Issue link: http://winesandvines.uberflip.com/i/66137
TE CHNOL OG Y Your final choice may come down to what you're willing to compromise. When Jenn Berman, co-general manager and as- sistant winemaker at 4,000-case Stryker Sonoma, Geyserville, Calif., chose the winery's POS provider in August 2010, "There was no perfect system. Where one system was lacking another one was great. We wanted one that was well integrated from e-commerce to wine club to POS," she said. "When you're under 10,000 cases, looking for an affordable solution is difficult. Ev- eryone has a piece, but no one does it all." Berman said that Microworks Cash Manager, which can tie into Excel, has been the best solution for Stryker Sonoma's ac- counting needs. "I can trust the numbers it puts out," she said, adding that she also relies on Microworks to generate wine club statics such as which customers have declined credit card numbers in the system, who the top 100 buyers are by state and which are the best-selling varietals and vineyard designates. Craig Root echoed Berman's need to compromise sentiment. A POS solution must integrate well with key service providers. Integration with legacy software Michael Perrien, general manager of 4,000-case Kenzo Estate win- ery in Napa, Calif., shared his POS-selection criteria. "My philoso- phy is to try to work with solutions that have one leg out of the wine industry. The provincial knowledge from the wine industry can sometimes limit the scope of a solution—especially since tech- nology evolves so rapidly." He chose Napa Valley POS, based on Microsoft RMS, which is the one leg outside the wine industry, yet is customized for the wine industry. Perrien appreciates Napa Val- ley POS's integration with Vin 65 and QuickBooks. The other key consideration for Kenzo Estate was the flexibility of the platform and the ability to marry POS and e-commerce to unify data. Data integration needs to go one step further, according to Adam Savin, national sales manager of VinNow in Hopland, Calif. "Check out integration partners to make sure it's part of your overall solution," he said. This means any service providers you're partnered with such as FedEx, UPS or ShipCompliant. Elypsis WineClub Manager are additional. "All systems have their strengths and weaknesses, none of them are perfect," he said. Ease of use Scott Meloney of Microworks advised, "If you go through a demo and you didn't get it within one hour, you need to move on. The system has to be easy to use." Linda Champagne, hospitality director for 11 years at 99,000- case Artesa Vineyards & Winery, Napa, Calif., shared her experi- ence with AMS Client, Advanced Management Systems (AMS), Santa Rosa, Calif. "Some of the reports are challenging, but in the past five years they've made some innovations," she said. "The system is really easy for the front-line people. The touch screen interface made a big difference in quickness." In shopping for a POS system, she wanted to be able to easily organize data into reports and mentioned the importance of being able to convert an AMS report to Excel spreadsheets if needed. Champagne spends lots of time tracking and analyzing winery data, always with a mind to find ways to improve sales figures. She mentioned that DtC and online sales have increased dramatically in the past three years and that POS software helps POS Software Prices Compared VinNOW Cost: $1,190 per register for Microsoft Dynamics RMS basic set- up. Add-ons such as Quick Capture, ComplianceLink and Starts at $4,950 for one workstation. Each additional workstation costs another $2,000. Annual upgrades cost $742.50. Technical support costs $247.50 per year. After purchase, total annual costs are just under $1,000 per year. Set-Up Fee: Monthly Cost: Depending on integration and software complexity, the rate for one POS register site is $150 per hour. Training is in- cluded in the set-up fee. No monthly fees. The software is purchased outright, so there is no subscription model. Tech support fee: $175 per hour charged in quarter-hour increments. A free, searchable online database of error codes and keywords is available for training and tech support. Misc. During first year the user is required to purchase a software- enhancement plan that includes access to new versions released within the first 12 months. The cost is 16% of the software price. Wines & Vines JULY 2011 35 None. Licensing, installation and training are included in the initial cost. Instead of purchasing the system, clients can subscribe on a monthly basis for $100- $320 per month with an initial training set-up fee that ranges from $495 for basic features to $810 for all features. Microworks None Starts as low as $400 Starts as low as $200 per month, which in- cludes tech support.