Squirrel Systems is a market leader in providing point-of-sale (POS) solutions for customers in North America. Their customer base consists mainly of restaurants, hotels, bars, and similar hospitality services operations. Thousands of businesses across the continent use their systems, and Squirrel has received numerous awards for innovating and revolutionizing the retail and hospitality sectors.
The Business Need
Offerings from Squirrel Systems were primarily comprised of on-premise desktop systems that utilized a classic client-server architecture for their software. This stands in contrast to the growing utilization of cloud-based offerings in the industry.
Customers were requesting more agile POS services. Likewise, they wanted to see the new generation of systems delivered at a lower total cost of ownership. As an industry leader, Squirrel needed to develop and deliver the next generation of cloud-centric systems in a package that was feature-rich, scalable, and secure.
The Challenge
Squirrel Systems required a solution that gave the company end-to-end ownership of the final product. Key concerns included developing a cloud-based application that would excel in terms of:
- Performance
- Usability
- Cost
- Availability
Transitioning from the on-premises solution presented a number of unique concerns. Desirable existing features had to be sustained while new ones were implemented. The Optimus team needed to conduct a thorough review of the on-premise system and develop domain expertise related to Squirrel’s offerings and their behaviours.
The Optimus Solution
The goal was to develop a Cloud POS application that would leverage the Microsoft technology stack. Optimus focused on leveraging the Azure architecture, and an Agile methodology was employed. The QA team had to conduct both manual and automated validation while following the DevOps process.
Optimus conducted multiple meetings with the client to flesh out requirements. The BA/UI/UX lead worked with Squirrel Systems’ owner and the company’s product manager to establish milestones and draft stories using Azure Boards. An initial prototype was built using a combination of Cloud Services and the Xamarin platform.
The client also had to be introduced to the cloud infrastructure. DevOps pipelines were set for the project in order to provide reports about application health. The team utilized industry-standard practices to perform the manual and automated QA tasks to validate functionality.
Project technologies and tools included:
- C#
- .NET
- XAMARIN
- Angular
- Web API 2.0
- Entity Framework
- Azure App Services
- AzureSQL
- Azure Monitor
- Application Insights
- NUnit
- Azure Boards
- Azure DevOps
- Azure Key Vault
- Azure Pipelines
The Result
Squirrel now has the necessary agility to add features and services much faster than before. Their offerings are now integrated with ISV options and payment providers. Agile methodologies were employed to accomplish the client’s goals for app development, software testing and integration.
The net effect is that Squirrel Systems’ release cycles will decrease from 3 weeks down to two weeks, allowing them to offer a more appealing slate of product offerings. Accomplishing this goal will help them maintain their status as an industry leader in retail and hospitality POS systems.
Contact Optimus to learn how we can help you leverage cloud services.
