QuickBooks Point of Sale (QPos) was Intuit’s web-based point of sale solution for small businesses. For the past 15 years, QPos allowed retailers, restaurants, service professionals, and other operators to manage inventory, ring up customers, issue receipts, and provide a customized service experience. So QuickBooks Point of Sale has reached end of life? Let’s find the answer.
Intuit has now decided to discontinue QuickBooks Point of Sale (QPos) and end all support and development by April 2023. While this termination may not be unexpected given how much the point of sale industry has advanced in recent years, it still leaves many businesses scrambling to find an alternative solution.
QuickBooks Point of Sale lacked key features and integration capabilities present in today’s point-of-sale software as a service (SaaS) and mobile applications. It continued with an aging web design and failed to keep up with innovations that have transformed the sector. As a result, QPos was no longer strategically aligned with Intuit’s product roadmap, and the investments required to enhance and upgrade the software were not seen as prudent.
With support soon ending, businesses relying on QPos for their critical daily operations need to start evaluating replacement options. They must migrate away from a system that, while fulfilling basic needs, lacked the flexibility, mobility, and integration that define modern POS solutions. By April 2023, QuickBooks Point of Sale will be a legacy product, leaving many wondering how they will proceed without it.
Why QuickBooks Point Of Sale Has Reached End of Life?
Limited Innovation
Over the past decade, the point of sale industry has advanced rapidly with new Software as a Service (SaaS) solutions, mobile POS applications, and integrations with business software like accounting systems. However, QuickBooks Point of Sale failed to keep pace with these innovations and continued on with its original web-based design.
QuickBooks Point of Sale lacked a modern mobile interface, integrated with few if any third-party applications, and showed minimal improvements or new features over the years. It remained static while competitors incorporated scanning, mobile payments, advanced reporting, and more. As QuickBooks Point of Sale has reached end of life, it seems outdated, rigid, and unable to support small businesses in a tech-forward world.
Businesses needed a flexible, easy-to-use POS solution to simplify operations, enhance customer experiences, and gain business insights. QuickBooks Point of Sale did not fulfill these needs and only grew more inadequate over time relative to alternatives. It posed limitations that undermined efficiency, productivity, and data-driven decision-making.
Investing in and upgrading QuickBooks Point of Sale no longer made financial or strategic sense according to Intuit and they announced QuickBooks Point of Sale has reached end of life. Key innovators in the POS market, and customer demands, had moved past what QPos could offer as a solution. Rather than continue advancing a legacy product, Intuit concluded it was in the best interest of businesses and Intuit itself to let users know QuickBooks Point of Sale has reached end of life and recommend transitioning to newer, more capable alternatives.
Though the fact that QuickBooks Point of Sale has reached end of life is unlikely to surprise the POS industry or technology-focused businesses, it still represents the elimination of an option that some have relied upon for critical operations. The need for innovation and keeping up with industry changes has now made QuickBooks Point of Sale obsolete, at least from Intuit’s perspective, even if it continues to meet the basic needs of a select few. Now that QuickBooks point of sale has reached end of life, new solution options must be explored to avoid being left with limited and outdated technology.
Transition Options for Businesses
Since QuickBooks Point of Sale has reached end of life, businesses need to start evaluating options for replacement solutions. They can choose from a variety of affordable, cloud-based POS systems with mobile features and integration capabilities. Some top alternatives to consider include:
•Square – Square POS provides mobile POS software for iOS and Android with a simple setup and affordable pricing plans starting at $49/month. It has strong inventory management, payment processing, and reporting features with options for mobile payment acceptance and third-party integrations.
•Shopify – Shopify POS is an easy-to-use cloud-based POS solution costing $29/month. It has a built-in e-commerce store interface with features like product galleries, lists, and grids; inventory management; customer profiles and activity; sales reports; and mobile checkout and payment acceptance. Integrations are available with shipping carriers, payment gateways, and more.
•Vend – Vend POS offers POS software for iOS and Android starting at $99/month. It provides mobile inventory management, customer profiles, digital receipts, loyalty programs, mobile payments, inter-location stock transfers, and data backups. Integrations with various third-party services are also included. Vend aims to be a complete solution for retail operations.
