Aloha Cloud Reviews

Pros

Transactions, and reporting, are very easy to use. Reporting is excellent.

Cons

There is zero inventory functionality. You can add inventory, but as a retailer I need to be able to track my inventory to monitor when, and what, I need to order. Silver does not offer such a feature. This is a common complaint amongst other retailers that use Silver that I frequent with my personal business.

Pros

Asking the right questions to the right people, NCR can pretty much do anything we request. We use most of your product, including take out and delivery. I like that everything is integrated.
We upgraded to command center from secure access to manager our 7 locations, great software. Having terminal access to the locations is great for testing and training.
Management loves the Pulse App.

Cons

The way take out and delivery is programmed through AO. The delay between the POS data base and ATO is tedious.

The help desk support lately has not been as good since COVID. Most issues need to be escalated to a level 3 tech, and no one can be found when needed. Waiting and waiting for a call back. We have to reach out to our local support in most cases to finish the support call. Very frustrating for our teams in the restaurant.

Pros

It is very safe and reliable. I feel calm in my business.

Cons

Nothing. So far I've liked everything, I've never had any problems with my equipment

Pros

We liked using the machine before it became obsolete. There is nothing to like now.

Cons

Customer Service, their management, and the lack there-of. We have been waiting over a year for help. And now that we ask for our contract to be broken, they chain us to it.

Pros

This cloud based system met the majority of our needs when I began searching for a new POS system when our retail store was adding a second location. I was looking for a system that could be accessed remotely, share information between the locations and could grow as our store grows. The 24/7 Customer Service is reliable and accessible. Most times, a single phone call is all it takes to resolve a problem.

Cons

The biggest drawback was discovered shortly after we began installation. We were told during the sales pitch that our system of alpha numeric sku numbers would easily transfer to NCR silver. The use of the bar code scanners and ticketing system would be simple process. This was not the case. We have to manually key in the alpha numeric sku numbers which is much more time consuming the scanning.
Four years later, we have of course adapted.

Pros

They promised a lot but deliver little.

Cons

System never worked as promised. Second party QR codes that you pat]y $$$ for that do not work. Your management will spend more time in office with this system than on floor with guest. Also a loyalty program you can plan on zero help- with

Alternatives Considered

Toast POS

Reasons for Switching to Aloha Cloud

Sold by salesman as state of the art and best of the best with updates and all the tech I wanted. Fell very short at the start of install to today.

Pros

This software is very easy to use and set-up. There are a lot of helpful reports you can run. I like that you can view your business activity remotely from your smart phone.

Cons

When there is a problem it is sometimes difficult for customer support to fix the problem until the next update. This is frustrating because you are left to wait up to three months or more.

Pros

The program helps in managing sales, where invoices are processed.
Further, the customer assistance helps users, and complaints are effortlessly resolved.

Cons

There is maximum assistance from Aloha Cloud, and this resolves the challenges of sales, the security and the processing extensions.

Pros

I like that it’s fairly easy to navigate around the system and offers a lot of BOH reports

Cons

Is difficult atTimes to track actual customerData

Pros

Ability to customize things like loyalty, gift cards, gratuity reporting is very good. system is a workhorse.

Cons

Updating pricing and creating buttons takes too long and is too complicated compared to newer POS systems. Customer service not very responsive.

Pros

We really did not like anything about the solftware. It was very difficlut to operate and there are many issues that NCR is not fixing. The multiple steps to complete a customer transaction is too long. They also do not have enough employees where I have wasted large amount of time waiting for their reps.

Cons

When we call NCR as the merchant to assist on failures of the software program, they do not respond immediately. Their phone system states, if you want to wait for the next avaiable representative press #2 on the phone. This message is repeated almost every 10 seconds. This is very difficult and discouraging.... Of course I want to wait for a representative... Do I have a choice????

Pros

Device compatibility across windows workstations. Ease of end user use and ease of basic programming.

Cons

The worst part for us is the lack of the ability to push out changes to terminals without doing a complete system refresh and taking the entire FOH down for > 3 minutes. Often we'll notice a price or an item issue during business hours and have to take the whole FOH down just to update a modifier or something of the like. Also, there's no compatible tablets that work with chip and pin to line bust and run faster drive thru service. That's more of a hardware issue for sure, but it's a real sour note for us. Additionally the IBER process seems to be pretty fragile when using third party services like omnivore and even above store reporting suites. We'll have an IBER crash at least once a week during a busy shift.

Pros

NCR's back office is easily navigated. It is feature rich in many areas, excelling in variations. The modifier portion of the software is decent, but could use some work so that it could be used as a single add on for several items as well as modified price times quantity.

