It’s easy to get whisked away by the possibilities of modern technology. It’s human nature to want the newest gadgets packed with endless features that empower you to be more productive, more efficient, more successful. With a smooth-talking salesman eager to dazzle you with the amazing things technology can do, it’s very easy to be led to believe that you need all of these features and functionalities to operate effectively. But that’s not always the case.

The charity sector has seen an influx of new technologies over the last few years and many are rushing to take advantage of the possibilities and benefits that it can bring. As a charity every penny spent on technology is a penny not going towards your cause and that’s why it’s so important to invest in technologies that will be worth it in the long run, that can and will provide the largest return on your investment.

Today’s POS technology often boasts never-ending lists of functionality, all promising increased Gift Aid sign ups, improved people management, easy stock tracking, better staff scheduling, hosted documents, improved communication, user-friendly interfaces, quicker cashing up processes… It’s hard not to buy into the many features available.

There’s no doubt that these systems can be extremely helpful. They can help you to improve how you work in your charity and having all those features at the touch of a button is incredibly useful. But realistically, how many of those features will you actually use? It’s all well and good having the functionality to manage floor space within a giant warehouse and handle the logistics of international delivery, but if you are running an operation of three shops all in the same county, just how useful will this be?

Having huge functionality in your EPOS system is great – but if you’re paying for something you don’t need, you’re wasting valuable funds that could go towards supporting your cause.

Having an EPOS system is becoming a necessity but it doesn’t need to be a hundred and one things to make you more efficient. It just needs to do what you need it to. Perhaps you’d like to have some help tracking your stock movement but don’t need task lists for your volunteers hosted on your POS. Maybe you just want a simple system that processes transactions. No frills, no added costs and no faff.

So how can you identify the systems that actually do what you need them to?

Finding a good technology provider is crucial. While you may not fully understand what the technology can do for you, they’re experts in it. It’s also important that they understand your issues, your requirements, and how you work in order to choose the right solution for you.

At Wil-U, we know we are a good technology partner for charities. We spend time learning and understanding your charity so that we can figure out the best way to help you succeed. When we worked with Save the Children, we collaborated, listened, suggested the right system, and then worked with them to ensure they got the best possible return from their investment. The new system contributed to a 35% increase in Gift Aid claims.

When we launched our digital Gift Aid sign up solution that replaces the laborious paper forms, we knew it shouldn’t be tied to an EPOS system. We knew it wasn’t realistic or fair to expect charities struggling to increase Gift Aid sign ups to be forced to buy a whole new suite of technology for their stores in order to solve this problem. We created our digital Gift Aid solution with this in mind – the software is not tied to any system and can be used independently from technology you already use.

While we can provide multi-purpose EPOS systems, we appreciate that sometimes money is tight or that sometimes you just want to solve one problem before starting on the next.