POS Sales: Software Functionality Seals The Deal

By Matt Pillar, chief editor

ECR Systems sells all the hot stuff, but core software functionality remains the key to its longevity.

You might say Scott Howell was bred for a career in retail technology. The VP of Dallas-based VAR ECR Systems operates the business founded by his father, Jim “The Cash Register Man” Howell, in 1978 after a long stint as a senior salesman at NCR. Back then, ECR Systems peddled the first generation of electronic cash registers to hospitality establishments in the expansive Dallas/Fort Worth area. If there’s any truth to Shopkick CEO Cyriac Roeding’s recent observation that “the next five years in retail technology will bring more change to retail than the last 100 years,” Howell and company can attest to it. In its storied history, ECR Systems has seen its share of change. It was among the first to displace mechanical cash registers with electronic. It was the first Micros dealer in Dallas. It built its business on brands like Sanyo, Sharp, and Omron. It introduced PC-based POS (point of sale) to much of the Dallas hospitality market. And ECR Systems began selling touch screen POS systems in the mid-1980s, back when Dell was selling the Turbo PC and Microsoft had just released Windows 1.0.