Brillian Technologies

There was a time when the only alternative companies had to deliver new services to it’s own employees, suppliers and customers was to purchase servers, server software, and applications to run on these servers that were located on the business premises. The company pays one-time fees to purchase the hardware and software, and for the installation of each. An annual fee is charged to cover software upgrades and support.

Times have changed. More and more companies, from the largest chains to local independent restaurants, now have the option to bypass this traditional method of delivering value added services. Restaurants no longer have to locally host their own applications and information – customer databases, text and email messaging, accounting, even their POS system can now be hosted and maintained off-site by a service provider.

Leading POS system providers including Micros provide a a single hosted solution to serve multiple restaurants. The application can be hosted by the restaurant chain in one of its locations, or hosted in a Micros datacenter. Emerging POS providers including Vivonet are only hosted in their datacenters.

Online menu and ordering providers like  DashOrder, GrubHub and dozens of others eliminate the burden of maintaining and upgrading menu pages on the restaurant’s website and allow for order payment online. Mobile marketing, coupon and rewards providers including StreetSavings are all promoting the benefits of their hosted services.

The benefits of hosted or Software as a Service (SaaS) delivery include:

• Ability to access reports remotely at anytime
• Lower costs upfront and ongoing costs
• Seamless integration for multiple locations
• Real-time, up-to-date info accessed through an online management portal wherever Internet access is availalble

The number one concern is “If my Internet goes done then my POS/email/coupon system is down”. This is analogous to today’s “My POS system crashed and is down”. Owners and operators need to determine how often do either of these events occur to weigh the benefits.