With New SDK, Square Wants to Open New Scenarios for POS

This calendar week, software provider Square announced the release of the Square Reader software development kit (SDK), which volition allow developers effectively change the checkout experience on their Square Point of Sale (POS) systems as they see fit. When we spoke with the company, it said this initiative is aimed at helping Square accomplish new customers besides as help their existing ones. According to the company, the SDK, which is currently available gratuitous of charge to developers, is already being used past major companies such equally burger concatenation Milkshake Shack. If you want to try the SDK out for yourself, then you can do so starting today.

The Square POS system has had an application programming interface (API) available before this proclamation. The API would let you connect functionality from third-party tools. According to Square General Director Carl Perry, however, the SDK volition let for an unprecedented level of customization. When nosotros spoke with him, he said he hopes the SDK will cater to the niche needs of any concern and volition let them create a custom POS experience by using Square's underlying platform.

POS and Why the SDK Matters

Today's POS systems are essentially modernistic cash registers that often run in the cloud. They're designed to not only add together upwardly costs and take payments, just as well connect with other parts of your business and integrate the payment process with the remainder of your important workflows. A useful POS organisation usually offers the ability to connect with your dorsum-end system, such as an inventory management app or a customer relationship management (CRM) platform. Square POS, an Editors' Choice winner, is able to do both of those things and more.

In PCMag'due south tests, we found Square POS to exist a solid offering, so to hear that the company is opening upward its SDK is an intriguing prospect. The new SDK will let developers build customized products not only for industries in which you would expect to come across Square—such as bars, restaurants, and retail shops—but also in less traditional environments. Developers will exist able to become "under the hood" of the platform and add integrations that weren't at that place before. A qualified programmer could build a customized solution that doesn't demand to exist built entirely from scratch but is also custom-branded and designed to fit your business' needs. When we sabbatum down with Perry, he detailed the case of what several companies accept already washed with the SDK.

Out in the Field

Before launching the SDK into the wild, Square worked with a number of select partners to build custom POS solutions by using Square's engineering. The aforementioned Milk shake Shack has recently been testing cashier-less stores, which it calls the "Shack of the Future," in New York City. Working with the development agency Fuzz, the burger concatenation built a self-service kiosk that let customers order their food and pay all by themselves. Fifty-fifty though it used Foursquare'due south infrastructure of security and payment support, these experimental restaurants were able to bulldoze down wait times with a solution that was effectively customized just for them.

During our conversation with Perry, he made information technology clear that opening upward the SDK is function of the company's mission to entreatment to new types of customers. After all, you see Square readers and POS systems in plenty of cafés, restaurants, and bazaar shops. Withal, you lot would be hard-pressed to find them in, say, a chemist's or a medical office. That'south why the company has worked with less traditional vendors to spread the visitor's customer base.

Health care is a hard infinite to pause into as at that place are strict security standards that demand to be met, and very few companies meet the requirements to handle payment for prescriptions. QuiqMeds, a betoken-of-care services provider, discovered that Square's payment infrastructure actually meets all of the qualifications that a healthcare production needs. QuiqMeds worked with Square to build a mobile app that lets providers manipulate medication at the signal of intendance. This saves patients the work of traveling to the pharmacy. The original Square POS was never designed to take things such as patient co-payments and assistance doctors dispense medication, but building the functionality was possible thanks to the SDK.

"For u.s., QuiqMeds was an especially exciting instance. Information technology shows that we fabricated information technology work in places where you usually don't encounter Foursquare," Perry said. "Nosotros're very excited to see what developers do with this toolset." While information technology remains to be seen exactly how effective the SDK volition be, these real-earth use cases are promising examples of what customers will be able to do with the kit.

Source: https://sea.pcmag.com/square-point-of-sale/28672/with-new-sdk-square-wants-to-open-new-scenarios-for-pos

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