BE PICKY WHEN PICKING PAWN SOFTWARE BY ROBERT BARNET T ANYTIME PAWNBROKERS GATHER, the conversation eventually turns to the age-old question, “Which pawn software does your pawn shop use?” This question elicits a realm of emotions Some shop owners will release a tirade of issues with their current software provider. Others will boast how their software has positively changed their way of daily processes and greatly enhanced their store’s profitability. Still, others only use a small portion of the features that their pawn software offers, and the users are content with their chosen software. There are many different software choices available for the independent pawnbroker. Two of the most popular choices are Data Age Business Systems’ Pawnmaster and Bravo Systems’ Bravo Pawn Software. Other well-known pawn software choices include PawnMate, Dazzle Pawn, and HiTech Pawn, each with many devoted users. Local or Cloud? An important differentiation between all software packages is that some are local server based, and others are cloud based. A local server setup requires the pawnbroker to have
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NATIONAL PAWNBROKERS ASSOCIATION | WINTER 2021
a data storage server on their premises, and all their data is stored in-house. Cloud-based software allows users access to software applications that run on shared computing resources via the Internet. How is your Internet Connection? Cloud-based software (also called Software as a Service, or SaaS) alleviates much of the obligation of the pawnbroker in server maintenance, software updates and data storage issues. A limiting factor of cloud-based software is that your pawnshop must have a constant working broadband internet connection to be able to process pawn loans and payments. In the past, a constant, reliable internet connection was not always available, especially for those who were located in rural areas. However, broadband availability has greatly expanded in the past several years through many different sources, such as utility companies, cable companies, mobile phone carriers and satellite internet providers. A multi-WAN router, such as those from Cradlepoint or Peplink, allows you to combine multiple internet sources to maintain connection to a
