As announced by the prime minister on June 23rd, indoor hospitality can
re-open from July 4th. This is a long-awaited event, there are still government guidelines to follow, inevitably meaning a new way of trading.

Many hospitality businesses have already diversified to survive, and it is widely accepted that hospitality will need to adapt. The emergence of more delivery channels presents strong evidence of the changing trends. But, as well as takeaway, there is clearly still high demand for inhouse dining, although the operation will be quite different.

Alongside the announcement, the prime minister emphasised that the safety of customers and staff was paramount, and that infringement of that obligation could result in a reversal of the decision. To be precise, the guidelines are to provide table ordering and to limit staff and customer contact as much as possible. Customers should be able to order and pay for food remotely or at the table, and possibly even using their own devices, so creating a faster and safer food service.

There are already APP’s and other solutions to help restaurants operate within the guidelines but the TISSL solution is different, it has been developed as an evolving platform with a technical focus. TISSL have always considered technology to be as important as the as their extensive hospitality expertise, so the HORIZON EPOS platform has been developed from the ground up, always using the latest technology and thus limiting the constraints of older legacy systems.

By ensuring technical compatibility with multiple solutions and operating systems, the HORIZON platform can continue to evolve seamlessly and quickly, allowing TISSL to focus on operational rather than technical challenges. The Consumer Ordering Platform was already on TISSL’s development roadmap to meet the demands of the new and tech-savvy millennial consumer.

The flexible development platform was the vision of founder and MD Kevin Coetzee who added.

“We have seen a big change in consumer behaviour already, with millennials expecting the faster more efficient the service and payment options they know are possible with the latest technology. Understanding these trends was key to our design and already part of the development roadmap for HORIZON. The COVID pandemic has bought this inevitable change sooner than we thought, but developing using the latest technologies enables us to react quickly and without any technical limitations.”

Kevin’s vision paid off and many TISSL customers are already using the Consumer Ordering Platform. Allowing consumers to view menu’s and modifiers directly in the POS system, ordering, and paying for their food simple and sending the order directly to the
kitchen printer.

Because HORIZON operates on multiple operating systems, most devices are supported, which means customers can often use their own phone. The access can be a text, a URL or simply scan a QR code, unlike most other solutions they do not need to download an APP!

Customers can also order from wherever they are in the restaurant, an important option with more social distancing. There is no delay hoping to catch the eye of the waiter, and the customer can now take responsibility for letting you know about any allergies or special requests.

The customer has more control and it is simple, they can amend the order at any time and pay simply using digital wallets as well as cards. Though this doesn’t remove waiter engagement entirely, there will still be customers who want to engage and even run a tab, because COP is part of our HORIZON EPOS system all this is possible.

HORIZON is a cloud-based solution so hardware dependency is also drastically reduced, this flexible platform can operate on most modern operating systems allowing sites to re-use their existing hardware in some cases, which means they can simply download the software and pay for it on a monthly subscription.

The scalability of the platform is key mainly to the unique user licensing, unlimited sites and devices can be added as required without any additional licence cost. Users simply log onto any device on any site using their unique log on. HORIZON EPOS Cloud is a flexible and evolving platform, designed to enable TISSL to respond quickly to the changing needs of the hospitality industry.

TISSL was founded in 2003, our diverse client group ranges from independent coffee shops through to pub groups, fast food operations and Michelin starred restaurants. We offer a fully Cloud-based solution or a more traditional local server-based integration.

Whether you require a single out of the box solution or an enterprise, multi-site, cross border system, TISSL will have a solution.

For more information contact TISSL today.