The end of another year provides time for reflection on accomplishments and triumphs of the past twelve months. But in the business world, the ending of the year is also a moment to assess the dangers faced over that time. The number of data breaches is rising from year to year, and 2019 saw at least 5.3 billion records compromised, including information such as credit card numbers, home addresses, and phone numbers. Here are some of the major breaches of the year and the lessons that you can learn from them for your own business.
Macy’s
On October 15, retail giant Macy’s discovered that its website had been hacked about a week prior. Unauthorized coding on the site’s checkout and payment pages skimmed off the personal and payment information that customers filled out while making purchases. Macy’s did not disclose the number of affected customers.
Macy’s alerted the impacted consumers a month later, having closed the gaps in security and contacted the appropriate law enforcement. Affected consumers were offered a free year of consumer identity protection services. It’s a great example of a way to build trust and show your customers that you’re doing all you can to protect their data.
Checkers and Rally’s
The fast-food chains Checkers and Rally’s, operated by the same parent company, discovered malware in their point-of-sale systems in April. Consumers were informed in May that 15 percent of Checkers and Rally’s locations, more than 100 restaurants, were affected. The malware collected information contained on the magnetic strip of payment cards. Some locations were affected by this malware as early as 2016.
In November, Checkers and Rally’s made an updated announcement. Several locations were re-affected by the same malware.
This is a powerful reminder that your digital security is not a one-and-done matter. Hackers may strike again and malware is constantly evolving. Your security systems must stay up to date, too.
CafePress
CafePress, a site offering custom shirts and other merchandise, fell victim to a data breach back in February. The breach was disclosed in August, with some of those affected alerted by third-party consumer sites that track data breach information. At that time, CafePress required a password reset from all users but did not notify them of the breach or mention it in the password reset policy. It was not until October that customers were directly emailed by CafePress to alert them of their exposed personal information. A total of about 23 million CafePress users were affected.
A class-action lawsuit was filed against CafePress on the basis of how long the company took to notify its users. It also noted that the security used to store user passwords was a very weak and outdated type of encryption.
Be proactive and keep your business up to date with the latest security measures. Transparency is key to show your customers that take their information security seriously. Attempting to conceal a breach will harm your reputation much more than the initial announcement of the breach.
New Year, New Challenges
Looking forward to the new year means considering the trend of ever-increasing threats. About 31 percent of data breach victims go on to have their identities stolen. Don’t let your customers be some of them — take steps now to secure your business. Check out our tips on what to do if your business is ever affected by a data breach.
To learn more about POS system security, contact PlazSales.
To help pizzeria owners, pizza point of sale (pizza pos) is more than just a cash register or adding machine — it’s a hub where you can manage your entire business.
Pizza shops have long managed their business in the traditional, manual manner. Much like pizza itself, why stray too far from what has worked? This may mean using pen and paper to order ingredients, taking down orders over the phone. You may be using a non-integrated payment system to swipe credit cards. But that means workflows that take extra time through a shift and at the end of the day. Modern customers want the convenience of online ordering and payment. And like customers always have, they still expect prompt service and their food served warm and tasty as ever.
With Pizza POS, you can streamline your operations to reduce waste. It’s a win for everyone: The more efficiency you can build into your business, the more successful you will be at keeping your customers and employees happier.
Pizza POS Features
Point of sale systems for pizzerias are unique among those for other restaurants and businesses because pizzerias are a different kind of operation. Pizzas are almost endlessly customizable in a way that other restaurants are not expected to deal with. How big of a pie does a customer want? Which certain toppings only go on which certain halves? It’s easy for a mix-up or misunderstanding to occur when relaying these orders verbally and recording them manually. Better to have a system that is designed and optimized for these specific kinds of orders.
Pizza POS systems need to give your business these capabilities:
- Modify options for size and toppings on pizzas. When the menu changes, the system can easily adapt as well.
- Inventory management that lets you know exactly what you have, how much you use, so you never run out of ingredients while reducing food waste.
- Online ordering to suit busy customers’ schedules and for added convenience.
- Delivery management to provide your delivery drivers with directions and constant traffic updates to get them where they need to be on time. You can also let your customers know when their delivery is dispatched so they aren’t left guessing.
- Loyalty program features to keep your customers coming back by rewarding them for doing so. The right pizza POS system will allow you to digitally manage your customer accounts and rewards with ease.
- Customer relationship management (CRM) that allows you to optimize your sales and marketing campaigns, forecast future sales, and automate simple digital features to leave your staff more time for complex tasks.
- Integrated payments — no longer take that extra time at the end of the day to do your payment reports.
- Offline mode for business continuity, even if your network connection is interrupted
- Reporting that provides you with visibility into what your customers are ordering, their preferred methods of payment, the times the rush comes in, and track labor hours and employee performance.
Just What You Ordered
In this day and age, pizzerias face steep competition and small profit margins. To keep operating while making a profit, you need the ability to operate efficiently and build a base of loyal customers. When it comes to optimizing your business, in all specifics unique to pizzerias, pizza POS can help.
To learn more about point of sale systems that help pizzerias run efficiently and profitably, contact PlazSales.
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