A new independent survey, commisioned by Motorola in the United States, has found that 53 per cent of managers surveyed from the hospitality industry believe wireless ordering and reservations will provide the greatest technological impact for their organisation within the next five years.

The respondents suggested time savings were the key factor behind the push, with new technology offering the opportunity to improve inefficiencies such as walking over to a terminal to process a credit card transaction.

“So many inefficiencies often happen after a server takes your order initially,” Andre Nataf, Business Development Manager at Digital Dining – a restaurant POS systems provider, said, according to Retail Wire. “They may get stopped and have to take another order, they may get paged to pick up food from the kitchen – all these things in restaurants that happen no matter how good they are as an operator. Having mobile is like having the terminal with them at all times.”

Mr Nataf contends that new technology is presenting new upselling opportunities.

“The National Restaurant Association has for years said the number one customer complaint is getting the check when you want it and I think we’ve all been in situations where we would have ordered another drink or appetizer if we could find a server,” he noted.

The tallying of orders by machine was seen as a further benefit, with immediate notification to waiters of any out-of-stocks. Such benefits are seen to provide a boost to customer and employee satisfaction.

Employee training and the cost of technology acquisition, however, were seen as issues preventing further take up of wireless devices.

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