Global IT giant rolls out AURES sango EPoS terminals as part of a cashless payment solution

Nov. 18, 2013 - PRLog -- Specialist manufacturer of PC-based touchscreens and point-of-sale hardware to retail, hospitality and leisure, J2 Retail Systems, Inc., has supplied state-of-the-art AURES sango touchscreen terminals as part of a cashless payment solution now deployed in partnership with Systopia International, Inc.

The solution went live in summer 2013 across the employee cafeterias of a blue-chip, multi-national IT provider.  By integrating with the company’s ID badges, the solution enables employees from multiple locations to use them to pay for food and drink.

Systopia International’s cashless payment and vending solutions can be found across catering operations in many sectors. Explains the group’s Operations Director, Kristi Noyes: “Our solutions are ideal for any environment where a fast and easy payment mechanism is needed.  Here in the US, our focus is on corporate dining, providing a mechanism for employees to pay for food, beverage and other services offered at the facility, using a prepaid debit account.  The impetus for companies to deploy cashless payment is often to alleviate long lines in employee cafeterias.”

For the first time in the US, Systopia has opted to roll out sango terminals at point-of-service.  sango is a radically new concept in all-in-one till management systems from the AURES Group.  Looking like no other EPoS unit, it frees up space under the touchscreen.  “The sangos are aesthetically pleasing and lend a high-tech look to the cafeterias,” observes Noyes.  [See attached photographs].

The new Systopia and sango solution can be found in 16 cafes at the five major facilities of this corporate client across the US and Canada. A total of 52 sangos have been deployed. Traffic in some of the cafeterias is very high at peak times, such as at the client’s headquarters campus where some 15,000 staff are employed, so the solution has to be exceptionally resilient and scalable.

Employee ID badges can often be used as the cashless account credential, eliminating the need for the employee to carry a separate ‘café card’.  The account can be easily loaded with funds in three ways: at a staffed POS using cash or credit card, at an unstaffed kiosk, or online using Systopia’s desktop product Good2Go.  With Good2Go, an employee uses a credit card to make a one-time account recharge, or to establish an automated account recharge. Purchase and recharge activity can be reviewed, and a unique ‘Online Ordering’ function lets the employee pre-order food for convenient pick-up at a designated time and location.

This technology opens the door to complementary systems such as loyalty and rewards programs, which this particular client will be deploying in the coming weeks.  By using their cashless account, employees will earn points on their café purchases, entitling them to rewards ranging from free coffee to discounts on meals.  Employees can also earn bonus points by using glass bowls and plates rather than disposable paper products – a great way to encourage ‘green’ dining.

“The client is very satisfied with the new solution,” continues Kristi Noyes.  “One of the biggest benefits they’re realizing is shorter lines at the POS, leading to increased employee satisfaction with the dining experience.  While it’s still early days in terms of analyzing sales traffic, the client expects per capita spend to increase.  It’s well proven that people spend more when paying with a cashless card than with cash.”

While most employee purchases will be cashless, cash can still be taken on the sangos.  Equipped with cash drawers, the sangos perform as standard till management systems.  All POS transactions are recorded and paper receipts are produced on demand, if desired by the employee.  If a department manager wishes to bring visiting guests into the cafeteria, his or her badge account can be used as a charge card for the guest meals as well as for his or her individual cashless payment.

The new cashless solution has benefits too for the client’s corporate caterer.  As the service flow is much faster, food is presented and enjoyed in optimum condition, which directly affects employee perceptions and satisfaction.  The POS transactional data captured via the sangos provides rich reporting functionality, enabling the caterer to better analyze and manage its business.

About J2 Retail Systems, Inc.          www.j2usa.com & www.aures.com

J2 Retail Systems is a specialist manufacturer of PC-based touchscreens, LCD touchscreen monitors and point-of-sale hardware to the retail, hospitality and leisure industries.  With 150,000 units+ installed worldwide, its clients include thousands of leisure operators, leading-brand retailers and hospitality businesses.   J2 controls its own design and manufacture.  As a result, its products stand out for their innovation, exceptional reliability and one of the lowest costs of ownership available today.

In 2013, J2 Retail Systems became part of the AURES Group. Founded in 1989 and listed on Euronext since 1999, AURESmanufactures EPoS systems and related peripherals. Its PC-based, open-system equipment provides management and till functions to all points-of-sale and points-of-service including specialist food and non-food stores, retail outlets, superstores and catering and hospitality.  The group has global presence, with a head office in France, subsidiaries in Great Britain, Germany, Australia and the USA, and distributors and resellers in 50+ countries.  With over 40,000 systems deployed annually, the AURES Group's consolidated turnover will exceed 50 million Euros at the end of 2013.

About Systopia International, Inc.          www.systopiainternational.com

Systopia cashless systems and cashless vending solutions can be found across catering operations within the Business, Education, Healthcare and University sectors.

The Systopia solution operates on a closed-loop basis, with transactions effectively taking place in the corporation’s own currency.  This results in reduced transaction costs and faster transaction speeds.  Systopia is uniquely equipped to create the interface between its system and whatever product the company is using for security system, so that the employee badge can be used as the cashless payment credential and link to the account.  The enterprise design of the Systopia system allows an employee of a global company to fund separate purses within the badge account, to be used when visiting corporate sites around the world.