# How to switch POS systems without closing your store > https://rundoo.ai/insights/switch-pos-without-closing/ [Insights](/insights/index.md) /Switching Switching # How to switch POS systems without closing your store The step-by-step playbook for changing your POS while the doors stay open: prep meetings, data migration, training, a go-live morning, and the two weeks after. [![Titus Capilnean](https://pub-5247264bd04e4ebeaecbbedb3bebb9f8.r2.dev/static/images/articles/titus-capilnean.jpeg)](https://www.linkedin.com/in/tituscapilnean/) [Titus Capilnean](https://www.linkedin.com/in/tituscapilnean/), Head of Marketing June 17, 2026 The fear that keeps store owners on a system they've outgrown is almost never the software, it's the switch. You're running a business, you don't have time to shut down for two weeks while someone installs software, and you've probably heard a horror story or two from a friend who changed systems and regretted it. So here is the playbook we run, refined over hundreds of go-lives, and the short version is this: four preparation meetings, one go-live morning, and your doors never close. In carpentry terms, you measure twice and cut over once. ## Step one: you get a person As soon as you sign, you're paired with a dedicated implementation manager who holds your hand through the entire process, and we mean a real person, not a chatbot or a help article. Almost all of our implementation managers have prior experience working at a supply store, whether paint, hardware, or farm and feed, so they know exactly what it feels like when a contractor is tapping his boot at the counter while you're learning a new screen. From there, the whole project comes down to three workstreams: data, hardware, and training, all of which happen while your current system keeps ringing sales. ## Step two: the prep, one meeting a week Our typical timeline is one month, with four preparation meetings in the lead-up, roughly one per week. Some clients have gone as fast as one week, and our largest clients with 30 or more locations can take up to a year to fully roll out, but most stores land right around the four-week mark, and many plan their go-live for a slower season on purpose. The kickoff call locks in the practical stuff before training starts: confirming your computers and internet connection are up to the job, counting the scanners, printers, and card readers each workstation needs, deciding on vendor integrations and whether you'll connect QuickBooks, and setting up remote access to your current POS so we can pull a clean data set. It's a checklist, not a cliffhanger, and your implementation manager walks it with you line by line. ## Step three: data migration you can poke at Data is the lifeline of your business, and we treat it that way. As soon as you sign, we ask for access to your current system and start pulling everything over: products, customers, vendors, historical sales, inventory balances, and customer balances. We can't guarantee an extract from every system ever sold, but we manage it over 90% of the time. Once your data is in, you get a test environment and an "unveiling" call, your first look at your own store inside Rundoo, where you sort your top customers, spot-check balances on your largest accounts, and confirm pricing and inventory look right. Then you're encouraged to poke at it, break things, and click every button you can find, because all of that test data gets deleted before go-live, and the night before, a final pull brings over the numbers that move daily: product inventories, customer balances, and the last day's sales, so day one starts with fresh, up-to-date numbers. ## Step four: training that fits between customers We find it works best to designate one admin at your store as the point person, and then we train the trainer. The full flow runs four training sessions, moving from daily fundamentals through customer and product settings, the admin side, and statements and reporting, with the data unveil and hardware setup as their own calls, and each session is supported by videos to watch in advance, a sandbox to practice in, and a document you can share with your team. That way, your live time with your implementation manager is a real conversation about your store's specific processes rather than a lecture on where the buttons are, and nobody has to close the store to sit in a classroom. Hardware, by the way, is rarely the drama people expect. Most of what you already own keeps working, including keyboards, mice, full-page printers, and cash boxes, and your implementation manager confirms compatibility for computers, barcode scanners, and thermal printers. The one true requirement is new card readers, since we use Stripe S710 readers and they need to be ours. ## Go-live day: open on time, change nothing On go-live morning, your implementation manager gets on a call with you about 30 minutes before opening to walk through the data one last time: customer balances, statement settings, pricing tiers, tax exemptions, inventory levels, the works. Then you unlock the front door like any other day. The single most important rule of that day: [on day 1, change nothing](/insights/on-day-1-change-nothing/index.md). We bring your products, customers, pricing, vendors, and balances over exactly as they lived in your old system, so your team walks in to a store they already know, just on better software. The pricing overhaul and the category cleanup you've been dreaming about are still coming, they're just sequenced for week three, when you can measure what they change. ## The first two weeks: the starting line, not the finish line Your implementation manager stays with you until you're steady, which usually means about two weeks, or until you've completed an end-of-month statement run if you do B2B with charge accounts, whichever comes later. After that handoff you can call, text, or email support any time, and we resolve 96% of cases within 24 hours with a team that's all US-based and, like our implementation managers, has real store experience. And if you don't reach out to us, we'll reach out to you, since we aim to check in with every client at least once a quarter. Does it work in the real world? [Rusty Gate Nursery & Building Supply](/clients/rusty-gate-nursery/index.md) in Forks, Washington did a significant portion of the implementation themselves, working remotely with their Rundoo implementation lead, who still answers them on weekends. And [S&T Farm Supplies](/clients/st-farm-supplies/index.md) in Hot Springs, Arkansas saw their month-end statement run shrink to a single click the moment they went live. ## So, how bad is it? Four meetings beforehand, one stressful but kind of fun go-live day, and a couple of weeks of getting your sea legs, all without a single "closed for renovations" sign in the window. The longer story lives in [what happens when you switch](/insights/switching/index.md), and our [switch guides](/switch/index.md) map the process to your current system. Share Topics [Switching](/insights/index.md#switching) [← All insights](/insights/index.md) ## Find out what Rundoo can do for your business Learn how Rundoo can help you save time, money and hassle running your business. [Book a demo](/signup/index.md) ! ## See Rundoo in action [Product ### Tour the platform POS, inventory, payments, and AI for independent supply stores, in one system.](/product/index.md) [Customers ### Read customer stories See how real paint, hardware, farm, garden, and lumber stores run on Rundoo.](/clients/index.md) ## Keep reading [![The best POS systems for farm and feed stores in 2026](https://pub-5247264bd04e4ebeaecbbedb3bebb9f8.r2.dev/static/images/articles/best-pos-for-farm-and-feed-stores-thumb.png) Product ### The best POS systems for farm and feed stores in 2026 A buyer's guide to farm and feed store POS systems in 2026, from Epicor Eagle and Lightspeed to niche feed systems and Rundoo, judged by bulk units, charge accounts, and statements.](/insights/best-pos-for-farm-and-feed-stores/index.md) [![Square or Clover for a hardware store? 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