Keeping Restaurant Customer Data Safe in the Cloud

3 Min Read By Melanie Bradley

Setting up your customer database in the cloud is an investment, and one that is extremely beneficial in our culture today. Avenues such as downloadable POS reports, pen and pad sign-up forms for promotions, or loyalty punch cards are fleeting and old fashioned. Technology usage today, especially amongst Millennials, warrants restaurants and retailers to keep up with changing behaviors and market trends. Graduating to all-digital concepts that rely solely on cloud based software has become a necessity.  
Mobile Ordering, Online Payment 

The commonality of security breeches in technology today require restaurants to invest in a way to keep customer data safe.

Online ordering continues to grow in the restaurant industry due to its sheer convenience. Individuals can order on their own time, and specify the time of pick up as well. Other benefits such as mobile discounts and the ability to bypass lines are additional factors that contribute to the growth. 

Paying online always presents a risk. Identity theft and security breeches are a dime a dozen these days. Businesses that offer mobile ordering with online payments must maintain a high level of cloud security, especially if that information is cached and stored in the system for faster checkouts in the future.  

Think about the security needed to successfully protect your home: it may have a fence around the perimeter, a high-tech security system, and maybe even a guard dog. When it comes to keeping customer data safe in the cloud, restaurant POS systems need to provide multiple layers and levels of protection, while simultaneously making the data readily available to restaurant operators and customers. Encryption and multiple backup servers contribute to the success of keeping your data secure in the cloud. Encrypting valuable information and adding a variety of storage and backup sites ensure that employers will never lose data, customer information, sales reports, time sheets, and more.  

Customer Loyalty  

Customer loyalty is earned through one key ingredient – trust.  Customers will not remain loyal to a restaurant who mismanaged their personal data and information. If a security breech occurs, it could take an organization years to build back consumer trust. In the meantime, customers will surely look elsewhere.  

If a restaurant can deliver a sense of trust to its fan base, customer loyalty will increase. Consider the many touch points you have with a customer – made easier with the cloud – that could help reinforce this: 

  • Clearly acknowledge on your payment pages how you are storing information 
  • Send relevant emails rather than daily spam 
  • Have password policies in place 
  • Be selective with push notifications  

Additionally, in a cloud-based system, automatic updates keep POS software up to date at all times. Think of these updates as being similar to apps on your smartphone – when a new feature or version is ready, syncing to your current system is quick and painless. 

Multi-Location Management 

Many restaurants enjoy using cloud computation for maintaining customer data. Rather than driving from store to store and picking up manual reports, a cloud POS system can automatically generate a report for all locations within seconds. This seamless integration is much more convenient and not only saves time, but also eliminates the possibility of manual data entry and errors.  

Factors like inventory, sales, employee schedules and more can all be managed in the cloud. This makes things much easier for owners looking to consolidate all the information from various restaurant locations. The multiple layers of security once again keep business and customer information behind a lock and key. 

PAR’s cloud based Brink POS software was designed to customer data safe and secure in the cloud. Restaurants that deployed Brink can effectively integrate with online/mobile ordering and loyalty programs. It’s offered as a SaaS model with no long-term commitments.