What If Your Cloud System Went Offline?
Having a digital ordering system is now de rigueur for most F&B operators. It has allowed operators to streamline their workflow and reduce reliance on manpower. Orders are now easily taken by customers scanning a QR code on the table or by waiters using mobile tablets; the orders are then sent immediately to a kitchen display screen for preparation. Payment is consolidated through a variety of means and the business owner can view outlet reports live as the leading digital ordering solutions are all cloud-based.
But what if your online solution goes offline? Should the cloud-web service be down, or the outlet loses internet connectivity for some reason, then how can the outlet continue to close sales? God forbid the outlet manager has to then take out his trusty notepad and pen to do manual orders and record payments!
That is why having a local server NUC is an important failsafe– a cost effective, small black box, the local server NUC allows the online systems to be run on local network when internet services or cloud services are down. When internet services are up again, the data is then synced with servers. While cloud or internet outage might seem rare, sometimes even random acts of god can affect our F&B operations.
Halia Gardens, located in Botanic Gardens serves modern fusion cuisine across 2 different blocks of heritage building. Due to the nature of the infrastructure setup, the internet connection was often intermittent. Luckily our POS Digital partners from Dining Butler were able to assist us with a hybrid solution of online and offline operations.
Based on Halia Gardens’ request, the Dining Butler team that provided their digital ordering system decided to institute an NUC failsafe. The small NUC server piggy-backs right next to their Wi-Fi router. In case of any disruption in internet connectivity, it allows the outlet to continue sales and ordering operations. Data is then synced when internet and connectivity services are restored.
CF, CEO of Dining Butler says “Dining Butler is dedicated towards ensuring a seamless operation for our F&B clients and with our experience with Halia Gardens, we have instituted this protocol as a standard feature in all our deployments. As there could be various factors behind cloud or internet outage, this solution allows the F&B to continue operations as normal while their IT support works to restore connectivity. Thus, their diners experience is not affected nor disrupted.”
To date, Dining Butler has worked with more than 300 F&Bs to digitalize their businesses in Singapore and SEA.