Question and Answer

Ken Cohen

November 09, 2004
What are the top three business advantages satellite technology brings to the restaurant marketplace?

The quick service restaurant industry faces several challenges that make satellite the perfect broadband solution. Those challenges include connecting numerous, disparate locations; the need to rapidly build out new locations; and deploying internal business applications, including credit and other card-based transactions.

The nature of satellite delivers three key advantages that solve these challenges:

• Satellite broadband offers a single reliable solution – EVERYWHERE

• Satellite is inherently scalable and can quickly connect new locations and applications with great ease

• And satellite, being always-on, can reduce financial transaction speeds from 10-15 seconds down to 3-5 seconds.

In the QSR industry, the demand for satellite is driven largely by the need for broadband—for persistent connectivity. This became mandatory with the wide acceptance of credit cards and other forms of plastic payment. Speed of service is paramount to the economics of the QSR segment, as well as for customer satisfaction. Imagine realizing all the benefits of cashless payments and then having each customer wait an unnecessary 10-20 extra seconds for a dial-up connection to be established for authorization. The ability to quickly process credit transactions results in shorter waiting times for customers—creating time that can be used towards another sale—and creating opportunities for up selling customers who have limited cash in hand. Because seconds lost due to delayed credit card authorizations can result in lost sales, the speed of broadband can produce an increase in sales.

Delivering broadband’s promise to the QSR industry is more complicated than simply choosing one provider. Consider a major QSR with thousands of locations throughout the U.S. To provide broadband connectivity could involve dozens of terrestrial broadband providers. And that does not take into consideration that many QSRs are located outside suburban or metropolitan areas—they are off interstate exits and in rural communities— often where terrestrial broadband might not even be an option.

These issues pose two major challenges: 1) how can a company connect all of their restaurants without creating an operational nightmare; and 2) how can they quickly and affordably connect a new site off I-70 in the middle of rural Indiana?

Satellite’s ubiquitous nature gives these businesses “one throat to choke” and a single platform for operations to support. Because satellite goes anywhere, virtually all stores can get broadband connectivity through one provider and with one platform. Finally, the ability to install a satellite solution is a given as long as there is a view of the Southern sky, so there are no concerns about distance from a central office or the quality and bandwidth of the lines running past your door. It means that communications managers know what broadband services they can deliver when the real estate division comes in with a new store location.

For businesses looking at what value-added applications satellite broadband can provide that differentiate it from terrestrial broadband, they need look no further than satellite’s strength in video broadcasting. For example, HNS enterprise customers alone transmit more live video for internal corporate communications and training in one day than all five major news networks combined deliver in a week. This capability opens doors for point-of-sale video advertising, in-store video training, and more efficient corporate communications.

We see an increased demand for technology solutions to control costs and enhance the customer experience as increasing the need for both broadband and satellite. To be competitive, restaurateurs will not only need to bring in technology, they will need broadband networking to deliver the information to the audiences that can act on it. This is a very positive direction for operators and the satellite industry.