUBLISHER
`Lenore O’Meara
`ext. 245 n lomeara@edgellmail.com
`
`EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
`Reid A. Paul
`ext. 315 n rpaul@edgellmail.com
`
`ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE
`Leah Segarra
`ext. 270 n lsegarra@edgellmail.com
`
`CREATIVE DIRECTOR
`Colette Magliaro
`ext. 203 n cmagliaro@edgellmail.com
`
`ART DIRECTOR
`Pamela C. Ravetier
`ext. 255 n pravetier@edgellmail.com
`
`W W W. H T M A G A Z I N E . C O M
`
`CHAIRMAN/CEO
`Gabriele A. Edgell
`
`PRESIDENT
`Gerald C. Ryerson
`
`www.htmagazine.com
`
`Special Supplement n POS Scoreboard n 3
`
`
`
`2006 • RATING TOP POS SYSTEMS
`
`Top 20 Systems
`
`Foodservice point-of-sale systems continue to elicit a great deal of loyalty and showcase technological
`
`innovation. With more than 400 responses to this year’s study, POS users ranging from owner/operators
`
`of single-unit restaurants to CIOs at major restaurant, casino and hotel companies responded to the
`
`study. Now in its third year, the POS Scoreboard highlights key changes that continue to reshape the
`
`foodservice technology industry.
`
`TOTAL
`POINTS
`
`87.42
`87.34
`86.47
`85.75
`85.30
`83.50
`77.91
`76.67
`72.59
`72.50
`72.44
`72.17
`72.14
`70.18
`69.89
`69.14
`68.88
`68.39
`51.32
`34.30
`
`POS
`VENDOR
`
`1. Micros Systems
`2. Radiant Systems
`3. POSitouch
`4. Maitre’D
`5. Squirrel Systems
`6. Digital Dining
`7. xpient
`8. pcAmerica
`9. Restaurant Manager
`10. ParTech
`11. SilverWare
`12. Panasonic
`13. Speedline Solutions
`14. Torex Retail
`15. InfoGenesis
`16. FuturePOS
`17. Volante Systems
`18. Aldelo Systems
`19. H.S.I.
`20. FireFly Technologies
`
`Clearly, the POS industry is be-
`coming increasingly diverse. Once the
`sole purview of casual-dining chains,
`POS solutions can now be found in
`virtually every setting. In recent years,
`the emergence of POS solutions de-
`signed for single-unit restaurants
`have helped transform the industry by
`making the POS touch screen the
`hallmark of restaurants worldwide.
`The juxtaposition of off-the-shelf
`solutions, next to pizza point of sale,
`next to high-end casino solutions
`makes for an odd reading of the POS
`Scoreboard. Hospitality Technology
`does not portend to suggest which
`solution has the best golf module or
`the easiest interface or the best take-
`out solution. Nor would we suggest
`which solutions makes the most
`sense for your individual foodservice
`operation. Nevertheless, there are
`more essential elements that foodser-
`vice POS solutions have in common
`than separate them. While many of
`these companies may not compete
`directly with each other, they all offer
`foodservice point-of-sale solutions.
`This top 20 chart and especially the
`rankings that follow, represents the
`opinions and feedback we receive from the survey respondents. This feedback—the “User Satisfaction”
`score worth 45 points in the overall ranking—is the essential element that helps determine where the POS
`companies fall. For the Top 20, we also factor in POS functionality (35 points), number of terminals in-
`stalled (10 points) and company revenue (5 points). Of course, how each restaurant company values these
`various elements may differ and are part of what makes the POS choice so complex and unique.
`
`COMPANY
`TOTAL
`
`USER
`SATISFACTION
`
`50
`49
`48
`46
`45
`45
`39
`41
`36
`43
`41
`35
`33
`31
`35
`33
`31
`39
`16
`N/A
`
`37.42
`38.34
`38.47
`39.75
`40.30
`38.50
`38.91
`35.67
`36.59
`29.50
`31.44
`37.17
`39.14
`39.18
`34.89
`36.14
`37.88
`29.39
`35.32
`34.30
`
`4 n POS Scoreboard n Special Supplement
`
`www.htmagazine.com
`
`
`
`2006 • RATING TOP POS SYSTEMS
`
`Top POS Software Systems
`
`SCORE
`
`COMPANY
`
`VERSION
`
`40.2
`37.3
`37.2
`35.8
`33.9
`
`1. Digital Dining
`2. POSitouch
`3. Torex Retail
`4. Squirrel Systems One
`5. Maitre’D
`
`7.3
`5.2
`3.5
`Release 3
`2005
`
`In addition to the point-of-sale software compa-
`ny, respondents to the POS Scoreboard were
`asked to identify the software version they cur-
`rently used. To qualify, a top POS system needed
`to have at least five responses. For the second
`year in a row, Digital Dining version 7.3 ranked
`first. Squirrel Systems One version 3 made its
`second straight appearance as did Maitre’D,
`although with its 2005 release, rather than the
`2003 release that was fourth last year. POSitouch
`version 5.2 made a return appearance, having
`first appeared in the 2004 Scoreboard, but miss-
`ing in 2005. And Torex Retail (formerly Savista)
`version 3.5 made its debut in the chart this year.
`
`User Satisfaction
`
`SIZE
`
`COMPANY
`
`SCORE
`
`More than
`100,000
`Installs
`
`20,000 to
`100,000
`Installs
`
`1. Digital Dining
`2. POSitouch
`3. Radiant Systems
`
`1. Squirrel Systems
`2. Maitre’D
`3. Torex Retail
`
`38.50
`38.47
`38.34
`
`40.30
`39.75
`39.18
`
`Fewer than
`20,000
`Installs
`
`1. Speedline Solutions 39.14
`2. Volante Systems
`37.88
`36.14
`3. FuturePOS
`
`User satisfaction represents the total score for all
`nine questions (see Methodology, page 14, for the
`list of all the questions) presented to POS system
`users. Each question was worth five points for a
`possible total of 45 points. Once again competi-
`tion was extremely tight across all the scores, with
`less than two tenths of a point separating the top
`three scores in the more than 100,000 installs cat-
`egory. The two other categories were similarly
`competitive, although not quite as tight. Top