TCO (total cost of ownership) denotes all the costs entailed by a system in the course of its life from acquisition, operation, maintenance and replacement to final disposal, regardless of where the costs are incurred and who pays for them.

For a typical POS configuration, the cost of hardware and software accounts for only approximately 20 - 25 % of the total costs over a 5-year lifecycle. Most of the remaining costs are accounted for by installation, administration, maintenance, downtimes, power consumption and training.

When it comes to making new and bulky IT investments, retail businesses now attach prime importance to simpler, better and lower-cost solutions.