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The Tech IDEA

The Tech IDEA

Your Source for the Best and Newest Thinking in Technology

Tech Transforms Dining Out Experience

3/24/2016

 

Tech Transforms Dining Out Experience

(Family Features) Satisfying a craving has become easier than ever with the growing menu of interactive tools available at restaurants. From ordering to entertaining to rewarding, these resources make it simple to enjoy visiting your favorite eateries.

With technology transforming nearly every other aspect of life, it should come as no surprise that mobile and electronic tools, such as Outback Steakhouse’s new mobile app, are fast-growing restaurant trends.

Other enhancements make it faster and more entertaining to dine away from home. To make the most of your next meal out, find out which of the following services your favorite restaurants is offering:

Mobile apps. You use your smartphone for everything else, so why not at your favorite restaurant? Mobile apps give customers more control over their dining experience, allowing them to choose how and when they want to pay the bill, receive exclusive offers, join the wait list and check in. Using the new Outback Steakhouse mobile app, you can peruse the menu ahead of time and when the meal is done, there’s no need to wait for the bill; you can pay right from your phone, split the check, add a tip and even securely store payment details for future visits. To learn more, visit outback.com/app.

Call ahead seating. While you used to have to physically go to a restaurant and wait in line, you can now call ahead to find out the estimated wait time and put your party on the list for now or a later time, before walking out your door. Some restaurants even allow you to view the current wait times and join the list on their websites.

Online ordering. When restaurants first began offering carry out menus, you had to physically go to the restaurant, place your order and wait while it was prepared. Today, you can either call your order in or with a few clicks, place your order online and have it delivered or ready for carry out at the time you choose. Some restaurants even allow you to save favorite orders for future use.

Interactive table kiosks. This trend started with tableside games for simple entertainment while you waited for your order, but quickly evolved into much more. Now, not only can you pass the time playing games solo or with table mates, you can peruse the menu, place orders and pay your bill all on your own schedule.

Rewards programs. Whether you’re earning stamps or swiping a card, rewards programs can pay big for frequent customers. Basic approaches involve a punch or stamp card that accumulates toward a free menu item. More sophisticated programs let guests earn points toward free or discounted meals, offer exclusive discounts and engage patrons in special promotions. The Bloomin’ Brands’ Dine Rewards program, coming this summer, will allow customers to earn up to 50 percent off their fourth visit to any one of its restaurants, including Outback Steakhouse.

Through technology, restaurant service has evolved into an uber-personal affair. Interacting with the special features available through your favorite restaurants lets you customize nearly every aspect of your culinary experience.

Photo courtesy of Getty Images

SOURCE:
Family Features, Sponsored by Outback


KEYWORDS

  • customer service
  • mobile
  • retail 
  • restaurant
  • customers
  • tech
  • mobile tech
  • technology
  • strategy
  • corporate
  • corporate strategy
  • management
  • managing

So You Think You Know CRM Software?

3/15/2016

 
Picture

So You Think You Know CRM Software?

By: Josh Whiting

A year ago if someone asked me if I knew my way around the CRM Software Industry I would have confidently said yes, however, as it turns out the old saying the more you learn the more knowledge you realize you lack, is true. When talking about the CRM Software Industry it is almost impossible to actually say that you know it inside out since there are so many CRM vendors around the world, all developing their technologies at such a rapid pace. As if it wasn't hard enough for a company to make a decision regarding; what they require, how it can help their business and so on, these technological advancements are always followed with a marketing campaign each speaking of how much this new feature or functionality will help you.

So the question stands at, you think you know CRM Software? This is difficult to answer with all the hype surrounding the industry combined with the relative youth of Web-based CRM and the large number of vendors. It is also difficult to produce a linear comparison since each vendor has their own set of terms and names for features. So where do you begin? You can learn the basics of Web-based CRM Software fairly easily with a quick search on Google, however I would like to mention a few points that are more difficult to uncover; the hidden costs associated with purchasing CRM Software, what to avoid, how your CRM can go beyond simply contact management and where the industry is going.

