Moving to a cloud-based or hybrid (semi-cloud, semi-offline) system in any hospitality business is a daunting prospect that can scare a lot of management off of making the move. We all know it’s for the best, but is it worth the effort and the enormous cost to do so?

Well, yes, but you need to apply your thinking to the bigger and long-term picture here. The more established companies among us will more than likely have been locked into an expensive, traditional system for many years and may feel resistant to new technology. We don’t blame you! Getting everyone trained onto a new system is a huge undertaking over and above all the other processes involved.

It is for the best though and here is why.

You Become Mobile

We mean this in the literal sense of the word. Wait staff can be given smartphones to place orders on which allows them to correct or check on the exact status of an order without leaving the table.

Menus can be loaded onto iPads and given to patrons instead of printed menus. This allows greater freedom in updating the menu at a fraction of the cost in the long-term.

Cloud software allows staff to be more mobile as they aren’t all locked to their desktop computers to get information. Back-office staff can move more freely in presenting and accessing information as needed.

Cross-Device Access

Following on from the above, cloud-based products can be installed across a multitude of devices which allows freedom of access from any location with a data connection. For instance, data builds can be updated remotely in the event a business’s offering changes. Stock management, accounting and so much more can be accessed on any device which finally gives more freedom to those staff members who flit between sites and offices.

Any query a staff member has can be answered by management who can simply open up the software on their device of choice and access the required data.

EPoS Accessibility

The cloud has also allowed your EPoS to become smarter and quicker. An EPoS system can be loaded onto any mobile device allowing for quicker communication between the patron, kitchen, back-office, and payment providers. This allows for a slick operation which gives the patron a great experience and allows staff to work more efficiently.

The cloud also means that it is easier for your EPoS supplier to add plugins from other providers who have open APIs. The result of which is that a business can have a much bigger and all-inclusive EPoS system which caters to all their needs.

Data Insights

Last, but certainly not least. All the data gathered from the software used can now be accessed to provide insights into how a business is performing. Not only that, but this data can be presented in an intelligent manner which means something to your business. It’s all well and good seeing every data metric on the planet but they don’t all apply to the insights you’re needing to obtain.

TISSL’s business analytics tool allows for meaningful insights across products, sites, staff, seasons, weeks, years, as well as like for like metrics.

Now, you may have noticed in our opening sentence that we spoke of having a hybrid system – why? Well, as with anything in life there are cons to being a cloud-only EPoS system. We’ll chat more about those next months but we want to make you aware that the best possible solution is a system that is cloud-based but also has offline capability. This offers a far more stable system for when life throws lemons at your EPoS.