Implementing technology: How to purchase technology and convince employees to embrace — not sabotage — new systems and equipment

Nation's Restaurant News,  Oct 28, 2002  

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Outfitting an organization with new technology creates the potential for boasting efficiency and productivity, and even improving customer service and marketing. But often that potential is not realized fully because employees either didn't buy into the new systems and procedures, or they weren't properly trained, or the new equipment and software was ill-conceived in the first place.

Buying the right equipment at the right time and training employees so they become comfortable with its use is critical. Otherwise, the money spent--whether it's a few dollars for a fancy sheet-pan liner or thousands on a new computer system will have been for nothing.

What's the right approach?

When we asked Preston Clark, lecturer on operations management and information technology at the Cornell University's Hotel School of Administration in Ithaca, N.Y., for advice, he referred to fellow Cornell University HSA associate professor Richard Moore's "The Three Laws of Moore:"

1. Never be the first one on your block to get a technology system. In other words, always make sure someone else has tried it and liked it.

2. Don't be the biggest user of technology. It's important to wait and see how your vendor deals with the market.

3. Try it before you buy it. "Operators should use the same common-sense steps they use in buying a car," Clark adds. "Spend time studying the different products. Then, after they've identified what they want, it's important they ask colleagues who have used the technology how they really feel about it."

In addition to that advice, Clark, other hospitality experts and operators offer the following tips on the best ways to implement new technology, including when and how to purchase new technology, create disaster recovery plans and train employees.

Know When to Replace Equipment and Systems

"You don't always need the latest, greatest equipment," Clark says. Before you jump into buying new technology, he suggests you ask yourself the following questions:

* Has the vendor stopped supporting the product you already have?

* Is the product no longer meeting your operation's needs?

* Is it impossible to make improvements instead of replacing a whole system? For example, it usually is cheaper and easier to upgrade software rather than replace a whole computer system.

* Are customers asking for something they've experienced in other operations?

If the answer to most of those questions is no, then you likely can wait a while longer before replacing old equipment with new technology. There are other considerations, as well. "A lot depends on the remaining life expectancy and maintenance records for the piece of equipment you want to replace," says Georgie Shockey, co-partner with Carolyn Ruck in the foodservice consultant firm Ruck-Shockey Associates Inc., with offices in Alameda, Calif., Deerfield Beach, Fla., and The Woodlands, Texas. She suggests the following:

* If a product has five to 10 years left, it is hard to justify a new purchase financially.

* If the maintenance is becoming excessive in terms of cost and/or downtime, assess the impact of replacing the product vs. paying for ongoing repairs.

* If there is a proven efficiency gain that shows a return on investment better than two years, you should replace a product before the life expectancy is finished.

Be Prepared with a Disaster Recovery Plan

Many foodservice businesses today are so dependent on technology for normal operation, they wouldn't know how to proceed without it. What would happen if your operation's computer systems crashed--and couldn't be rebooted--in the middle of dinner rush?

Russ Zito, assistant professor at Johnson & Wales University's College of Culinary Arts in Providence, R.I., remembers when lightning shorted the entire computer system in a restaurant where he was working. "Everybody was clueless as to what to do," he says. "When something like that happens, it can take a whole night to recover."

Zito suggests some preemptive actions:

* Always have a "computer crash kit" handy with pre-numbered check pads included.

* Run through "fire drills" with employees so they know what to do -- just in case.

* Have a backup generator ready to go for the most important things, such as walk-in freezers and the backup server.

* Be sure to back up important information, such as sales records, and house the backup data in a separate place. "If there's a fire or flood," Zito says, "it won't do any good if your backup disk is in the desk drawer under the computer." Simply take backup disks home and store them there, he suggests, or use places available on the Internet that can house data for you.

Don't Let Technology Get in the Way

"Technology can be a double-edged sword," Clark says. It can enhance customer service, but it also can get in the way. The best way to test whether a piece of technology is helping or hurting business, he suggests, is to look at it from the customer's point of view.