SPECTRA Technologies Holdings - which developed Hong Kong's first one-stop-shop Electronic Cash Registry (ECR) and Point of Sales (POS) fully integrated retail software solution - scooped the main award for Innovation in this year's Hong Kong Awards for Services.

The ECR/POS Integrated Solution connects retailers' back-end computerized accounting and inventory systems with their front-end ECR and POS electronic transaction systems.

Alfred Hung, SPECTRA Technologies sales and marketing director, said the ECR/POS Integrated Solution was specially designed to fulfil retailers' requirements for a reliable, efficient and convenient tool for managing both cash and card sales simultaneously.

"The system connects the ECR with the POS which allows banks, retail outlets and their accounting offices to share card transaction information at the same time," Mr. Hung said.

Through a unique sales-memo number, past record tracking is made easy for all concerned parties, should adjustment be required.

Mr. Hung said the award would help promote the effectiveness of the system.

He said although most of the retail giants had installed the system, it was still unknown among many smaller retailers.

"With the increasing popularity of they system, more customers will demand the service. We love this kind of challenge, which raises the standard of quality among all the players in the industry as well as encouraging retailers to provide a higher standard of services to their customers," Mr. Hung said.

Credit cards are preferred means of payment among shoppers and improving the payment processing and services will help maintain Hong Kong's image as a shopper's paradise.

"We are proud to be a Hong Kong inventor, and everyone within the company can share in the honour," Mr. Hung said.

Retailers using the system enjoy convenience and efficiency through a simple end-of-the-day settlement-processing breakdown of various payment types and amounts while eliminating the risk of input error.

Mr. Hung said that for SPECTRA, innovation meant" combining creativity with spontaneity and pragmatism as part of the total working process."

The company puts an enormous effort into analyzing the market, understanding user trends and ways to protect users' investment before the development of a new product begins.

"By focusing on these key areas we have developed products that are futuristic, localized and cost-effective," Mr. Hung said.