•Revel – Revel is an omnichannel retail software platform with a mobile POS app, costing $99/month. It includes features such as multi-location inventory management, customer profiles, and loyalty programs, digital receipts/returns, mobile payments, data analytics and reporting, email marketing, and integrations with various service providers. Revel can support both online and in-person operations.
Migrating away from QPos to any new POS system will require time, resources, and potentially professional assistance. However, most replacement options do offer data migration help, trial periods, and flexible monthly pricing to minimize risks. Comparing alternatives based on features, costs, integrations, usability, and migration support can help determine the optimal solution for daily business operations. While QPos is ending, modern POS software can keep businesses running efficiently, even as requirements continue to evolve. With the right new system in place, the future remains bright.
QuickBooks POS Has Reached End of Life: Impact on Businesses
For many small businesses, the termination of QuickBooks Point of Sale will force unwanted changes and additional expenses. They have relied upon the software for critical daily operations, customer service, and business management, yet now must migrate away from a familiar solution. Transitioning point-of-sale systems is rarely an easy or cost-effective process, even when upgrading to a more capable alternative.
Businesses have accustomed staff to using QuickBooks Point of Sale and have all operational procedures, workflows, and integrations built around the system. Moving to a new POS means investing in employee training, updating processes, and ensuring a smooth transition to avoid disruptions. It also entails managing customer expectations around any changes to interfaces, features, or policies. There are significant costs in both time and money associated with these types of transitions.
Financial costs of transitioning POS systems include setup and configuration fees for the new software, payment processing setup fees, costs to set up third-party integrations again, and fees for any professional services hired to assist with the migration. While many replacement POS options offer lower ongoing costs compared to QPos, the upfront investment required is often substantial. Margins are tight for small businesses, so these costs can be difficult to justify and budget for.
In addition to financial impacts, businesses face uncertainty around key operational aspects like migrating customer records, sales history, product data, pricing, and more into a new POS system. Any errors or issues in transferring this critical information could undermine business metrics, reporting, marketing efforts, and more for some time. The new POS may also work differently than QPos, requiring a learning curve to become highly proficient which can lead to initial inefficiencies.
QuickBooks Point of Sale reaching the end of life poses a losing situation for many businesses as they are left with an outdated solution, forced to incur transition costs, AND take on additional risk. However, it also creates an opportunity to implement a modern POS system better equipped to support growth and success today and in the future. While forced change is rarely easy, the potential benefits of upgrading from an end-of-life solution like QuickBooks Point of Sale could make the disruption and difficulties worthwhile, if a high-quality, adaptable replacement is selected and the transition is carried out effectively. The rest remains to be seen for impacted businesses.
Conclusion
While Intuit’s decision to discontinue QuickBooks Point of Sale was inevitable given the limited and outdated solution, it still leaves many businesses searching for answers. They now face the challenge of finding an alternative POS system, transitioning operations away from familiar processes and workflows, and ensuring minimal disruption to critical business functions.
Although QuickBooks Point of Sale has reached end of life, it met basic needs for simple inventory management, sale processing, and reporting for some small operators. However, as technology advanced, it failed to keep pace, evolving into a hindrance rather than a help. Its termination, though difficult, provides an opportunity to upgrade to modern, mobile, and integrated software better equipped to support growth and success in today’s world.
Businesses must start evaluating affordable, cloud-based POS options with the features and capabilities to suit their complex needs. They need to compare not just costs but also ease of use, setup, integration, reporting, scalability, and migration support. Selecting a high-quality, flexible solution and transitioning to it successfully is imperative for operational continuity, customer experience, and financial performance.
While the discontinuation of QuickBooks Point of Sale is an unwanted challenge, it is not an insurmountable one for most businesses with the proper planning and management. A new POS system can transform operations if chosen and implemented well. It can provide key benefits of increased efficiency, data insights, mobile functionality, and lower total costs of ownership compared to the limited QPos.
The point-of-sale market continues to advance rapidly, but solutions have also become easier to use, more capable, and far more affordable. Businesses impacted by the fact that QuickBooks Point of Sale has reached end of life have access to innovation and can transition from a legacy system to one preparing them for future success. Though facing disruption, they now have the opportunity to upgrade technology and processes to better meet evolving business and customer demands.
