The rapid adoption of web services has seen a shift in hospitality software to online, mobile capabilities, which smart managers are adopting in order to automate tasks that take time away from the effective running of their businesses.
Benefits don’t just apply to efficiency and profit margins – transitioning hospitality software systems to online, cloud-based applications is making staff happier, too. With over three quarters of employees under the age of 34, hospitality workers tend to be younger, value a flexible work/study/life balance and embrace emerging technologies. Online and mobile capabilities are making it easy to bridge many communication and logistic pitfalls that have previously plagued businesses that depend on their labour.
Let’s review four cloud-based services that a smart restaurant, bar or cafe might use to keep things running seamlessly while saving time and money, as well as increasing both customer and staff satisfaction.
Xero for everything accounting
Your attendance, timesheets and sales records can feed automatically into this online accounts management service, where all data can be easily accessed by all parties involved. Your accounts manager and your accountant can find what they need without superfluous phone calls and emails, while invoices for event clients can be generated and distributed instantly.
MyGuestlist for customer relations, promotions and social media
Access all information about your events, guest lists, ticketing and social media campaigns from one dashboard. Create online guest lists that can be accessed and edited by you or your patrons online, avoiding last minute confusions over additions. Customer interactions with your business on social media sites are automatically added to your contact database. Reservations and custom ticketing for events can be created and managed online.
Vend for dynamic point-of-sale
Turn any computer or tablet into a point of sale device. Use the same laptop or tablet that you clocked staff in on to ring up sales without having to handle cumbersome hardware. Get orders to the kitchen instantly with wait staff entering them directly from their tablet device at the table. Custom receipts can be emailed to customers.
Ento for painless employee scheduling, attendance, timesheets and reports
Make communication between staff and managers easy with messaging and shift change capabilities. Managers don’t have to be on the office computer to create and publish rosters. Staff can respond remotely via text or email from their phone. Clock in and clock out can be done from any laptop or tablet device, whether it be from your restaurant or at a one-off event location. With permissions, staff can swap, pickup and drop shifts without having to come in to work. Using the online discussion and download areas you can keep staff updated and provide anywhere-access to documentation.
These are just a few of our favorite pieces of online hospitality software. If you have found more you would recommend, let us know!