The same is true for POS systems which, over the years, have rolled with the punches of technological advancement by integrating changes--such as touchscreen panels and barcode readers--to make transactions run smoother and faster.

The world is at yet another cusp of change involving POS systems, according to Winston Quesang, co-founder and managing partner of iMarket.ph, an e-Commerce platform provider, during Computerworld Philippines' executive briefing on Point-of-Sale Systems in August.

While today major end-users of POS systems are cashiers and sales personnel, Quesang predicts that in the near future, it will be the consumers who will largely use POS systems. "In the near future, [the former] is not the way it's going to be. We are going to put the customer experience at the center of POS," he shares.

This bit of information is crucial for businesses that employ POS systems, because technology will eventually revolve around that philosophy. Businesses must, therefore, take into account the technology lifecycle of their systems, which often go on the decline after reaching maturity. Future-