The POS system is the beating heart of any retailer's business, but getting the system and technologies into your store and maintaining that heartbeat can sometimes be a challenge. For instance, sometimes multiple pieces of hardware being used together can lead to new and complex software integrations. And more often then not, one project rollout can involve multiple partners in addition to tying up an internal team. With so many pieces of the puzzle needing to perfectly come together, this can be a labor-intensive and expensive process for retailers. With TRUNO’s Professional Services teams, all of this can be done under one roof, streamlining the process of implementing new technology for retailers all while ensuring that the team maintaining your POS system truly understands both you and your technology.
TRUNO’s Professional Services can be broken down into six teams, Customization and Development, Warehousing and Staging, Installation, Training, Service, and Support. For the first part in this three-part series, we are just going to focus on Warehousing and Staging.
While warehouses are typically used exclusively for shipping and receiving, at TRUNO they actually handle much more and are an integral part of helping maintain over 12,000 customer sites across the country. While it is true that an important part of what the warehouse team does is handle an enormous volume of shipping and receiving, they are really experts in “asset management.” When items come into the warehouse, the team takes inventory, puts the items where they need to go, and keeps track of them until they are needed in a retailer's store. While this might sound simple in writing, grocery POS technology involves a variety specialized hardware and softwares -- from pin pads, to scanner scales. With something this complex, having these experts handle your POS equipment helps avoid any potential hiccups when implementing new technology.
When something like a whole new lane is ready to be implemented in a customer’s store, it first needs to be set up for the specific store and tested with all the pieces of technology that will be used in the lane, such as the POS terminal, pin-pads, printers, scanners, etc. This is where the staging team comes into play. Staging is the process of assembling, testing, and reviewing a POS solution before it is moved into a customer’s store. TRUNO’s staging department is unique in how we have our staging area inside of our warehouse, leading the warehouse and staging team to work together in tandem.
One great example of these two teams working together is one retailer who has been implementing an increasing number of self-checkout units in their stores. Our implementation team has gone and removed some of the traditional lanes in their stores to make room for the new SCO units. They then ship the POS equipment back to the TRUNO warehouse. From there, the warehouse team unpacks the equipment, cleans it properly, and then stores everything for future use. In the future when the store decides to open a new location, the staging team will already have all the equipment ready and in the same location that it will be put together and staged for the lane rollout. After staging and testing, everything is boxed up and shipped by both teams.
When any piece of POS technology like this is eventually needed in a store, TRUNO utilizes warehouses in California, Texas, South Carolina, and more to quickly ship materials to any of our customers or TRUNO service technicians across the country. By utilizing these warehouses across the country, we ensure efficiencies in time and money for the retailer.
All of this is just the first step in our professional service teams getting retail technology solutions into stores across the country. Once the POS equipment is staged and then shipped from one of our warehouses, it still needs to be installed, have store personnel trained in how to use it, and be supported over time. Next month, we will cover installation and training so be sure to subscribe and stay tuned to learn more about how TRUNO helps retailers from coast to coast with everything from staging all the way to service and support.
