Zachary Goldstein’s Post

View profile for Zachary Goldstein, graphic

CEO & Founder @ Thanx | Loyalty, CRM, Customer Lifetime Value

Restaurants (a $1T industry in the US) are bad at buying software. In 2024, developing a muscle in selecting and implementing technology — not making bad decisions rashly and not avoiding change due to fear — is a competitive advantage. To that end, I offer three questions that any technology buyer should ask in this process: 1) What is the turnover of your team — especially the executive team — in the last 24 months? All companies change personnel (in fact, it's healthy to bring in fresh perspective). But if you expect to build a long-term partnership, you need to know that you're aligning with a business that has a healthy culture to continue (or accelerate) their current trajectory. Extremely high turnover is a sign that something is wrong (running out of cash, asshole leadership, unhappy customers, etc). 2) Tell me about a specific customer who has migrated OFF your platform; what was their experience and (if you know) what were the results? When you make a software decision, you hope it's the last one you'll ever make in that category. But part of being a good partner is not creating technical lock-in. Good software should be easy to migrate to (and away from). To that end... 3) Show me your public API documentation, in particular my options for routing my data anywhere I want. Lots of companies brag about being an "open platform" but keep their APIs hidden or obfuscate just how to get data out (because they offer nothing more sophisticated than CSV exports — not easy or secure). These are red flags. A long-list of integrations is good but tells you very little because there's no guarantee that the current integration solves your specific use case. Far more important are the quality of APIs which demonstrate that if your need is not currently solved, it can be easily. On this last point, some of how we do this at Thanx: https://lnkd.in/gyvRHwtJ https://lnkd.in/gC2AkZZ9 https://lnkd.in/g855JSyi

Introducing Thanx Connex: Transforming How Restaurants Share and Use Data

Introducing Thanx Connex: Transforming How Restaurants Share and Use Data

https://www.thanx.com

Carl Orsbourn

SVP - Food, Hospitality & Retail | Innovating ops with AI, automation & offshore labor for Restaurants, Retail, Tech, Multi-Units | Bestselling Author | Co-Founder | Board Member |Tech Thought Leader

3mo

So true!! Point 3 in particular 👏🏻👏🏻

To view or add a comment, sign in

Explore topics