Written by Craig Aberle, Point of Sale News 

Anyone in the point-of-sale business will tell you that no two POS installations are alike, but occasionally you come across a business that is way out of the ordinary! That's the case with Black Hills Aerial Adventures. BH Aerial specializes in flying their customers in helicopters over and near some of national monuments and parks like Mount Rushmore and Custer State Park. The company website shows a crew of ten pilots and a variety of helicopters.

Owners Mike and Shelly Jacob started out twenty-two years ago and had no POS system, preparing all receipts manually. Eventually they used Quickbooks by Intuit, but needed a system more advanced. Their IT person, Tony Pannone, investigated a number of available systems and after much legwork, recommended POS Prophet.

According to Mike and Shelly, there are a number of features that they take advantage of "We love the inventory feature, the quick start buttons, the timekeeper and the reports." The POS Prophet system allowed them to build the options the way they needed them.

"All our locations (3) are connected with the administrative office.  Therefore, management knows what is going on at all locations at all times."

"Training staff on the terminals is very quick and easy. It's hard for anyone to make a mistake. It was an extremely positive move for our business." 

A feature that was important for Black Hills Aerial to have is online reservations and booking! Asked about the support from POS Prophet Systems, Shelly replied enthusiastically "It is by far the best customer support of any company or vendor we work with."

More details about the system:

• POS terminals are Aures Odysse II Touch Terminals with POSready Operating System
• POS receipt printers are Aures ODP-200 Thermal Printers
• Bar Code Label Printer is the Zebra LP-2824
• Back Office PC’s and network infrastructure are both provided by Tony Pannone, their local IT professional 
• Data is hosted via Amazon’s EC2 Cloud Services

Other services that Black Hills Aerial offers:

• Power line patrol
• Livestock search
• Search and rescue
• Real Estate and ranch surveys
• Wildlife surveys

About Black Hills Aerial Adventures

Black Hills Aerial Adventures offers flights over the Northern and Southern Black Hills, including Mt Rushmore and Crazy Horse Monuments. Guests can fly over the historic towns of Lead, Deadwood, Keystone and Custer, and view the Wharf and Ingersoll mines - including the largest and deepest gold mine in North America - the Homestake Open-Pit Mine. Tours also include views of a portion of Spearfish Canyon including Roughlock Falls, the mountain lakes of Pactola, Sheridan & Sylvan and the granite formations of the Cathedral Spires, Needles, Little Devils Tower and Harney Peak. Black Hills Aerial Adventures is committed to providing the safest helicopter experience available. You can be assured that our pilots and staff are well trained and held to the highest safety standards in the industry. In addition, our helicopter fleet is meticulously maintained in accordance with strict FAA regulations and manufacturer standards.

About POS Prophet Systems

POS Prophet Systems is a full-service software firm focusing on small to medium-sized retailers. POS Prophet Systems is different from other software providers because they design, develop, deliver and support state-of-the-art software and hardware solutions for their clients. They own their software code and are not a value added reseller (VAR). They give clients the technology tools necessary to compete with the “big box” retailers at a price they can afford.