It's a busy Friday night. The kitchen’s slammed and the line is out the door. But the manager is still toggling between systems to answer a simple question: Do we have enough coverage for the next two hours? For many restaurant groups, the problem isn’t a lack of data. It’s that the data lives in too many places.
With the right software, restaurant leaders can harness information from transactions, inventory levels, staffing patterns and more to spot trends and create data-driven strategies that improve their top- and bottom-line revenue.
The trouble is that many restaurants can’t do that yet. Nearly half (48%) of the 1,254 restaurant leaders recently surveyed by Oracle Restaurants and Studio by Informa TechTarget believe their operating systems aren’t fully integrated.
When systems don’t interact with each other, it sows confusion and distrust of the very numbers needed to inform decisions. As Amber Trendell, Senior Director, Strategy, for Oracle Restaurants, notes, these communication errors have both short- and long-term consequences for company leaders and – even worse – your customers.
“What may seem like abstract integration issues to non-technical employees quickly become very relatable problems,” Trendell said. “At headquarters, you face redundant reports and constant disputes over ‘the number’ or the ‘source of truth’ across finance, marketing, operations, and go-to-market teams. Meanwhile, on the ground, general managers have to re-enter information into multiple systems, leading to errors and service delays. Ultimately, all of these challenges impact customer satisfaction.”
Here, we examine the root causes of POS challenges and solutions that can unlock productivity and revenue.
The hidden cost of 'just one more system'
On the whole, the recent survey found integration challenges were the most-cited concern among global restaurant leaders when identifying hurdles to implementing new sales channels.
It’s easy to understand why. The results reveal restaurants are struggling to combine legacy solutions they’ve used for years with new software featuring artificial intelligence tools that reconcile and organize data more efficiently.
Rather than using one integrated platform, 66% of global restaurant leaders say they operate at least four technology systems, with 43% using four to six systems and 23% using seven or more systems. And when systems don’t line up, teams spend their time reconciling reality instead of improving it – debating the number, re-keying the same update, and reacting late to what guests are doing right now. The good news: operating multiple systems doesn’t have to mean operational chaos if the systems are tied together with the right integrations and a clear source of truth.
One final stat to illustrate the point: More than a third of global restaurant leaders also said integration challenges were the top barrier to their organizations adopting AI and machine learning solutions to enhance processes and operations. And nearly half of respondents with technology roles (46%) said POS integration challenges were their top hurdle to more effectively implementing AI.
“The integrations challenge remains because people are still tied to legacy systems – and not just point of sale, either,” said Brian Burger, Senior Director, Global Solution Engineering at Oracle. “Making these systems talk to each other requires translation, mapping, experts, and significant resources.”
Signs your restaurant tech stack isn’t really integrated
- Marketing and finance argue over whose sales number is correct
- Managers re-enter the same item/price update in multiple places
- Adding a new sales channel means weeks of manual workarounds
- Inventory and purchasing don’t reflect real-time demand patterns
- Promotions don’t consistently apply across ordering touchpoints
When the data finally agrees, decisions are faster and smarter
A fully integrated platform provides a more accurate measurement of your business. And that accurate, well-organized data can become your most important resource in developing a plan to grow your restaurant operation.
Case in point: Four-in-five global restaurant leaders said the ability to better forecast in all 10 areas highlighted in the survey – from financials to operations, menu development and customer experience – would be valuable to their business’s growth over the next three years. Forecasting was also the third-lowest-rated aspect of current restaurant technology systems in the survey.
Restaurant leaders with integrated POS systems can devise smarter shift schedules, built around the establishment’s busiest times. They can also integrate features like dynamic pricing to capitalize on peak traffic periods.
Access to real-time data frees leadership to make quick decisions on new sales, rewards campaigns, and other strategies to draw in more customers. Importantly, it also opens the door to future planning on strategically timed initiatives like seasonal menus based on past purchases.
Seeking a Simpler Solution
Switching to a highly customizable POS can improve restaurant operations significantly. Unified POS platforms improve visibility, streamline operations and enable faster implementation of new sales channels.
With the right system, restaurant owners don’t have to feel the anxiety of starting over with yet another new technology or worry about losing past data.
“Success comes from having a platform that brings different data sources together in one place, where you can connect and integrate easily, instead of building custom integrations for every layer,” 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.
