Driving to work this morning, I found myself frustrated by the traffic. Then I remembered that it’s the first day of school for the district adjacent to mine. Given that I have a 6.2 mile commute, you probably shouldn’t feel too sorry for me, as my usual 10 minute commute turned to 15.
For multi-unit operators, however, “windshield time” can be a big factor in efficiency. These operators know that it’s their job to call on their various locations, so they accept a lot of windshield time to accomplish their business objectives. MVaaS can boost efficiency of multi-unit operators, simply by giving them a view into all of their locations from a single spot. While visiting one location, the operator can log onto a PC in that location’s office and “virtually visit” several other locations in less than an hour. Then, they can prioritize the remainder of their day or week by their visual assessment of which locations need the most immediate attention. The improvement in efficiency and management impact is immediate. Good leaders and managers know where and when they are needed in person and can use MVaaS as a tool in their critical decision-making.
If you agree that every department in the organization – especially marekting – should have the customer needs as its primary driver of activity, then what does that have to do with MVaaS?
Quite simply, marketers can leverage video as a window into the behavior of customers, without the contrived environment of a focus group or phone survey. For example, using the MVaaS technololgy, a marketing manager can remotely view video of point of sale displays in several locations at one time. They can observe factors such as the traffic around the display, how often people stop to look at it, how much time they spend reading it and what type of customers are spending the most time at the display. Further, they can ensure that the display is assembled and positioned properly within the store. For any marketer who has spent countless hours behind a two-way mirror observing focus groups, MVaaS is a valuable time-saving tool that captures actual customer behavior.
Matt’s analogy that video in the business video can be used just like sports performance analysis is right on. Reviews are so much more effective when one knows what’s being measured, how it’s being measured and what the expectations are. Afterall, it’s hard to succeed unless one knows the rules.
One of the more important aspects of video review is watching oneself in the video. With access to the video from any Internet connected computer, this is much easier. Every manager in the organization can easily and securely get direct access to the video allowing them to interact with it directly and to share it with their employees. Even employees themselves can be allowed to view the video, afterall, it’s the employees who are in the video. The video doesn’t have to be a secret accessible to only a few.
I had every intention of penning an insightful post on shrinkage and how “acceptable” it’s become within the P&Ls of our retail and restaurant industries. Instead, I’m absolutely transfixed on TNT’s showing of The Wizard of Oz. I learned to appreciate the intelligence and beauty of this movie during my sophomore year at the University of Kansas (Go Jayhawks!!!).
I maintain a degree in English Literature and leverage it every day of my life. The powerful contrast of innocence and political revolution in The Wizard of Oz is so amazingly subtle, a child would love it (you did!). What? Politcal undertones? I’ll briefly explain:
Dorthy: Common folk
Scarecrow: Farmers
Tinman: Industrialists
Lion: Political Leaders
Tornado: Political Upheaval
Get the picture? Allegories have been used since the days of Chaucer and up through John Keats, The Beatles and beyond. We often have to tell a story to get the true message across. While this bolds well for the romanticism of literature, music and mission statements, there is no man behind the curtain in modern business. Don’t let your “culture” fool you. You simply can’t afford it.
Employ the technology, gain the insight and see the results. I’ll talk about shrinkage next time.
No doubt about it, MVaaS is a powerful tool. The benefits of the enhancements in technology and the SaaS business model are well documented both here (MVAAS.com) and elsewhere. The benefits to operations, loss prevention teams and marketing organizations are equally compelling.
What isn’t discussed much is that MVaaS is an enabling technology. Like the treadmill, if it isn’t used regularly and correctly, it becomes one of those moment in time purchases that simply takes up space and doesn’t provide the benefits you hoped for.
The winners in the MVaaS space will help customers with the answers to the test in terms of helping them build MVaaS into their SOP. They will help them with usage statistics, ensuring that their team members are utilizing the MVaaS system regularly and in the right way. They will help them with ROI tools and processes to measure direct impact of video on their business. They will consultatively engage in dialogue that demonstrates thought leadership, helping businesses use video in creative ways to address their specific problems.
After all, it is in the MVaaS company’s best interest to do so. They will continue to win, while their customer wins by provide not only compelling ROI data to justify their spend but also process improvements to build MVaaS into the DNA of a company’s SOP. The winner’s will help improve the “fitness” of the customer so that their unique technology and business model doesn’t sit idly on the shelf…
The restaurant industry is experiencing the most difficult business climate in recent memory. When you combine food, fuel and labor, there’s not much room for error as each are going up at alarming rates.
What is causing food to rise so sharply? Is it all due to Mother Nature? Let’s have a look at corn production and the new corn consumption landscape. Our recent corn harvest yielded one of the largest supplies ever yet the price per bushel nearly doubled. The reason for this is due to the competition for corn on the world market. Our weakened dollar is sending a growing percentage of the crop oversees. Our fuel crises is sending more of the crop to ethanol refineries.
