Consider the Details When Implementing a Curbside POS System

Until a few months ago, there were relatively few restaurants offering curbside pickup options. In fact, the whole concept had only caught on with the nation’s large grocery chains and big-box stores over the last year or two. However, once the COVID-19 pandemic took hold across the country — and 97 percent of U.S. restaurants were forced to operate under some level of restrictions, with most prohibiting dine-in service — it became an increasingly attractive option for households in both cities and suburbs across the country.

For many multi-unit restaurant brands, however, introducing curbside pickup spurred a sudden need to quickly transform their businesses if they were going to stay afloat. And that’s where curbside point-of-sale (POS) technologies and best practices are making a big difference for those businesses. They’re giving restaurants the tools they need to handle the surge in online ordering and curbside pickup, and relieving the extra strain on their IT networks that inevitably accompany the process.

As a bonus, many of those same technologies enabling the POS systems can offer merchants an opportunity to launch or improve their loyalty programs. In fact, taking advantage of POS systems to accept payments curbside can be a real game-changer — provided that the business is prepared to deal with the the network security and reliability issues that can accompany the process.

Cellular Failover is Now More Crucial Than Ever Before

One of the most critical requirements for a successful shift to a curbside POS system is the need for top-notch network uptime. That’s the key to to avoiding missed transactions and ensuring the best possible productivity and customer experience. Therefore, while internet service providers typically guarantee 99.9 percent uptime, adding a cellular failover solution to a restaurant’s POS system will ensure a 99.99 percent uptime. In other words, enhanced uptime can help ensure the business won’t miss out on 0.09 percent of its revenue potential — which can add up significantly when viewed across multiple locations — and deliver a positive curbside customer experience. What’s more, cellular failover connectivity can help avoid lost store-and-forward payment chargebacks during ISP downtime, which can make a big difference when business revenues are already taking a hit.

A Secure Outdoor Wireless Access Point May Be Needed

Of course, implementing a curbside POS solution requires expanded Wi-Fi coverage for line-busting purposes and to allow for the use of portable POS solutions, including tablets with EMV readers. A strong Wi-Fi signal outdoors is as vital to productivity and customer experience as the automatic cellular failover solution for enhanced network reliability. That means it should be a serious consideration for any business planning to offer curbside transactions. Of course, outdoor Wi-Fi may also be important for customers waiting for a delivery, which means restaurants need to be sure to segment that traffic appropriately, separating it from POS traffic.

Expanding Your POS Environment Calls for Expanding Your Security

Once you decide to expand your POS environment beyond the confines of your buildings, you also need to extend your network security, scaling it so that you can segment wireless POS traffic, protect cellular POS traffic, and provide full visibility for detecting and responding to any abnormal activity. Along with a good firewall and proper network traffic segmentation, you should consider a platform that delivers deep packet inspection (DPI) at the application layer. DPI will also let you and your managed service provider maintain full visibility and control of application traffic in and out of the restaurant network. That way, you get fast detection and response to threats, which protects the curbside POS and the business from potential reputational damage in case a breach occurs.

Consider an SD-Branch Solution to Secure Outdoor Access Points

While no one is in a position to predict when or how restrictions on gatherings will be lifted, it makes sense to at least consider your options for providing POS security outside the walls of your multi-unit restaurant brands and their franchisees. It also makes sense to focus on an all-in-one solution that combines an edge appliance and a cloud-based orchestrator portal that offers:

• SD-WAN management and orchestration;
• next-generation firewall security;
• embedded LTE cellular failover;
• integrated dual band Wi-Fi that can be expanded outdoors; and
• PCI DSS compliance management support.

By consolidating multiple point solutions into a single edge appliance, your restaurants can reduce hardware clutter at their locations, simplify IT management, reduce support calls and service truck rolls, and cut down on costs. Agility will always be the key to curbside POS success. However, that success also depends on a strong security posture and reliable network connectivity — for the sake of both customer satisfaction and increased profitability. In these uncertain times, a well-designed and configured SD-Branch solution — either self-managed or managed — can make a big impact on your ability to survive and potentially thrive.

Aaron Branson is the vice president of Netsurion, a company that provides enterprise-strength managed network security, SIEM solutions, and compliance support monitored 24/7/365 for merchants.