Restaurant leaders looking for an edge to maximize revenue and efficiency can feel like treasure hunters. They know the gold is there, but it’s hidden in a fog of data collected by different applications that don’t talk to each other.

The thousands of transactions, loyalty program actions, and other inputs recorded daily are often stored in disconnected systems that require manual consolidation or ad hoc solutions. That leads to decisions that are all too often clouded by inconsistent – or worse – contradictory numbers that take valuable time to sort out.

Data fragmentation is not only frustrating, but it limits a restaurant’s ability to grow – and sometimes even survive.

“From a brand perspective, the second that you're wasting time on making legacy systems run or making numbers match, you're not doing the things that help you build a guest experience or build a better employee experience that can lead to growth,” said Brian Burger, Senior Director, Global Solution Engineering at Oracle. 

In short, your restaurant organization needs a treasure map to get through the data fog.  The solution? A unified point of sale (POS) that not only clears air, but spotlights areas for organizational improvement and growth.

What Execs Think About the State of Data Sharing

In a hospitality-based industry that prides itself on anticipating customers’ needs, information is power. 

The good news is that most restaurants already collect the data they need to make informed decisions about short-term and long-term strategies. However, making sense of those internal records can feel daunting.

 According to a survey of 1,254 global restaurant leaders conducted by Oracle Restaurants and Studio by Informa TechTarget, 51% of key restaurant decision-makers worldwide feel only somewhat satisfied or worse about the ability of their organization’s technology systems to effectively share data.

Fragmented systems take a huge toll, too: They can create redundancies, reporting discrepancies, and operational inefficiencies. To that point, 40% of director-level leaders at restaurants around the globe identified manual data reconciliation as a top barrier to making smarter decisions – the single largest factor we asked about.

Importance of Integrating Data

A unified POS is the foundation of a successful restaurant group. The organized flow of transactions, customer and employee actions, inventory levels, and more allows operators to properly stock their establishment, better manage staff, and plan new initiatives to gain market share. 

Forty percent of the global restaurant leaders surveyed cited improved real-time sales and activity reporting as one of the top three areas where technology upgrades would create the most value for their operation over the next 12 months. However, 63% of those same respondents said they were only somewhat satisfied or worse with their current setup’s ability to help forecast future earnings and growth opportunities.

Versatile POS solutions – like Oracle Simphony – help solve both of these issues with an integrated data architecture that consolidates information from multiple sources. Once a restaurant is on a unified platform, it can better leverage AI and automated tools that provide actionable insights much faster than a manual system.

Burger notes even an incremental increase in sales makes a big difference.

“If an AI solution gives you the ability to get one more car through a drive-thru in an hour, what does that add up to in a day? What does that do for 500 stores – for 5,000 stores – over the course of a year? It's transformational,” he said.

Time to Plan for Progress 

With consumers completing transactions across so many channels – in-store, online, drive-thrus, pop-ups and more – time really is money.

Savvy brands are already connecting with established and prospective customers where they engage digitally. The right promotion offered at the right time can lead to an instantaneous takeout or delivery order or an impromptu meal out. And a unified POS clears the way for intentional planning that leads to that growth.

 “Acting on your technology and data alignment concerns now is how you get ahead – and stay ahead – of your competition,” Burger said. 

Benchmark Your Restaurant’s Tech Strategy

Download the full global restaurant technology and data report – The hidden ROI of restaurant and POS integrations – to see how your team’s data integration, forecasting, and digital transformation compare with over 1,200 restaurant leaders worldwide.