Cons

Can not customize the customer information that you wish to have at a glance.
Can not set up tax exempt customers for automatic tax exemption.
Can not readily link inventory to my existing website.
Can not set up scannable customer ID cards readily.
Can not see inventory at a glance for quick inventory checks on items.
Will not print directly to Dymo Labeler for price tags from back office as Square will when receiving inventory.
Can not set up coupon codes for printable coupons, must set up an offer to apply to everyone.
Sales team said these were all included in the purchase, but were not.
Expensive software, overall less feature rich than Square but 33% higher per month.

Pros

The back office, inventory management, and customer tracking is terrific. Any system can fulfill the basic need of helping you ring up a sale, but Silver offers features that I didn't know I needed until I had them. Computing sales tax for state filing, locating past customer purchases, super useful features.

Cons

I'd like to be able to add devices without additional fees. I guess I don't understand why having a second device changes anything with regard to the costs incurred. I had a copy of the app on my phone purely as a backup in case something happened to my tablet but realized it was costing me every month for something that I wasn't using.
When wifi is having problems, I wish there would be a way to cache those transactions offline for processing when wifi is connected again. As it stands, I end up using the old carbon copy forms to take and impression and running the transaction later.

Pros

Ease of teaching my employees, Ease of getting my reports, Ease of looking up so many things like cancelled tickets(times of cancellations would help), helps me keep track on employees.

Cons

Not seeing the integration of my online calendar system, thought their might be a discount for the calendar. Control of emails is a "0" - no means to click on several at a time to delete as I uploaded 6,000+ only to find out I could only use 2500 at a time, not I need to upload them all again in groups. But then if I have duplicates there is no easy way to tell and I do not want to bother my customers with duplicate emails. I also have no idea if my (Cimplebox) calendar emails are automatically going over to the Silver.

Pros

The POS portion of NCR Silver is very easy to use. New team members are easily able to understand the categories and screens. Takes advantage of common iPad functionality. Easy to update products and prices. Friendly interface.

Cons

The back-end functionality of NCR Silver is lacking. Inventory management is slow and cumbersome. Email templates and functionality are outdated. Lack of social media integration and easy ecommerce integration in emails.

Pros

Aloha has the capability to handle any concept protype in development then seamlessly transition into multi-units. Reporting structure is best in class with unit level metrics remaining a priority.

Cons

NCR Aloha is one of the pricier options which should really only be utilized with multi units. It's too robust and complicated for the average mom and pop place.

Alternatives Considered

Square Point of Sale, TouchBistro and Revel Systems

Reasons for Switching to Aloha Cloud

Scalability, fiduciary confidence, security.

Pros

It runs on an iPad and is pretty simple to set up.

Cons

It's unreliable. Loses connection to it's hardware almost daily requiring a fix each time. The swipe hardware wares out very quickly.

Pros

Aloha is a lifesaver! I have used many many systems in my 10 years as a waitress and the majority of the companies I have worked for prefer Aloha. The amount of modifiers per entree items help with being intuitive and helps with server training as well. Each entree can be assigned certain buttons that help the servers efficiently place orders with ease of access. There is also a way to add and delete buttons so that should your menu change or need updating, there is a way to update within 24 hours.

Cons

Adding and Deleting buttons is a little complicated if you are not familiar with the system. While you CAN do a lot with the system, it does take a lot of customer support to help any new users navigate through the software. This is a small price to pay for the ease of access that Aloha provides.

Pros

I like that it's super easy to train new hires on the POS and as I a manager I love that I can access so much information in the back office so long as I have access to a computer/laptop.

Cons

There are just a few things that I wish we could change, but a lot of the software updates eventually address a lot of them. Like any software out there, there are glitches that happen but they're minor so it's not a deal breaker. Customer service is a hit or miss. Most times friendly, but a lot of times it just gets sent to a different department because they can't figure it out, which takes time and follow ups.

Pros

The Aloha system is easy to use, easy to update, and is stable.

Cons

I would like to see Aloha partner with large delivery companies to develop a seem less software addition for incoming orders. It also would be nice to see Configuration Center have an option for live screen view when you are building out menus.

Pros

Aloha has features that make it easy to adjust pricing and add menu items to tickets. It’s is simple to split checks and take multiple payment methods for an order.

Cons

It is complicated to customize an order of the presets for an item are not programmed in. Deleting or voiding items is not simple and you cannot easily combine tickets. The sales ring in through aloha do not always show up in the main accounting software used by our company.

Pros

I can edit most things on my own, and the ease of changing things in the POS is fairly simple. The ergonomic design makes it easy for staff to use.

Cons

I think the customer service sometimes lacks, in terms of getting through to the right person to help and then the problem never truly being resolved. Some of the buttons I have needed in the past, are not allowed on my end and I have to call and have someone add them to my end which is silly.

Pros

It is easy to learn to use and has all the features you need to run your business

Cons

Customer service is horrible. You cant get help and support knows very litle about the product it is like they have never even touch it and are just reading out of a manual

Pros

All aspects of back office management is well integrated into one platform.

Cons

Sometimes has long lags in between screens.