It was quite a month for many Alaskans - like surviving a major earthquake, just to name one thing. 

(Click here for the  link to see Jesse "saving" his coffee during the quake).

We have had over 1,800 aftershocks as of yesterday, roads are being repaired, schools are still closed, but no one suffered serious injury - amazing.

From TSYS and VISA:

Visa is introducing an authorization requirement for return (cardholder refund) transactions. Authorizing a return enables the card issuer to validate the cardholder account, decline potentially fraudulent cards, and minimize chargebacks if the account does not exist or is closed. The return authorization message is intended to improve the return process by enabling cardholders to view a credit/return on their online banking statement in real time, as well as support other issuer services such as text alerts, in order to improve the cardholder experience and minimize return inquiries.

Important Dates:

Thomas is in Sitka, Alaska this week, attending the Annual CHARR Convention. (For those of you that aren't familiar with this organization, it is the Alaska Cabaret, Hotel, Restaurant and Retailers Association - a non-profit corporation, dedicated to serving the needs of the hospitality industry in the state of Alaska.)

Here is a preview of one of the featured speakers:

Over the next several months, we will be sharing the PCI Council's advice on How to Protect Your Business With These Security Basics.

This month's topic:  Use Strong Passwords and Change Default Ones

According to  the Council's Guide - About 80% of breaches involved guessed or stolen passwords!

Here is what they recommend:

CHANGE YOUR PASSWORDS REGULARLY. Treat your passwords like a toothbrush. Don’t let anyone else use them and get new ones every three months.

SEEK HELP. Ask your vendors or service providers about default passwords and how to change them. Then do it!

For more information on managing passwords, click here.

MAKE THEM HARD TO GUESS. The most common passwords are “password” and “123456.” Hackers try easily-guessed passwords because they’re used by half of all people. A strong password has seven or more characters and a combination of upper and lower case letters, numbers, and symbols (like !@#$&*). A phrase can also be a strong password (and may be easier to remember), like “B1gMac&frieS.”

To see how fast it takes to crack a password, click here.

DON’T SHARE. Insist on each employee having their own login IDs and passwords – never share!

“Small businesses are particularly at risk from the costs and opportunity loss associated with a data breach. Implementing the guidance published by the PCI SSC Small Merchant Taskforce will help a small business improve its data security practices and reduce the risk of data theft.“ - Michael Christodoulides, Barclaycard, PCI Small Merchant Taskforce Co-Chair

Security risks are everywhere these days - everyone up and down the chain is affected.  At Skurla's Point of Sale Solutions, we take security very seriously - and wanted to share some resources from the PCI Security Council.  

But first, here are some frightening data points shared by the PCI Security Council:   

• 71% of hackers attack businesses with under 100 employees (Verizon 2012)
• 60% of small businesses experienced a cyber breach (HM Government)
• $20,752 is the average cost to small businesses due to hacking (NSBA)

If this scares you too, keep reading below to learn more about how to protect your business - 

You know the drill -  

Please listen carefully as our options have changed.

Call 907-243-2683 during our normal business hours, M-F 8-5 p.m. (Alaska Time)

• For support, press 3
• For the office, press 4

(You can also now dial your party’s extension at any time.)

For after hours:

• If you need emergency MICROS support, please hang up and dial 855-412-2838.
• If you need emergency support on all other systems, press 3 to be connected.  Or call 907-444-0559.
• To leave a message for the office for a call back on the next business day, press 4.
• If you need support for a call back on the next business day, press 5.
• To repeat these options, press 0.

If you don't love phone trees, you can also fill out the form below, and we can contact you!

Update to the post earlier this month (see below).

Good news!  We will be receiving 11 pallets of paper on July 3rd!  Next time you come by our office, you will probably see stacks of paper lining our hallways!  

Thank you for your understanding as we continue to work through this issue paper shortage issue. 

(Unfortunately, vendors are raising their prices in the interim.  We will monitor this closely, and hopefully after the shortages are resolved, prices will go back down to their normal levels.)

Earlier this year, we shared information about the global thermal paper shortage. Up to this point, we hadn't seen many changes in the industry that affected pricing or availability of paper rolls. However, that has now changed. 

We would like to express our sincere gratitude and appreciation for all the hard  work (and your patience) in the effort to get the TLS updates applied to your point of sale system and equipment. 

Earlier this year, we shared information about the global thermal paper shortage. Up to this point, we haven't seen many changes in the industry that affected pricing or availability of paper rolls. However, that has now changed. Paper vendors are warning of impending price increases and shortages. We have seen some prices quoted as much as $120 for a case of thermal paper and 2-3 weeks delay in receiving paper orders.  Being Alaskans, we have the added difficulty of freight charges and long shipping times on heavy items, such as paper.

