Technology Magazine May 2018 | Page 273

EUROPE he says . “ We need to run great restaurants and the technology needs to support that . We can ’ t create a great restaurant , we ’ ve got to understand the importance of how we run the restaurant to establish the restaurant experience of the future .”
But what comes first ? Does McDonald ’ s listen to the guest and then implement ? Or does McDonald ’ s define its own technology and restaurant experience and the guest follows suit ?
For Westling , he ’ s not too sure if it ’ s the “ chicken or the egg ”, admitting that there is a sense of collaboration as guests come from different restaurants in different countries and expect the same level of experience to be had in McDonald ’ s , regardless of where it is .
But he also stresses that the company approaches it from its own viewpoint and being a part of the larger McDonald ’ s corporation proves key .
“ We ’ re trying to understand our guests , but we are also learning from other markets and other countries ,” says Westling . “ We look at other markets to see how table service or self-service order kiosks work and how that can shape our own experience .
“ As a large company operating in a number of different countries around the world , it really helps us implement new services very rapidly . Sure , the customer experience may be different in Denmark , or Norway , but a kiosk is a kiosk .
“ It ’ s more about how technology can support the guest journey in order to

“ It ’ s more about how you implement the guest journey into the technology in order to deliver a great customer experience . That ’ s what ’ s more important ”

– Anders Westling , IT Director and CIO of McDonald ’ s Sweden
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