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What Does Windows Embedded POSReady 7 “End of Life” Mean for Restaurants?

In October 2021, Microsoft will no longer support (and more importantly, update) Windows Embedded POSReady 7 operating system. Why does this matter to me and my restaurants, you ask?

A significant portion of legacy Point-of-Sale (POS) systems have used this as the operating system on their devices. This system no longer allows for important security updates to maintain compliance as a merchant in the U.S. This is big trouble for restaurant groups with franchisees or corporate locations that need an upgrade.

What does it mean for restaurants?

If you purchased your Point-of-Sale prior to 2014, chances are this affects you. If your POS vendor no longer supports your operating system (which will be the case), then no software patches will be available. Without timely security updates and support, retailers will no longer be PCI-DSS (Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard) compliant. The restaurant industry is heavily regulated as it pertains to credit card payment standards, so if you are no longer compliant, you risk heavy fines or even losing the ability to take CC payments.

Does this affect you?

Unless you have purchased your Point-of-Sale in new condition over the past 5 years or you have a cloud-based system for all of your locations, you will need to take action. If you can no longer take credit card payments, this could be an endgame scenario for your business. If you manage a lot of locations with many franchisees, there’s a good chance you have stores that will be affected as well – unless you have standardization across your brand.

How do you make sure you’re compliant, and how do you avoid this happening again?

This one is simple. You need to have a modern Point-of-Sale solution in place before October 2021. Since it can take months to implement new solutions at all of your stores, time is of the essence. If you aren’t strategizing now, you are already behind schedule.

PRO TIP: Partner with a modern, cloud-based POS platform that takes this burden on for you. Go with a one-stop shop solution that can streamline your operations across all of your stores.

What is the next step to getting this taken care of with HungerRush?

Get in touch with us today and we’ll help you get the ball rolling. We will explain this further and show you what it means to partner with a true restaurant management solution across your entire brand. If you’re having trouble standardizing across all locations and regaining control of your brand, we can help with that too. HungerRush has a team that has done this countless times with restaurant groups like yours. Let us help you today – you can’t afford to wait.