Massive Growth For POS ISVs

To cope with its 100% revenue growth in 2006, this 5-year-old ISV (independent software vendor) revamped its POS (point of sale) support policy.

Growing as an ISV presents a myriad of challenges. When you've got a handful of customers, it may be easy for you to handle the support. But what happens when you have hundreds of customers? Thousands? How can you support the POS hardware that accompanies your software? Should you support the hardware? How can your sales force reach a nationwide or even global audience? In its five years of doing business, Monsoon, Inc., a POS ISV, effectively has doubled in size each year and has had to find answers to these questions. Here's what it's done to handle its growth.

One of the biggest problems Monsoon faced with its growth centered around the POS hardware that customers were using with the company's software. Monsoon's software automatically uploads merchandise information to online marketplaces such as eBay and Amazon.com. In addition, the software can be configured to automatically react to market conditions and reprice merchandise. The software also can be used to process orders, generate invoices, and print shipping labels. To enable customers to receive the full benefits of the software, Monsoon sells a variety of POS hardware. For instance, a bar code scanner can be used to read a product identifier such as a UPC (universal product code) and quickly enter the product information into the Monsoon software. Receipt printers are used to create locator tags, which are used to help merchants organize inventory and quickly pick and pack shipments. A label printer can be used to print shipping labels.