Posted by: Tavis Patterson on March 1, 2017 at 3:17 pm
While running on the treadmill today, I received an alert from MarketWatch that “McDonald’s unveils a new growth strategy that relies on more tech in restaurants”. This was from a midday press briefing that showed their business plan of the future is relying on more technology. The result? A market jump of 1.2%. With a market cap of 106 Billion dollars, my trusty calculator app shows that equates to over 1.2 Billion dollars of growth.
McDonald’s is using technology to try to grow their existing sales in restaurants. What do they plan to do? According to Marketwatch they will be using technology to install kiosks in their restaurants, do mobile ordering with mobile devices and applications, and have table service from these methods. Previously, I know they were one of the first to install wireless internet in their restaurants and put up technology improvements including better drive thru technology. I’ve been to McDonald’s Hamburger University in Illinois, and it’s a pretty impressive place where they train their franchisees.
So what’s this got to do with your business or perhaps your manufacturing business? Maybe you’ve been stagnant for a while in both your revenue and profits. Perhaps your employees or shareholders aren’t as engaged as they once were. What can you start with? Look at the technology to improve both your processes and workflows to do more with less. As illustrated by McDonald’s, investors love new technology in businesses. It makes your business more attractive when it comes time to sell if investors see a well oiled machine with up-to-date technology rather than something they have to pump cash into. One hot thing as illustrated by McDonald’s is mobility and mobile ordering. Perhaps a process can be improved to have your sales people or others have more mobility and sell items immediately in the field. Bring it up in your organization and see what the thoughts are. Maybe you can’t raise your market cap 1.2 Billion but perhaps a million or so wouldn’t hurt!