When a company decides it's time to make the move to Web-based CRM Software they should first develop a plan on how they expect this new implementation to boost their companies productivity and revenue. The largest roadblock in achieving a fast ROI is all the hidden costs that are not clearly listed on vendor's web sites. In researching to develop a comparison of some of the major players in the CRM world including Salesforce, Netsuite and Salesboom.com, the majority of my time was spent researching pricing for different platforms, upgrades, implementation, customization and customer support. Salesboom was actually the only one at the time to have a page with their pricing listed clearly.

To just go out and purchase a CRM Edition and think you are done is nowhere near the truth, this is just a base point from which pricing begins. This leads me into what to avoid when seeking your future CRM Software. What you need to look into and ask questions about is; storage limits and the cost of additional storage, maximum number of custom tabs & fields, maximum number of applications you can add, this being particularly relevant for Salesforce, and any other limitation which could later force you to upgrade.

If you have implemented a CRM Software Solution and reached any of these mentioned limitations I'm sure you can vouch for my statement that it comes at a great cost. What is often the case is that the edition a company is currently working with is doing a great job but for example they have reached their storage limits. An edition upgrade for a company with roughly 750 users can amount to around 2 million dollars above what they were already paying. With this upgrade of course comes more features and functionality however they are features and functionality which will not increase your ROI simply because your company doesn't need them.

Now that the buyers beware and the negatives are out of the way we can focus on the positives. When you implement your new Web-based CRM you have just knocked down all the walls separating your departments or office's, no matter their location and you did it in real-time. Once up and running your CRM goes far beyond contact management software with vendor's now integrating front and back office functionality. Netsuite has a strong back office, which makes sense knowing their background in back office ERP solutions; however I find their SFA or front office not to be up to the standards of some others. Salesforce and Salesboom.com both offer a well rounded CRM solution for companies of all sizes, between these two it really comes down to price.

With more than just contact management capabilities CRM Software is a great tool for your; marketing department with in depth campaign and lead management tools, your customer service department since a complete history of all clients and cases are a mouse click away, your back office including inventory, billing & invoicing by taking advantage of real time workflow processes and of course your sales force with features like escalation rules or in more recent times offline and mobile editions.

Today CRM Software vendors are coming out with Offline and Mobile Editions giving new ways to never lose contact with the office. This brings us to the future of Web-based CRM Software, where is it going? Well over the past year we have seen great advancements with the use of AJAX, or as it's known to the tech world, Asynchronous JavaScript and XML. This code underneath your CRM Software eliminates the need for you to refresh your web browser whenever you make a change. This can be seen in some social networking sites, a popular one being facebook. Here AJAX is used to allow for drag and drop customizations to appearance and the arrangement of applications. The idea is the same with CRM Software, a simple down mouse click and drag will allow you to customize the appearance of your dashboard without an IT department, so you can focus on the information most relevant to you.

The other benefit that AJAX will bring us in the future when combined with faster internet speed is the elimination of load time, maybe not completely but at least the majority of it. This sort of functionality is now only seen with On-premise software since all information is stored within your computer or server you don't need to wait for the internet to download any data. AJAX comes into play here since you don't require a browser refresh you can continue working while only that portion of the web page is reloaded. I predict that the gap between Web-based and On-premise CRM Software will be much smaller by the end of 2008 and we will see the same trend with businesses leaving their On-premise for Web-based CRM, like was seen in 2007.

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Author Bio
I am a University graduate with a B.A. double major in communication and political science. Always having an interest in business management has lead me to becoming a freelance writer for various Customer Relationship Management vendors and sites. I also keep up regular blogs and encourage feedback on articles and blogs written. More info: http://crmspot.blogspot.com

Article Source: http://www.ArticleGeek.com - Free Website Content




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