Why SMEs Need People-Centric POS in 2026

Eliminate bottlenecks and enhance your brand identity with payment-enabled POS

Element 455W Touch Screen POS Monitor

• Quality POS systems are particularly essential for SMEs

• Choose technology that serves people, not the other way around

• Create brand consistency with a unit such as the Element PK156

It’s an inevitable fact that SMEs (small-medium enterprises) need to economise wherever possible. Cutting corners with technology can be a tempting way to save on overheads, and in some instances, a business might be able to get away with it. However, when it comes to retail and hospitality, a good POS system is one thing that a small business should never skimp on, as transactions are the cornerstone of income.

As an example, consider a retail business that matches a cash drawer with a dodgy computer and tries to make this work. Customers might be queuing in line for service. Meanwhile, sales staff are struggling to make a cheap system work and process simple transactions. If you are not using a special POS system, you risk crashes and drop-outs. Staff may have to apologise to customers for slow computer performance. This can lead to a worst-case scenario.

The transaction is the final impression of your store. Customers will remember your business by their checkout experience. If that experience is poor, it undermines all the hard work done by your staff in securing the sale, as the customer will be left with a proverbial bad taste, which will make them less likely to return.

A quality POS ensures a reliable customer experience

Element PK156 Android Self-Service Kiosk

What if a business had instead chosen a sleek, purpose-designed POS system, such as the Element 455W, or perhaps a self-service kiosk like the Element PK156? When selecting one of these devices, you have the assurance that their reliability rests on Element’s pillars of design, quality and purpose. 

Transactions flow smoothly and effortlessly, customers do not have to wait, and the additional value of the device’s aesthetics make it a visual feature of the business space. When the POS device in question is a self-service kiosk, your customers are directly interacting with your technology -- and that is something you can’t afford to get wrong.

How do you design for humans?

Person-centric technology redefines how people engage with touchpoints within your retail or hospitality environment. When it comes to SMEs, their largest cost is usually labour -- so it is vital for a business to equip itself with technology that serves people, instead of the other way around. Self-service kiosks such as the Element PK156 epitomise this kind of technology.

Too often, kiosks have been associated with larger enterprises such as major supermarkets and fast food chains. Today, you have the option of investing in a kiosk designed for the small-to-medium scale while still maintaining large-enterprise capabilities. The Element PK156 allows you to take advantage of cutting-edge technology that helps drive self-service engagement with your brand, even if you are operating an SME.

A kiosk that works with your business

Self-service kiosks have always been seen as a way of reducing the labour force, but in the past, the GUI (graphic user interface) was a bit impersonal. That has changed in today’s kiosks, which offer a full range of personalisation features, including the ability to make choices like craft custom burgers in QSRs (quick-service restaurants). This is all a way of creating a more personal experience and strengthening the connection between the customer and the brand. 

A kiosk such as the Element PK156 is a cost-effective way for SMEs to serve more customers with fewer bottlenecks, while also enhancing engagement with your brand. It’s an excellent way to streamline operations and increase throughput during busy trading times such as the Christmas period. And the fact that the one device has embedded payments technology means that it’s a single solution for the whole checkout process, accessible to SMEs.

Create a consistent brand experience

In many cases, people’s first engagement with your brand will happen online. For this reason, you need to find a way of drawing the online world into the in-store experience. That means from a design perspective, you need to have the same brand concepts, the same logo, the same look, feel and aesthetic in-store as you have online.

Customers using a self-service kiosk like the Element PK156 will expect that experience of your brand to continue at checkout. This is where you have the opportunity to build a GUI that showcases your branding in-store, so that your customers have full immersion at every touchpoint. And looking at it from a high-level general view, the PK156 has a small form factor and is a highly aesthetic unit, which makes it the ideal platform for aligning with different brands. 

It’s the perfect way to humanise your technology and make the checkout process pleasantly uneventful; the best-case scenario when it’s time to transact. Contact Element today to learn more about the revolutionary and affordable payments-enabled PK156, and how we can support your business with people-friendly technology touchpoints.