McDonald’s Australia to roll out iOS, Android ordering app

McDonald's Australia, New Zealand and Pacific CIO, Henry Shiner.

McDonald’s Australia is set to deploy an iOS and Android smartphone app that will allow customers to prepare a meal order before they arrive at the restaurant.

“When the customer arrives at the restaurant, they can scan a quick response [QR] code for automatic dispatch of the order to the kitchen. The customer then goes to the pickup point without having to wait in line,” said McDonald’s Australia, New Zealand and Pacific CIO Henry Shiner.

The app should be available by December 2014 to customers nationwide.

In addition, some McDonald’s restaurants in New South Wales, Queensland and Victoria have been trialling a home delivery service called McDelivery. For example, McDonald’s North Parramatta in Sydney is offering the service through Menulog.com.au.

“We’re seeing some really positive customer feedback [about the trial] which is what we’re seeking,” said Shiner.

“Our IT strategy has to enable our customers to engage anytime, anywhere and anyhow. The [home] delivery trial is about looking at that opportunity and what it means for the customer.”

Recognising that customers like to browse content on their phone or tablet while dining, McDonald’s Australia is overhauling its free Wi-Fi network service with a 4G Wi-Fi network rollout in late 2014. The network rollout should be completed in early 2015, he said.

According to Shiner, this will deliver “super-fast Wi-Fi” to customers who dine in at its restaurants.

Loving IT

Since 2012, Shiner has been undertaking an IT business transformation designed to retire legacy IT systems and improve mobility of the workforce.

For example, a new Human Resources Management System (HRMS) payroll system will go live in the next two weeks.

Some of the other areas that Shiner has addressed are the assessment of next-generation points of sale, EFTPOS cashless solutions within restaurants and development of best in class engagement platforms that address the needs of the organisation and its employees.

“We have a corporate device policy but over the next year, we will be examining the pros and cons of bring your own devices [BYOD] as we come into a period of refresh on our corporate devices,” he said. McDonald’s Australia currently uses HP laptops, desktops and tablets.

In October 2014, the restaurant chain was recognised with a Unisys Lighthouse award for demonstrating leadership in applying modern technologies to mission crucial IT challenges.

An example of this was in the company’s IT service delivery to restaurants. In the past, McDonald’s Australia service level arrangements were pre-determined. However, this wasn’t agile enough for the business, said Shiner.

“We introduced a self-initiated service level where the end user is empowered to determine the criticality of the outage. They can request a service level to match what they needed to get that issue resolved. This recognises that the user is closest to the issue plaguing the restaurant,” he said.

Unisys provides McDonald’s Australia with a restaurant services outsourcing arrangement that includes help desk services, analytics and reporting.

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