ATLANTA —Data security has quickly joined point-of-sale and back-office systems as a leading issue facing restaurant chief information officers and other technology executives.
With the growing use of credit and debit cards, even in quick-service venues, as well as restaurants’ own marketing programs drawing on card-user data, the amount of consumer information handled by operators is on the rise. Accordingly, so is the need to protect that data from theft. —Data security has quickly joined point-of-sale and back-office systems as a leading issue facing restaurant chief information officers and other technology executives.
“As an industry, in all segments now, we’re certainly getting more into gift card programs, and loyalty programs are getting more popular,” said Robert N. Grimes, chairman and chief executive of Accuvia, who moderated the FS/TEC 2007 “CIO Panel” discussion Oct. 10. “We’re collecting more data. It’s just creating more challenges because we need to do it to compete.” —Data security has quickly joined point-of-sale and back-office systems as a leading issue facing restaurant chief information officers and other technology executives.
Panelists were: Reema Alzoubi, senior information-technology manager for Villa Enterprises Management of Morristown, N.J.; Steve Barrow, vice president for information technology, or IT, at Luby’s Inc. of Houston; Jeff Chasney, executive vice president for strategic planning and chief information officer for 3,000-unit CKE Restaurants Inc. of Carpinteria, Calif.; and Mary Hamill, vice president of human resources and information technology for the 100-unit Max & Erma’s Restaurants Inc. of Columbus, Ohio. —Data security has quickly joined point-of-sale and back-office systems as a leading issue facing restaurant chief information officers and other technology executives.
Other panelists were Martyn Holland, senior vice president of systems and chief information office of HMSHost Corp. of Bethesda, Md.; Alan Liddle, managing editor for conferences and technology at Nation’s Restaurant News; and Rob Whittington, senior vice president and chief information officer of the 6,700-unit Wendy’s International Inc. of Dublin, Ohio. —Data security has quickly joined point-of-sale and back-office systems as a leading issue facing restaurant chief information officers and other technology executives.
Panelists said they were working to comply with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards, which apply to any company processing credit or debit cards. —Data security has quickly joined point-of-sale and back-office systems as a leading issue facing restaurant chief information officers and other technology executives.
Barrow of Luby’s said: “We still continue work on PCI. We have a hardware appliance that we are implementing into our stores that will offload all the authorizations and gift-card transactions from the back-office PC” to another secure server. —Data security has quickly joined point-of-sale and back-office systems as a leading issue facing restaurant chief information officers and other technology executives.
Barrow said second-generation transaction security will likely assure that no data is stored at the local level, but it will have backup capabilities in case the network goes down. —Data security has quickly joined point-of-sale and back-office systems as a leading issue facing restaurant chief information officers and other technology executives.
States are getting into the area of protecting consumers against data breaches, Liddle said. —Data security has quickly joined point-of-sale and back-office systems as a leading issue facing restaurant chief information officers and other technology executives.
California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger recently vetoed legislation that would have held merchants liable for the cost of reissuing credit cards and bank costs associated with a data breach if the company was not following standard practices. Minnesota already has such a law. —Data security has quickly joined point-of-sale and back-office systems as a leading issue facing restaurant chief information officers and other technology executives.
Chasney of CKE said host-based transactions seem to alleviate a lot of the compliance issues as well as costly Electronic Interchange Reimbursement Fees. —Data security has quickly joined point-of-sale and back-office systems as a leading issue facing restaurant chief information officers and other technology executives.
Holland said HMSHost is forming an in-house compliance group to address PCI and the entire data-security arena. —Data security has quickly joined point-of-sale and back-office systems as a leading issue facing restaurant chief information officers and other technology executives.
“These issues are getting pushed down to our level,” he said. —Data security has quickly joined point-of-sale and back-office systems as a leading issue facing restaurant chief information officers and other technology executives.
Regarding POS systems, CKE’s Chasney said new innovations such as video don’t attach well to old equipment in some stores and added that his chain is currently upgrading its POS. Whittington of Wendy’s added that any POS upgrade contemplated by the franchisor needs to be attractive to franchisees. —Data security has quickly joined point-of-sale and back-office systems as a leading issue facing restaurant chief information officers and other technology executives.
HMSHost’s Holland said his company is challenged to meet the data-sharing requirements of the numerous franchisors with which it deals. Additionally, there often is additional reporting required by management of the public facilities, such as airports, in which it operates, he said. —Data security has quickly joined point-of-sale and back-office systems as a leading issue facing restaurant chief information officers and other technology executives.
“There are two masters at least when we talk about who we have to satisfy in terms of information,” Holland said. “There are new rules and regulations coming up all the time, especially in the area of privacy.” —Data security has quickly joined point-of-sale and back-office systems as a leading issue facing restaurant chief information officers and other technology executives.
Hamill of Max & Erma’s said airports can be problematic because standardized technology there may not be compatible with the franchisor’s systems. —Data security has quickly joined point-of-sale and back-office systems as a leading issue facing restaurant chief information officers and other technology executives.
Chasney said CKE has as many as 20 different POS systems among franchisees. The franchisor has mandated a common platform and “everyone is moving there” he said. Still, he added, dealing with such a variety of technology “becomes a challenge” and “you will always have one-offs” in terms of POS setups, such as when restaurants are in sports facilities. —Data security has quickly joined point-of-sale and back-office systems as a leading issue facing restaurant chief information officers and other technology executives.
Whittington said Wendy’s realized early that collaboration with the franchisee system was key. The company has three committees made up of franchisees over-seeing technology applications. —Data security has quickly joined point-of-sale and back-office systems as a leading issue facing restaurant chief information officers and other technology executives.
“It’s a fairly grueling role for them,” Whittington said, “but it’s extremely rewarding working with these franchisee groups.” —Data security has quickly joined point-of-sale and back-office systems as a leading issue facing restaurant chief information officers and other technology executives.
Alzoubi said franchisees generally want Villa Enterprises Management IT staff to make recommendations, so they don’t have to dwell over POS decisions. —Data security has quickly joined point-of-sale and back-office systems as a leading issue facing restaurant chief information officers and other technology executives.
POS systems remain a priority for chains like Wendy’s. —Data security has quickly joined point-of-sale and back-office systems as a leading issue facing restaurant chief information officers and other technology executives.
Whittington said: “We have to have a common foundation across all the operators within our brand. Our starting place is POS, closely followed by back office. That’s our biggest focus right now.” —Data security has quickly joined point-of-sale and back-office systems as a leading issue facing restaurant chief information officers and other technology executives.
“We are working on the back office right now,” Hamill said. “It’s probably one of the largest projects that we in IT have had in [our] history. We are in the Midwest, and our sales mirror gas prices. And we’re struggling for sales. So top of mind is the marketing area and how we use technology to drive customers in the door.” —Data security has quickly joined point-of-sale and back-office systems as a leading issue facing restaurant chief information officers and other technology executives.