Technology Strategy Shifts
More and more businesses are seeing success in leveraging technology for consumer engagement. Consumers have shown that they are very willing to adopt to the line-busting, order customization, and frictionless payment experience that a well-designed app or kiosk can offer. At the same time, businesses enjoy the increase in speed of service, growth in brand loyalty, enhanced insight into the purchasing habits of customers (allowing for innovative marketing opportunities) and reductions in labor and (potentially) payment processing costs. In the QSR world, consumer-facing technology has enabled businesses to shift resources from basic tasks like order taking to high value tasks like kitchen prep and customer service.
Businesses that have not committed to a tech strategy can look to the successful examples that Starbucks, Panera, Chipotle, and Domino’s have set. Each of these businesses created experiences in direct support of their strategic goals. Their offerings, often omni-channel, provide benefits to the consumer and the business alike, which leads us to infer that the strategy was designed with operational capabilities in mind. The best QSR technology strategies are those that improve both the customer experience and improve the operating model of the business.
Is your kitchen used to highly customized orders— a burrito or coffee drink? Is your kitchen used to creating standardized meals? Will increased customization cause a bottleneck? The answer to these types of questions should guide your strategy creation.
Match the Tech to Your Objectives
It’s important to remember that not all technology is right for every objective. In fact, starting with your objectives in mind will help you match the right technology to your strategy. Below is a quick reference to help weigh the advantages of each digital offering:
Before committing significant time, effort, and money into innovative technology, take the time to understand the goals that your business is trying to achieve, and use that as the roadmap to develop the ideal strategy. At the same time, identify other areas of your business which may benefit from the adoption of new technology. You may be surprised to find that tools to improve your speed of service may also help you generate a wealth of customer insight.
Careful analysis and planning will keep you focused on solving the right problems and getting the most out of your tech dollars.
For further discussion, reach out to Chris at [email protected].