We know how critical it is for you to have a reliable supply of credit card paper and receipt paper at a reasonable price, and we are doing our best to work through this (hopefully) short term shortage.

The reality is that there will be price increases, and paper will need to be allocated and rationed at times.  To help with the shortage, here are a few ideas to consider:

Traditionally, retail point of sale (POS) systems were primarily used to control cash and record sales. Retail has become more competitive than ever - consumers are using the Internet more than ever to research products, compare prices and shop online.

Today's point of sale systems use data in ways never possible before - and savvy business owners are learning what to do with that data to increase revenues, capture market share, become more competitive, while still controlling their costs and capturing vital sales information.  

Traditionally, restaurant point of sale (POS) systems were primarily used to control cash and record sales.   

Today's point of sale systems use data in ways never possible before - and savvy restaurant owners are learning what to do with that data to increase revenues, capture market share, become more competitive, while still controlling their costs and capturing vital sales information.  Find out if you are able to answer some of the questions below:

Tips and Tricks from the Point of Sale World:

In reference to last month's article about the TLS issue, we just want to remind everyone again that if you have not updated your point of sale system, most likely your integrated credit cards* will stop working in June.  While the official deadline is June 30th, many gateways are proactively switching over before then.

Yes, credit cards may stop working on your point of sale system this summer!  We are providing you with more information on this important issue - please take a moment to read.

First some definitions and background on this topic:

TLS: Transport Layer Security (TLS) is a cryptographic protocol used to establish a secure communications channel between two systems.

SSL: Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) is the standard security technology for establishing an encrypted link between a web server and a browser. This link ensures that all data passed between the web server and browser remain private.

On Feb. 13, 2015, the PCI Security Standards Council announced that SSL, a protocol designed to ensure that data provided between a web server and a web browser, such as credit card information, remains secure - is no longer an acceptable way to provide strong cryptography, due to a number of known fundamental vulnerabilities. The deadline is June 30, 2018. 

In March, the PCI Security Standards Council (PCI SSC) announced new changes to the PCI Qualified Integrators and Resellers (QIR) Program in response to industry feedback and data breach report findings. The program changes are designed to increase the number of QIRs and equip them to help merchants reduce risk by mitigating the leading causes of payment data breaches. 

The PCI SSC QIR program offers specialized data security training and certification to individuals that install, configure and/or support payment systems. PCI SSC maintains a listing of PCI QIRs on its website for merchants to use in identifying and selecting trusted partners. Since the program was established in 2012, breach reports highlight that smaller merchants are increasingly under attack, and that the majority of merchant payment data breaches could be prevented by addressing three critical issues: insecure remote access, weak password practices and outdated and unpatched software.

Data Breaches, ID Theft, Credit Card Breaches - we hear this all the time in the news.  And this is the last thing you as an owner or manager want to experience for your business!

Please take time to read this!  It could save your business!

If you accept credit cards in your business and want to avoid charge backs and/or reduce credit card fraud,  we strongly encourage you to read this article from TSYS, one of our favorite preferred credit card processors:

" Charge Backs, Why They Happen, How to Prevent Them"

See the list of the questions about charge backs answered in this article:

Update from one of our major paper suppliers:

January 5, 2018 – Thermal paper supply continues to be allocated by the mills due to the on-going leuco dye shortage.  Mills continue to search for alternative sources of supply to meet customer demand.  These sources often come at a price premium driving up prices for thermal paper.  A thermal paper surcharge was just passed to the market and will be in effect at least through the first quarter of 2018.  

As of today, neither Chinese leuco dye plant has restarted production.  The exact date for the restart of the Chinese leuco dye plants is still unknown.  When they resume manufacturing, the supply chain is expected to take months to fill.  As such, we currently project supply will remain allocated through the first half of 2018.

Our strategy with respect to thermal paper supply continues to keep Iconex in the best possible position for paper availability. 

We want to thank you for your continued support and business this past year - and wishing you the best for the New Year.

So the good news first - the pricing of bond paper (non-thermal paper often used in kitchen printers) has gone down, and we have lowered our prices accordingly.   We like lowering our costs, and passing the savings on to our customers!

If you use a scanner at your store, the State of Alaska has reminded us of the following:

From a press release today:

Daylight Savings Time ends Sunday, November 5th.  Don't forget to set your clocks back so that you can get that extra hour of sleep!