When this dynamic is combined with weather related events, we get the following:
- Corn feeds cattle, pigs and chickens. Combined with droughts in the Southeast, beef, pork and chicken rise sharply.
- Farmers plant more corn and less of everything else. Other produce rises sharply, including soy-based cooking oils. The price of flour has jumped 250%
The cost of fuel has added a punch as much of the food we enjoy is transported across the country and often imported from other countries. For an operator who delivers food, it’s a tripple-whammy: fuel surcharges on the food in the door, expensive fuel to cook and then deliver the food.
We can also count on the minimum wage to increase each year with recent legislation taking effect. In Colorado, this hit restaurants with large waitstaffs especially hard when compensation for tip-based employees nearly doubled on Jan 1 2008.
My recent posts have focused on using MVaaS to reduce your labor costs and food costs. Now that those are predictable and improving, focus on top line growth through new and repeat customer frequency. All storms come to an end and the survivors are those who employed the technology and discipline to guide them through.
Image via Wikipedia
In my post yesterday, I introduced the subject of the Birthday Problem. Did you try to guess at the answers?
For those of you previously unfamiliar with the Birthday Problem, I suspect that your guesses, unless you took pencil to paper, were rather inaccurate. It is still surprising to me that you need only 23 randomly chosen people to have a greater than 50% chance that two people share a birthday. And at 47 people you are at 95%.
Why is this important? (excluding the pure profit producing potential by wagering with friends)
To me, the Birthday Problem illustrates the sometimes surprising results of probabilities. It’s a cliche that “statistics can lie.” This can be true. But there are also important conclusions that can be inferred from the judicious extrapolation of data. It just takes providing the proper tools and someone who knows what to do with them.
This is how I view MVaaS. What is the probability that mistakes discovered at one location are repeated at the other locations? What is the probability that corporate endorsed best practices are followed at all locations?
Would our guesses by any more accurate than they were for the Birthday Problem?
I absolutely love speaking with restaurant owners about the benefits of video surveillance. It helps that as a past owner myself, I understand exactly how video helps an operation. But help trim food costs?
Restaurant menus are thoughtfully constructed with food cost, gross profit and gross revenue in mind. The menu layout is designed to psychologically draw the eye to the most profitable items. Understanding the exact portion sizes of each menu item and exercising portion consistency in the kitchen are paramount to success.
What happens when portion consistency breaks down? Through the use of video I quickly realized that the Path of Least Resistency rules supreme. I saw an employee, I’ll call him “Skip”, top a pizza with cheese by hand as opposed to weighing the cheese on a scale first. Let’s do some quick math on the impact of just 1 extra ounce of cheese per pizza:
1 pound whole milk mozzarella – $2.35
1 ounce – $.147
3,000 pizzas per month @ $.147 = $441.00
What happens to your operation when exact portion controls are not adhered to? The entire cost structure of the menu breaks down, brand consistency suffers and ultimately profitability tanks.
How many “Skips” do you have in your operation? For about $5 per day, you can quickly find out.
Image via Wikipedia
Have you heard? Food prices have been increasing.
If this is news to you, to quote ’The Turk’ Sollozzo from The Godfather, ”Te salute, Don Corleone.”
If you are like everyone else, you’ve felt the increases in your wallet. Now imagine the impact to a restaurant owner!
MVaaS providers have achieved initial success in several key markets. Among those has been the restaurant space. Derek Gale, Associate Editor of Restaurants and Institutions, provides insight in an article about the burgeoning video business in restaurants.
The main takeaways from Mr. Gale’s article:
- The systems can pay for themselves in less than a year in theft and fraud avoidance;
- The systems can be used to deliver effective and efficient service to enhance customer satisfaction.
These conclusions are consistent with the sentiments of our customers. MVaaS should be viewed as a value creator, not a line item expense. MVaaS, when properly utilized, is a valuable tool to combat loss and ensure customer satsifaction.
The headline quote has been attributed to baseball great Yogi Berra. Although Yogi has said that “I never said half the things I really said”, this one sounds like pure 100% Yogi.
The plain truth is that Berra is probably better known for his colorful quotes than he is for his baseball prowess. This is truly remarkable given his membership in the Baseball Hall of Fame!
The thing that made Yogi’s quotes remarkable was not that they were nonsensical. If he merely spoke gibberish, his utterances would have been long ago forgotten. So would he. Instead it was his knack for misapplying common phrases that made him an original.
The headline quote is no exception. Yogi was merely trying to use a cliche he’d heard before. But he misapplied it as only he could. Even so, you know what he intended to say, and he was right.
Business managers should listen to Yogi. There is much to observe by just watching. Make sure to take the time to do so. And if you have dispersed locations, make sure you have the tools to do so, each day, every day.
Thank you for the reminder, Yogi!
