Talk
Litely
In late July,
VeriFone released a new POS terminal management solution designed to
lower the cost of ownership for small and medium size businesses:
VeriTalk Lite.
You may be
familiar with the windows NT-based terminal support software if you
work for MediCheck or First American Payment Systems, as both
organizations have chosen the VeriTalk Lite product. MediCheck is
using VeriTalk Lite to manage its network of 2000 terminals and First
American is using it to oversee terminal operations at 412 sales
offices throughout the country.
VeriTalk Lite is
an integrated download management system that can be run by a single
operator using a single PC and can handle up to 5000 terminals from a
single workstation. It features the Personal Oracle database which
provides the software's data storage and management, as well as
Crystal Reports Writer runtime libraries, which contain 18
pre-defined templates to generate the most commonly used
reports.
As a business
grows, VeriTalk Lite users can easily migrate to the VeriTalk
Enterprise system, which is designed for larger and more complex
networks but employs the same user interface.
Who Should Use
VeriTalk Lite?
The easy answer is
that any organization currently using ZonTalk can benefit greatly
from VeriTalk Lite. As many GS readers know, ZonTalk can only handle
one download at a time. A single operator using VeriTalk Lite can
process 16 downloads simultaneously. And, the download can be
pre-programmed to operate at a certain time, such as after the
merchant's business hours. If terminal software and hardware has
ability to answer a download, then the merchant doesn't need to do
anything and the download will complete by itself.
The downloads can
also be broken down into logical clusters to isolate certain
terminals and save time by downloading the entire group at once. For
example, you can choose to download only to terminals in a certain
region, a certain industry, or at a certain time of day. And, the
system can download direct and remote terminals at the same time so,
if you need to update some equipment in the field but you also need
to program some terminals that you have on hand, you can do both
simultaneously.
VeriTalk Lite also
allows downloads of multiple types of terminals, including all Tranz
and Omni terminals, to be combined into a single download session to
save time. Even multiple applications can be downloaded to multiple
terminals at the same time.
Ellen Hudec, vice
president of sales at First American said, "The response to VeriTalk
Lite at First American has been overwhelmingly positive. Feedback
from the field has been that the product makes terminal deployment
and management a fast and simple process."
Why Change From
ZonTalk?
So, what's the
"value proposition" of moving from ZonTalk to VeriTalk? In a word,
productivity. In two words, increased productivity. VeriTalk is not a
new and improved ZonTalk but an entirely new animal. With VeriTalk,
all the terminals do NOT have to have the same applications. And,
since downloads can be scheduled for any time, your employees don't
have to be slaves to the download system. Instead of working around
the download, you schedule the download when it is best for
you.
Also, since
VeriTalk allows you to monitor the results of downloads, you will
know if a download did not complete properly. Better yet, you will
know, and be able to fix it, before your merchant knows. In the event
of an unsuccessful download, an operator is alerted and can fix the
problem before the merchant is inconvenienced. VeriTalk Lite also
features an on-line monitoring capability, allowing the operator to
quickly identify and troubleshoot any problems that may occur during
the downloading process. All download activity is recorded into a
secure audit log that is only available to authorized
users.
So, What's the
Bottom Line?
Pricing for
VeriTalk and VeriTalk Lite is a flat pricing mechanism based on a
single installation. There are two pricing structures: an attractive
upgrade path for current Zon Talk users and an initial purchase price
for non-Zon Talk users and both include first year 24/7 help-desk
support. The pricing starts at $3,500 for upgrade users and ranges to
$6,000 for new users.
If you're
interested in checking out VeriTalk Lite for yourself, you can find
more information at the VeriFone Web site at
http://www.verifone.com.
ZonTalk VeriTalk
Lite
DOS Windows
NT
Text-based User
Interface Graphical User Interface
Single
Download Up to 16 simultaneous
downloads
Proprietary
Database Intergrated with Personal
Oracle Database
Proprietary Text
Report
Generation
Integrated with Crystal Reports-18
pre-defined templates
3
User Access Security Levels Unlimited
User Access Levels
Terminal
Initiated Downloads Terminal Initiated
and Automatic Scheduled
Downloads
No
Online Monitoring Online Real-time
Detailed Monitoring
Supports
mixture of terminal types and
applications in same
download
Training
Tutorial
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