Runningrestaurants.com, along with their sister site, RestaurantReport.com, is dedicated to helping independent restaurants be more profitable and successful.   They recently interviewed Jordan Statt, VP of Business Development at MobileBytes, about what is new and trending with point of sale systems.

I just read an article by Linda Kirkpatrick - Executive Vice President, U.S. Market Development at Mastercard - "No More Signing on the Dotted Line".

Thomas Greenman came to Skurla's 9 years ago from Alabama.   (How weird is it that we have two employees from Alabama - yes, Jesse hails from that state, too.)  Thomas was originally hired as our Service Coordinator, moved up to Service Manager, then Operations and Sales.  

Data breach - those two words can (and should) scare the heck out of business owners.  It is everywhere in the news.  I think on some level, people are just throwing their hands up in the air at this point.  However, we don't want our customers to go through this experience - no one wants the CIA showing up at their back door or having their funds frozen because of a suspected breach.

To help you understand the impacts, we wanted to share this article by Justin Zeigler, the director of product development and marketing at Datacap Systems.  (Datacap Systems develops integrated payment interfaces for any type Point of Sale Application - so they are very in tune with security for point of sale systems.)  In this article, he discusses:

• What Is a Data Breach and How Do They Most Commonly Occur?
• What Can  You Expect When a Breach Occurs? What Are the Steps?
• Who Is Liable?
• Best Practices to Prevent Breaches and Mitigate Liability
• Using a QIR (Qualified Integrators and Resellers) Certified Reseller

As a business owner, it is vital to understand the effects of a breach on your business, your customers and your employees.

Read this eye opening article below:

It's September. What does that mean to many Alaskans? (Besides the fact that termination dust was sighted on the Chugach Mountains this morning.)

Words that come to mind when we think about Jesse Dison, our Senior Implementation Specialist:

In some businesses, credit sales account for over 80% of their daily sales.  If this is your business, you are depositing very little cash every day.  And while most of us count for and reconcile the cash, are you reconciling your daily credit card deposit to the credit card batches that actually go into the bank?  It seems easy and automatic, but here are a few tips and tricks we have learned over the last couple of decades installing integrated credit card systems.

Our office will be closed on Tuesday, July 4th in honor of Independence Day.

  A reduced staff will be working remotely/on call to handle the needs of our customers on Monday, July 3rd.

However, we understand the importance of customer service and issues that may arise during this busy retail holiday.

 If you have an emergency, please call us at 243-2683 and follow the prompts to page our after hours technician.  For support hours and information, click here.

Have a safe and Happy 4th of July.  From the team at Skurla's!

Our office will be closed on Tuesday, July 4th in honor of Independence Day

  A reduced staff will be working remotely/on call to handle the needs of our customers on Monday, July 3rd.

However, we understand the importance of customer service and issues that may arise during this busy retail holiday.

 If you have an emergency, please call us at 243-2683 and follow the prompts to page our after hours technician.  For support hours and information, click here.

Have a safe and Happy 4th of July.  From the team at Skurla's!

Seem like we hear about Big Data everywhere these days.

From Oracle Hospitality - Trends Influencing Point of Sale:

 Meet Jeff Wood - one of our superheros .  Jeff joined us in 2012 - and knows point of sale inside and out.  One of our fundamental core values is Teamwork - and Jeff embodies that value in everything he says and does.  

We frequently get asked about the future of Pay at the Table - and why it hasn't been widely adopted in Alaska (and the rest of the U.S.).  Here is an article from Hospitality Technology from June 2016:

"In an EMV world, it’s best practice for cards to never leave the customer’s possession during a transaction. In the U.S., an additional driver for bringing payment to the table is mobile payment solutions such as Apple Pay, which require either a fingerprint ID or PIN. The payment method can’t come to the POS – customers aren’t going to turn over their PIN or smartphone – so the POS has to come to the customer.
 
There are multiple benefits for implementing tableside payment at restaurants. Not only does bringing the point of sale to the customer help to boost table turns and revenue, it also helps to protect customer cardholder data, which is a major concern for merchants. Here, Greg Burch, vice president of strategic initiatives U.S. for Ingenico Group, highlights some of the perks and breaks down a few best practices.
 
Paybacks from tableside payment
Higher table turns. Consider a typical payment transaction with a magnetic stripe card: a server drops a check at the table in a billfold, and leaves. The customer retrieves their card and leaves it in the billfold, then waits for the server to return. Sometimes that happens a minute later, and sometimes it’s 10 or more minutes later.  Then the customer waits again for their receipt. Most restaurants measure table turns closely, and even small increases can contribute to profitability. Moving from three to four table turns per shift can increase revenue by 20-25 percent.
 
