It’s no secret that the increased use and proliferation of technology applications were accelerated during the pandemic as many companies turned exclusively to technology to host meetings, connect with clients and provide learning and development opportunities. As early as May of 2020, McKinsey Digital published a report that the pandemic vaulted consumer and business digital adoption by five years in about eight weeks and predicted that the rapid migration to digital technologies would continue well into the recovery. The need to stay safe created a boom in touchless, frictionless and “power in hand” technologies, particularly in the hospitality industry. The experts were right!
While self-checkout and mobile applications existed pre-pandemic, utilization was often limited to a smaller segment of the population or to those more tech savvy. Fast forward to where we are today. According to Deloitte, three in four restaurants now offer contactless ordering and payment options and 62% of revenue for these restaurants is expected to come through online delivery and takeout. “Customers already wanted more convenience and digital connections. A new focus on safety amplifies these demands.”
Safety concerns and convenience demands were then met with considerable labor shortages leading to even more advances in automation and robotics to perform tasks that humans once performed. Robots can now do everything from meal delivery to food and beverage preparation to clearing and bussing tables, enabling hospitality companies to adjust labor schedules and focus on tasks that do require the human touch and provide a better overall guest experience.
Leading in the Digital Age
Just as the industry has adjusted, so have we.
Compass Group, the world’s largest hospitality company, made its most significant investment in technology by creating Compass Digital, an in-house digital company dedicated to innovation. Since 2012, Compass Digital has set out with a vision to drive the digital future in hospitality and a mission to create extraordinary guest experiences at the intersection of hospitality and technology.
Today, consumers have amplified definitions of convenience, customization and control – what they want, when they want it, where they want to pick it up, and how they want to pay for it. Compass Digital provides various technology solutions to make it easy to create transactions and drive recurring behaviors to optimize guests’ experience.
Convenience is critical with customized mobile and delivery experiences. Through in-house development and partnerships with leading tech firms, we are addressing our clients’ technology and digital needs, thus continually increasing consumer value and operational efficiency.
Below are just a few ways we are transforming the digital experience in the workplace:
The Mobile Experience
Our end-to-end contactless mobile app allows guests to order and pay for the food they love without waiting in a crowded space. Guests may also order ahead and select a pickup time to ensure they don’t miss lunch due to a meeting or important call. With the scan-and-pay function, self-checkout is a breeze, eliminating the need for a cashier.
While the mobile app provides a contactless experience, it is by no means impersonal. Using the app, guests can register to receive notifications from the culinary team on special offers and promotions, view healthy options, customize each order to their liking, save past orders for easy reordering and view recommendations based on users’ profiles and choices.
Frictionless Retail
Building the future of retail means dreaming up the “art-of-the-possible.” Through the deployment of frictionless markets, we have created retail stores that utilize computer vision and deep learning algorithms to automate the purchase, check out, and payment steps of the retail transaction process. AI-powered, frictionless self-checkout uses cameras and computer vision-powered kiosks to recognize and process items instantly without any physical contact. This technology can support any store concept, layout and product offering. Guests confirm purchases when leaving the retail space through the mobile app or at a store kiosk.
Robotics
Trust in robotics is growing from the elevated convenience and quality offered amidst post-pandemic constraints. An extensive range of robotics and automated delivery solutions (RAD Solutions) offers guests everything from customizable, prepared foods and beverages delivered from a branded, stand-alone machine to products finished and delivered by a hospitality associate that was prepared with automated and robotic solutions. Partnerships with leading and dynamic technology firms allow us to provide customers with fresh, customizable meals and snacks from salads, pizzas, and restaurant-quality gourmet bowls and burgers to smoothies and craft beverages made via robotics.
In addition to robotics in production, delivery robotics continues to grow in popularity and adoption. Trackable, secure, autonomous delivery robots bring a uniquely fun hospitality experience to customers and corporate campuses. Our robots navigate using lidar and computer vision technology, and they are more cost-effective with a faster delivery time. Concierge robots run food and drink service, and they also bus tables, affording servers time and energy toward better customer service.
Driving Innovation for Our Clients
Compass Digital leveraged a once-in-a-100-year opportunity to transform Compass Group into the digital leader in food and hospitality. We build and scale digital products and technologies to exceed the expectations of our customers and clients.
Compass Digital focuses on using digital as an invisible enabler of enhanced physical experiences. We believe in taking a human-centered approach to hospitality by leveraging data and technology to curate memorable experiences for guests. Together with our clients, we bring disruptive innovation to the hospitality space.
Interested in how we can help your company design great experiences with digital and technology? Let’s talk about it!
Compass Notes 