While cloud computing has found the most ground in the tech sector and in departments like IT, the application for this technology is nearly limitless. From healthcare to construction to education, practically everyone’s latching on to the possibilities cloud and software as a service offer, and the restaurant industry is no exception. These are complex businesses that need to be able to respond to changing demands nimbly, and cloud software’s main strength is in its flexibility and agility. If you’re a restaurant owner, the time to get in is now, and here’s why.

Automation Offers Communicative Environments

Communication between customers, front of house, and back of house can be difficult given all the noise and chaos in a restaurant, and this becomes doubly true when the rush hits. The same technology being used to power smart homes can be adapted to create smart restaurants that convey important information to your staff. Given the din of restaurants, sound is often a poor indicator of a job that needs to be done, but responsive LED lighting can be queued to your kitchen timers to let your kitchen staff know when a task is complete. Similarly, integrated smart phone apps and pagers synced to your central cloud system allow your customers to engage more effectively with servers and cut down on your wait times while also making the job of your hosts easier. Automated thermometers, meanwhile, can help make sure everything in your walk-in is the accurate safe temperature.

Restaurant POS is Like Your Business’ Virtual Assistant

Virtual assistants like Cortana and Siri are demonstrating how the cloud can be used to sync every aspect of your daily life into a single platform, and restaurant POS systems accomplish much the same goal just scaled to the demands of restaurants. Credit card and cash transactions can be converted directly to your accounting platform and provide you with the data you need to help your business grow, while customers can engage directly with loyalty programs using touch interfaces operated by your servers. Even inventory and stock can be handled and integrated with your menu systems. It basically takes all the standard information you’d handle through traditional systems and turns it into actionable data.

Social Media Allows You to Extend Your Reach

Publication reviews and community notoriety were once the most effective (and some of the only feasible) means for reaching out to your customers, but a savvy restaurateur with a good knowledge of media marketing can maintain retention with their guests and even use them as a resource to expand their influence. Email marketing can be a huge boon for restaurants, as it lets customers know about specials and discounts, but it’s just as important for its ability to keep your restaurant centered in the minds of your customers. But that’s just the start for what you can accomplish. Maintaining a healthy social media presence helps people in your neighborhood connect a face to a name and lets you more accurately address questions and concerns in a public space.

The Ability to Scale Up or Down

Peaks and valleys are just an unfortunate given in the restaurant business, but cloud-based systems allow you to adapt without taking a hit to your finances. Since modern restaurant POS systems are platform agnostic, expanding your servers and space can be as simple as buying a few new tablets, and more robust data on your business allows you to staff more effectively as business ebbs and flows. The sort of real time inventory analysis that cloud technology facilitates allows you to keep your kitchen stocked without having to worry about unnecessary spoilage.