Technology Integration and the Restaurant Industry ? NEXTEP ...

What is Integration and What Does it Mean to the Restaurant Industry?

There are multiple meanings of the word integration. This is the first:

in-te-gra-tion [in-ti-grey-shuhn]: noun; ?an act or instance of combining into an integral whole.?

If you look at the typical hardware and software to run a concept, you have many pieces of equipment that must function seamlessly to allow the concept to succeed. With all of the day to day operations that are necessary for a concept to run smoothly, the last thing an owner needs to worry about is whether or not the technology that they are using is going to operate as it should. The technology should support, enhance, and enable them to focus on the other important aspects of their concept: food quality, managing labor, marketing, ordering and inventory, and all of the other various (and seemingly infinite) facets of operating a foodservice business.

So what should a restaurateur or manager look for when choosing the technology that will play such an integral role in operating their business? In the Fast Casual and QSR market, there are many components that all need to function flawlessly to keep the business flowing. Every modern concept has a few specific pieces in common: POS systems, some type of order management, a way to design and change menus. With the various concepts in an innovative and diverse market, you may also have other pieces of the puzzle to consider: drive thru, digital signage, online and mobile ordering, and an on premise self-order solution. What these various components, in their individual roles, have in common is the need to operate as an integral whole, in harmony with the other components.

Why Separate Components Struggle To ?Play Nice?

When a concept chooses the components that comprise the technology solution within their walls, the idea that each component will ?play nicely? with the other components is taken for granted. Even the most brilliant owner or operator probably do not possess a rich technological background in software or hardware development. Various vendors and manufacturers develop their products via various mechanisms. The process by which information flows and is shared with other components is different for different manufacturers. The base language may be different, the definitions and rules by which transaction data is sent and received will vary, and more often than not there is another layer of programming that must be inserted to allow these components to ?speak? to others. When you have a POS, order management, and digital menu from three separate vendors, this is often difficult (yet tentatively doable) terrain to navigate. However, the three systems will most likely have three sets of management tools to govern their behavior, and changes will have to be made three times to enable continued integration of the components. Even if there is a management tool offered by one to manage them all, an individual has to keep in mind that these are usually a ?general? solution, and can?t possibly be tailored to every component on the market. There are quirks and anomalies that will occur, and this ad-hoc system is not ideal for businesses who cannot afford any component to ever become inoperable for a period of time.

If that is not enough of a challenge, imagine that your concept evolves and adds (or maybe it already has) a drive thru, online and mobile ordering, and an on-premise self-order solution (such as a kiosk). Now you have three more components and three more sets of management tools that have to be integrated to speak to the POS, order management, and digital menus. Imagine completing the simplest tasks, such as changing an item price or 86ing an item. Now imagine having to repeat the process six times. Now imagine that there is an LTO to promote, or worse yet, a massive change to the menu. How much time do you have to accomplish these tasks AND manage the day-to-day operations of your business? Time equals money, and there are few operators who would rather spend a day doing data entry to bring their system up to speed instead of ensuring that their guests are having a great experience.

The Answer

NEXTEP SYSTEMS offers what has never before been accomplished in the restaurant technology world: one integrated system. Written on ONE robust, stable platform, our Foundation5 Foodservice Technology Solution encompasses ALL of the components to operate your concept smoothly, seamlessly, and quickly. Changes are global and immediate across all components, and management is made easy with cloud-based management tools that govern your entire system. Labor, inventory, item and menu management are all under one umbrella, giving you the time to do what is most important: focusing on delivering a great guest experience instead of managing your technology. Add to this the capabilities to increase revenue and deliver an amazing ROI, and the choice becomes very simple for the operator who wants the most competence and capability from their technology with the least amount of headache and time spent managing it.

in-te-gra-tion [in-ti-grey-shuhn]: noun; ?behavior, as of an individual, that is in harmony with the environment.?

Read more about the benefits of an integrated system here, or learn more about the success that other businesses are achieving through utilizing the best and most innovative technology available on the market.

Source: http://nextepsystems.com/articles/technology-integration-and-the-restaurant-industry?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=technology-integration-and-the-restaurant-industry

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