Less waiting for customers, higher tips for servers. Cutting down that wait time by bringing the payment device to the table not only leads to more table turns and increased face-time, but also higher customer satisfaction. The result is better tips for servers. We witnessed this firsthand in Canada, where Pay-at-the-Table became the standard shortly after that country’s EMV migration in 2010.
 
Reduced chargebacks. Businesses that do not upgrade their payment technology to accept EMV chip cards are putting themselves at risk of chargebacks due to credit card fraud. Major acquirers have reported that chargebacks have been on the rise since the October 2015 liability shift, with restaurants being one of the major areas affected. This is essentially a trickle-down effect: as more merchants move to EMV, fraud moves to areas that have been slower adopters. Even a small increase in chargebacks and card fraud can be potentially devastating to a small business.
 
Reductions in identity theft. Card skimming by servers has been known to occur in the hospitality industry, where cards typically leave consumers’ sight for several minutes. Servers who are part of fraud rings can wear discreet card skimmers on their belt loops and collect card data from hundreds of customers in a week. Five hundred skimmed cards can be sold on the black market for $1500 or more – significantly boosting a server’s annual income. Pay-at-the-table eliminates that possibility by keeping cards out of servers’ possession.
 
8 Best practices for rolling out pay-at-the-table  
There is no question that pay-at-the-table is becoming a major factor in the market, with some – ipredicting it to be the predominant payment method throughout the hospitality industry by the end of 2016. For those thinking of rolling out pay-at-the-table, here are a few tips for a smooth and successful implementation.
 

Mastercard Update: If your business accepts credit cards, you may have been hearing about the new Mastercard Bank Identification Numbers (BINs). BINs, which are the first six-digits of the account number, are fundamental to payments. They identify the issuing institution for the account and ensure that each transaction is routed correctly. 

According to the Mastercard website:

It's Friday night - your store or restaurant is packed.  Things are humming along nicely and you're thinking - we are busy, life is good!

Then you get the call - we are out of receipt paper at the register - can you bring us a roll?

You look, you panic - oh man - you forgot to reorder last week after they used that last roll!!!!

But you, being a smart manager/owner - know that you have that emergency supply kit tucked away for times just like these!  Viola!  Crack open the kit, and all is good.

Ok, but for those of you that don't have that emergency supply kit, well.....

So here is our advice.  First of all, make your point of sale supplies stock is something you inventory and check stock of on a regular basis.  If you purchase your supplies from us, we can even get you accurate sales history of how much you go through on a regular basis.  Preorder for a couple of months or even a season and take advantage of our quantity discounts!

But the unexpected can still happen.  So, for that reason, we suggest you create an emergency point of sale supply kit that only you or your managers know about and have access to.  Make this a part of your disaster plan!

Here are some suggestions of what to keep in that kit:

I think it is always nice to put a face with a name.  For those of you who haven't met her in person, we wanted to "introduce" you to our amazing Office Manager, Mandy Richards.  Mandy has been with us since 2015, and we couldn't be happier.

You know what we are talking about - that busy season - summer, tourists, people in general just out and about more.  And businesses get busy!

Amazon Web Services (AWS) is the world's largest provider of internet-based computing services - almost 150,000 companys use AWS.  Companies such as Netflix, Spotify, Pinterest, Buzzfeed, and Amazon (go figure), use this service.  When AWS had an outage yesterday, it affected hundreds of thousands of businesses!  Dave Bartoletti, a cloud analyst with Forrester, told USA Today: “This is a pretty big outage.  “It’s got north of 3 to 4 trillion pieces of data stored in it.” That's a lot of data!

 Fortunately, for our customers that have products utilizing AWS, they are on a system that offers an offline solution or a solution that still runs even if internet is down.  

However, this is a great reminder that it is time to review the disaster plan for your business.  You have one, right?

Many disasters can befall a small business (power outages, earthquakes, internet outages, fires, security breaches, etc.), but few are worse than losing vital business information. Imagine losing your entire customer list, your accounts receivable data, your sales or payroll data, your menu setup, or your inventory records. You could spend weeks –even months - reconstructing this data. In a worst-case scenario, you might not be able to reconstruct it at all.   If you are on one of our hosted solutions, many of these worries go away.

In today’s highly-computerized business world, many firms are exposed to the sudden loss of information. Natural disasters, computer viruses, mechanical failures and electronic crime can all result in catastrophic data loss. No matter how hard you try, you can’t prevent disasters from occurring. But you can take forceful steps to safeguard your data, and ensure that you can retrieve and restore your computer records should you suffer a loss.  

