Swizznet Cloud Links Multi-Lane Retailers to QuickBooks

Swizznet, a provider of QuickBooks hosting and online small business accounting services, heard the cries of business owners that were struggling to set up their QuickBooks point of sale (POS) environments without incurring huge IT costs. So the company set out to “create the first multi-lane software for retailers” that retailers can access and configure with little more than an Internet connection, said Swizznet chief operating officer Kristin Callan.

Cloud-Hosted QuickBooks for Small Business Point-of-Sale

Swizznet now offers a cloud-hosted version of Intuit’s merchant payment platform, QuickBooks Point of Sale 2013, for multi-lane setups. The software allows store and shop owners to ring up sales, accept credit cards and track customers. It also offers inventory management and sales reporting, and naturally, it integrates with Intuit’s QuickBooks accounting software.

For 2013, the software has embraced mobile in a big way. It features Intuit’s GoPayment, software that allows businesses to accept credit and debit card payments on smartphones like the iPhone and tablets.

Why offer a cloud-hosted QuickBook POS for multi-lane shops now?

“Traditionally, there hasn’t been a hosted solution for QuickBooks,” informed Callan. As an authorized commercial hosting provider, Swizznet specializes in delivering the full, on-premises  QuickBooks software over the Internet. The company employs Citrix’s cloud platform, which “works with all point of sale hardware,” she assured.

While in recent years Intuit has been bulking up its cloud services slate, many organizations have discovered that it’s “not the same desktop software,” reported Callan. For the QuickBooks POS product, store owners had little choice but to shoulder the cost of wiring up a network and deploying the software — a task that becomes more complex if it involves more than one location.

Callan said that her company’s latest offering rewrites the rules of multi-lane POS. “Now they don’t have to have the [IT] infrastructure,” she said, adding that Swizznet can “deliver the full functionality of the on-premises Quickbooks software on the cloud.”

Swizznet’s platform dispenses with the bulk of the local networking, server and storage requirements required for a complete deployment of the on-premises product for locations with more than one register. Another bonus, said Callan, is that Swizznet allows businesses to “easily connect multiple stores.”

In terms of data security, Swizznet claims it has that covered, too. The offering is “PCI compliant” and layered with the latest enterprise-grade IT security protections, said Callan. This “bank-like security” extends to the data center, which has been certified to meet stringent industry standards.

These capabilities, along with Swizznet’s zero-compromise approach to hosted software, have earned Callan’s company the distinction of being “the only hosting provider that can truly do multi-lane hosting,” she boasted.

“This is point of sale,” stressed Callan. “Swizznet is only one that is really able to do multi-lane in a secure and reliable manner.”

Swizznet-hosted QuickBooks Point of Sale 2013 software license rental prices start at $30 per month per user. A subscription includes support services, updates and unlimited cloud storage and backups.

Pedro Hernandez is a contributing editor at Internetnews.com, the news service of the IT Business Edge Network, the network for technology professionals. Follow him on Twitter @ecoINSITE.

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