Operator Experience (OX) is broadly defined as the ease, simplicity and efficiency with which foodservice staff can deliver, scale and maintain a positive Customer Experience.
With the increasing amount of technologies entering the foodservice landscape, an increasing number of operators are faced with using many different types of software.
This requires software that not only helps the customer experience, but it should be easy to operate, scale and maintain.
Easy to operate.
Software that is gluttonous for your time creates deficits in operational efficiency. The technology you use should be so easy to operate that it’s impossible to go wrong. Training and learning should be intuitive, clear, and straightforward.
Task management (i.e. updating menus, creating new recipes, weekly item marketing) should seamlessly flow in execution. You don’t need to understand rocket science in order to create great experiences for your customers. Thus, any software used in foodservice should be easy to operate.
Things to consider and look for when purchasing software that is easy to operate:
- Intuitive - it should feel like you could log into the application and quickly accomplish your objectives.
- Efficient - The software shouldn’t just work, it should be optimized to efficiently complete your job. Software should not get in the way of completing a task, nor should it set up roadblocks for others.
- Easy to troubleshoot - No software is perfect. When something goes wrong, it’s important that the issue can be quickly resolved.
Easy to scale.
To scale requires the software to easily be reconfigured to handle greatly increased workloads, business cases, and a variety of users. Scalability is achieved with proper software development.
Software that is ready to scale creates efficiencies that make the work easier and more impactful. Instead of having to repeat, replicate, and re-do tasks, you are quickly able to publish, create, and push information (ONCE!) to a variety of users, locations, channels, and ultimately, customers.
Things to consider and look for when purchasing software that is easy to scale:
- Product robustness - The product offers diverse features and flexible capabilities to meet the different needs of all foodservice service models and users.
- Change management - Empowers administrators with tools and collateral to roll out feature and product changes.
- Role-based access control - Allows for the separation of privileges by user role.
Easy to maintain.
Once you have trained, implemented, and launched your foodservice technology, it should be very easy to maintain moving forward, without the involvement of IT or other tech disciplines.
Legacy systems are inefficient. Easy to maintain software helps enhance the efficiency of your operation and it also narrows the potential for mistakes and errors in your day to day.
High maintenance software is costly and increases with time, as the software starts to become obsolete due to changing customer requirements. Harder to maintain software makes the required skillset more difficult. As the required skillset grows, finding the right person becomes even more difficult (especially in this labor market) and the value of the software diminishes greatly.
Things to consider and look for when purchasing software that is easy to maintain:
- Good documentation & training - All information is readily available, user-friendly, and doesn’t require product support from the supporting party.
- Configurability - Implementation allows for the software to fit your operation and not the other way around.
- Regular updates & releases - Improvements are made continually to the software, which includes your observations and feedback on how to make your experience easier to maintain.
Conclusion
Foodservice operators need to leave software that isn’t focused on creating positive operator experiences. Creating a strong operator experience is the key to meaningful customer experiences. Take care of your people and they will take care of your customers. The software that you choose and the accompanying operator experience says a lot about how you value your team.There is no rolling back the clock to the old days. Technology innovations inside foodservice are here to stay. When you focus on how software impacts your team, you are creating a more positive workplace and your team will reward you with greater productivity and drive great results.
Continue reading
In our third and final part of this series, we’ll explore why maintaining a balanced focus on both the customer experience and the operator experience is becoming an increasingly more important requirement for the success of your foodservice operation. If you can understand the required balance between OX and CX, you are well on your way to success!