Some of the things we hear often from our customers - "we don't use half of the features of our point of sale system, I wish I knew more about current technologies, we are still having problems with this functionality, or we could sure use more training in this area, we want to implement this loyalty this year, but not sure the best way to approach this."

These are just some of the reasons why we offer a free annual review of our customer’s point of sale systems and related business processes at a meeting with the owners and key managers.

Many customers tell us they don't have time - (or maybe they are afraid there is a hidden cost). So, therefore we are here to tell you how easy it is, and that yes, it is truly free - no strings attached!

We truly want you to take advantage of these meetings for many reasons:

1. It's free!  It's easy!  If you are in Anchorage, we can come to your place of business; if you aren't, we can easily set up a GoToMeeting conference call.
2. It's important for owners and managers to keep abreast of the point of sale and payment technologies - these are the systems that run your business!
3. Employees change - sometimes the employee that helped set up the system is no longer with your company - now is a good time to review your system and any system needs or changes you may have.
4. We will ask questions, such as, "What are your top 3-4-5 projects your management team has decided to pursue in the coming year?"  How can we help? How can we be prepared?
5. We want to do a better job for you and encourage customer feedback –  how we can improve our services and communications and how we can help you in the coming year.
6. Finally, we will come up with a specific plan and action items for the areas that came up during the meeting.

Plus, we like visiting with our customers and learning what is working and/or not working for them - as partners, together we can come up with solutions to benefit you in key areas.

What to expect at the meeting for your system review:

I found this article on the blog from NCC USA on why to work with a local point of sale provider - and thought it provided some valuable information.  At Skurla's, we are long term partners with our customers.  I always tell my customers - if you have a problem - you know where to find me!  We believe in local support and long term relationshipsl

Below is a copy of the blog:

Purchasing a point of sale (POS) system is an important investment that will have a direct impact on how efficiently your business operates. You likely spend a lot of time researching options that work best for your market or industry, looking for the features and functions your business needs, and matching prices to your budget. With so much attention focused on potential POS solutions, do you also research the best place to buy your POS system?

There are a number of reasons why working with a POS dealer is smart and strategic. Consider these three.

You are starting a business.  That is so exciting!  But, boy there are so many details!  Licenses, permits, finding a building, remodeling or maybe even new construction.

Then there is all the equipment you need to buy, people to hire, inventory and/or food products to purchase.  Signage, phone systems, marketing, furniture – the list goes on and on.

There are delays and hiccups along the way – and geez is that cash going quickly or what – and you aren't even open yet!

So sometimes, choosing a point of sale system is way at the bottom of a business owner's to-do list. 

Obviously we are biased, but let us give you just a few reasons why you might want to move the decision to purchase a point of sale system just a little higher up on that list: 

With all the talk about EMV, PCI  and Security requirements have taken a back seat when talking about accepting credit cards at a business.

Did you know that any merchant installing a PA-DSS (payment application should be using a company that is a PCI-certified QIR professional?   The Payment Application Data Security Standard (PA-DSS) is the global security standard created by the Payment Card Industry Security Standards Council (PCI SSC). 

 An acquirer will not be allowed to board a merchant as of March 31^st 2016 if they are not installed by a QIR.  (An acquiring bank, or acquirer, is a bank or financial institution that processes credit or debit card payments on behalf of a merchant.)

Visa advised acquirers that as of January 2017, all new Level 4 merchants must use only Payment Card Industry (PCI)-certified QIR solutions providers for POS application and terminal installation and integration. 

Today we are happy to announce that we are a QIR Certified POS Provider.  A BIG shout out to Jesse Dison for the successful completion of the Qualified Integrators and Resellers course.

The Qualified Integrators & Resellers course provides an opportunity for eligible professionals of qualifying organizations to receive training and qualification on the secure installation of Payment Application Data Security Standard (PA-DSS)-validated payment applications into merchant environments in a manner that facilitates PCI Data Security Standard compliance.

To learn more about the Small Merchant Security Program Requirements download the security bulletin here.

To learn more about how you can reduce your risk and PCI requirements, read the rest of the article here.

Great turn out at the Rural Small Business Conference today! Thank you to Alaska Village Initiatives - 25 years of sponsoring this show to benefit rural businesses and leaders!

An update from NCR Counterpoint on EMV:

You know you need a point of sale system for your restaurant.  Before investing and/or signing that contract, make sure you have considered all of following points when selecting your system.  Too many times, we have had customers tell us that when they selected their system, they didn't realize all the extra fees that they were being charged for - but it was too late, they had already signed the contract and were using the system.