octoPOS

Project Title

octoPOS

Project Area of Specialization Cyber SecurityProject Summary

We aim to build a cloud based Fully Interconnected Point of Sales (POS) system with paper-less e-invoicing to help retail store owners and buyers according to their needs forecasted through generated sales data. We call it octoPOS.

Features and Technological Frameworks
The data generated by these POS and POT systems is huge and has great potential. Modern Big Data Analysis techniques when merged with Industrial symbiosis can generate great value for economies and individuals.

octoPOS is a cloud based POS System which will ensure traceable transactions and have following essential features

• E-Invoicing
• User Profile based Transactions
• Data-Driven Statistics and Consultancy
• Supply Chain Optimization
• Geo-Fenced Consumer Behavior Analysis

In commercial phase, we aim at partnering with a telecom company to achieve broader outreach by integrating it with an m-wallet.

ICT Intervention
According to Pakistan Retail Census of 2013-14, The size of Pakistani retail sector is 674,980 Retail Stores. There is a huge potential for a FinTech start up to revitalizr this industry and maximize its output.

A huge part of Pakistan’s economy is Informal. Consequently, such people are more vulnerable to financial shocks as they do not have access to formal financial instruments such as loans, insurances and savings.

The transactional data that octoPOS will generate will be used to analyse the cashflows of people in the informal economy. This data can also be used to build financial tools for their betterment. Furthermore, by creating m-wallets for them we can bring them inside formal economy.

octoPOS is an ICT intervention aligned with the SDG of ‘Industry, Innovation & Infrastructure’ and ‘Global Financial Inclusion drive’. Not only we will be able to trace all transactions made through POS systems but also use the data to generate credit ratings for customer, consumer behaviour statistics for companies, and supply chain optimization techniques for retail stores.

We have conducted primary research and have done primary Market Analysis, Competitors Analysis, and Porter’s Analysis and the industry that we are aiming to tap in appears very conducive to the growth of our product.

Project Objectives

Our Objectives behind building octoPOS are

1. Revitalizing the mature industry of POS systems in retail sector of Pakistan
    
2. Helping Retail Store Owners with their billings, inventory, supply chain optimization, value chain optimization, Retail Forecasts, and Cross-Platform Interoperability. Furthermore, building a retail store ecosystem countrywide. 
    
3. Generating and Using sales data generated from POS Systems and creating analysis and forecasts for retail store owners, and Multinational and National companies like, P&G, Unilever et cetra. 
    
4. Building m-wallets for consumers and recording their transactional data to prepare their credit ratings. Ultimately, bringing them inside formal economy. 
    
5. Data generated by octoPOS also has great micro-banking potential. Learning spending-patterns of consumers can be used to prepare specific financial products for them.

Project Implementation Method

We will Implement this project in 2 Phases

Phase I  - Research and Design

In first 6 months we will achieve following milestones (mentioned in chronological order)

• Literature Review
• Secondary Research
• Methodology Approach
• Retail Shop Owner’s Focus Groups
• Retail Shop Owner’s Surveys
• Customer’s Surveys
• Instrument and Design Research Phase
• Data Analysis and Design Stage
• UI Design and Low-Fi Prototyping
• Prototype Testing
• Complete Ergonomics (UI/UX)
• User On-boarding Round 1 for A/B Testing
• Framework Design

Phase II  - Development

• Pre-Development Strategy
• Database Design
• User Management
• Inventory Management
• Sales Log and Records
• Customer Record Module
• Update and Maintenance Modules
• SMS/Email Invoicing Module
• Supplier Management Module
• News Module
• Geofencing
• Security
• Sales Analysis and Forecast Infrastructure
• Data Mining
• Field Testing I
• Debugging and Glitch Handling
• Field Testing II
• Launch

Benefits of the Project

octoPOS encompasses intersection of two accelerating fields, Digital Finance and Big Data. Our Artificial Intelligence powered POS Systems will be such an enabler to cater for a lot of pain points of retail shop owners and will facilitate consumers to a whole new level.

Furthermore, the data generated from POS Systems will create great value for co-relating fields. This project is an epitome of industrial symbiosis and according to Gartner’s Hype Cycle current stage of the market is very conducive to the growth of a project like this. 

Technical Details of Final Deliverable

Our final deliverable will be a scalable model of interoperable POS Systems with cloud based data mining repositories and big data analysis algorithms to harness the potential of such a system.

In next 12 months, we will develop a plug and play solution for Retail Store Owners to cater for their many pain points. 

Final Deliverable of the Project HW/SW integrated systemType of Industry Finance , Others Technologies Artificial Intelligence(AI), Cloud Infrastructure, Others, Big DataSustainable Development Goals Industry, Innovation and InfrastructureRequired Resources

Item Name	Type	No. of Units	Per Unit Cost (in Rs)	Total (in Rs)
			Total in (Rs)	61000
Ras Pi 3B+ (Kit)	Equipment	1	9000	9000
Bar Code Reader	Equipment	1	2500	2500
3D Prints	Equipment	1	15000	15000
Ras Pi Display 10inches	Equipment	1	10000	10000
Survey & Research Stationary	Miscellaneous	1	8000	8000
Cloud Servers (GCP)	Equipment	8	1400	11200
Fingerprint Sensor (For user management) (R307 Optical Fingerprint Rea	Equipment	1	3000	3000
Ras Pi Display 3.5in (For Customer Commands) 3.5 inch TFT LCD Display	Equipment	1	2300	2300