Spotlight Interview: Robert Morcos, Founder and CEO of Social Mobile | - Restaurant Technology News

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1.9.2023

Mobility solutions supplier Social Mobile offers services captious to restaurants and different organizations looking to bring to marketplace innovative mobile products. The institution was precocious named to the Inc. 5000 database of fastest-growing companies successful America, arsenic good arsenic 1 of the fastest increasing exertion companies by the South Florida Business Journal. It was besides recognized by Restaurant Insider arsenic 1 of the Top Restaurant Tech Innovators for its enactment with DoorDash, which is simply a absorption of a caller speech with Robert Morcos, the Founder and CEO of Social Mobile. Morcos besides shares his insights connected the value of mobility wrong edifice operations and wherefore restaurants should see custom, white-label solutions alternatively of off-the-shelf technology.

Can you speech a spot astir Social Mobile’s capabilities and however restaurants benefit?

Social Mobile is an endeavor mobility solutions supplier focused connected helping organizations looking to deploy and bring to marketplace innovative mobile solutions for immoderate fig of varying usage cases. We design, engineer, and manufacture customized solutions built connected the Android Enterprise platform, portion besides providing instrumentality absorption and a assortment of logistics for a afloat suite of endeavor mobility services.

Restaurants are progressively embracing mobility to streamline operations and present world-class lawsuit service. Today, mobility solutions assistance amended the eating acquisition successful galore ways – integer check-in, integer menus and signage, self-serve kiosks, lawsuit feedback surveys, and more.  During the pandemic, restaurants progressively relied connected mobility solutions to instrumentality nutrient delivery, pick-up, contactless ordering, and contactless payment.

Social Mobile helps restaurants enactment each these usage cases with large-scale deployments that harvester our expertise designing customized devices with instrumentality management, and ongoing support.

What differentiates Social Mobile from different starring mobility providers serving the edifice sector? What bash you presumption arsenic immoderate of your company’s competitory strengths?

First, our domain expertise successful endeavor mobility and providing customized mobility solutions made specifically for our clients. Secondly, we are 1 of a fistful of merchandise manufacturers that are Google Mobile Services (GMS) certified, and the lone licensed OEM exclusively offering customized solutions for enterprise. Third, Social Mobile not lone designs customized mobility solutions, we besides supply a afloat suite of mobility services ranging from staging, kitting, and deployment arsenic good arsenic repair and replacement.

We besides person a scope of acquisition serving the nutrient and beverage industry, with clients ranging from restaurants, speedy service operators, and pick-up/delivery services. One of the company’s clients, DoorDash, importantly streamlined its merchant operations by utilizing a custom-designed solution from Social Mobile that saved them 60% connected the instrumentality TCO (total outgo of ownership).

What categories of restaurants are apt to payment most? Any caller occurrence stories you could share?

Digital translation and the pandemic person impacted the full edifice industry, truthful each restaurants volition payment from a mobility solution careless of the category. The unit connected restaurants to execute good arsenic a concern is immense. Workers are scarce. Wages are increasing. Customers are opting to dine-out. Restaurants indispensable find efficiencies anyplace and everywhere. So, if it’s a speedy service edifice adding self-serve kiosks and integer menus, oregon a accepted dine-in edifice accepting transportation and pick-up orders – the benefits are everywhere.

When DoorDash archetypal approached Social Mobile, they shared respective challenges with the hardware devices that were presently deployed; however, erstwhile we dug a small deeper it was wide that determination were challenges beyond the hardware itself. The absorption of the devices, preparing them, deploying them to merchants – each that needed to beryllium reviewed. We recommended a full, end-to-end mobility solution that enabled DoorDash to amended enactment its merchants and standard its operations globally.

The Social Mobile squad worked with DoorDash to plan an wholly customized solution made specifically for their merchant operations. The DoorDash tablet is made precisely to their specifications. Components are protected by a moisture-proof coating to withstand the harsh room environment. It’s besides certified to enactment successful immoderate DoorDash market, which is to accidental that we enabled each the indispensable cellular bands for each country, and registered the instrumentality with regulators similar the FCC, CE, RCM, and more.

Social Mobile stages and kits the devices with SIM cards, accessories, and DoorDash selling materials straight disconnected the accumulation line, removing the clip and outgo spent connected third-party logistics. When bearer SIM cards are activated and installed, the SIM is bound to the instrumentality to  forestall it from being utilized successful immoderate different instrumentality and debar information fraud.

Every tablet is enrolled successful Mambo, our Android Enterprise approved endeavor mobility absorption (EMM) level truthful that DoorDash tin negociate their full fleet anytime and anywhere. The DoorDash tablet is Google Mobile Services (GMS) certified, which means it has entree to each the Google apps similar Chrome and Maps, arsenic good arsenic Google’s APIs.

Finally, DoorDash tablets are Android Zero-touch enabled, meaning they’re configured and acceptable to spell to enactment close out-of-the-box. Merchants don’t person to instrumentality the clip to find and instal the DoorDash Order Management app oregon configure immoderate of the settings. It’s automatically pushed to the instrumentality the instant it connects to the internet, on with each IT instrumentality policies and information updates.

Social Mobile’s solution helped DoorDash trim the company’s full outgo of ownership for the instrumentality by 60%. Today Social Mobile helps DoorDash enactment hundreds of thousands of merchants and tens of  millions of customers worldwide.

How important is mobility wrong edifice operations? Where are you seeing mobility being utilized astir – e.g., backmost office, beforehand office, etc.? Can you supply an illustration of however mobility is automating edifice operations?

Mobility is highly important for today’s edifice operations. Especially successful a post-pandemic world, with the summation successful nutrient transportation and pick-up. We are seeing mobility being utilized successful each facet of the edifice business. For example, successful the beforehand of the house, server handheld tablets and integer menus are being utilized to present an impactful lawsuit experience. In the backmost of house, room show systems and bid summons printing are being utilized by the unit to efficiently negociate orders; handheld devices are helping way deliveries and inventory, Additionally, handheld devices, kiosks and POS terminals tin streamline ordering, measure presentment and payment, and seizure lawsuit feedback via surveys.

One illustration we tin look astatine is the DoorDash idiosyncratic acquisition journey. A lawsuit orders a repast done an app, and erstwhile the bid is received by restaurant, the server tin judge the bid and an bid clip is communicated backmost to the customer. The adjacent measurement is for the room to person the bid summons and proceed to marque the bid for the customer. The Dasher is past notified to caput to the edifice and prime up the bid for delivery. Finally, the lawsuit volition beryllium notified that their bid is connected the mode and the Dasher drops disconnected the bid to the customer.

From a exertion deployment perspective, should restaurants see white-label solutions oregon disconnected the support technology?

There are galore reasons wherefore restaurants should see custom, white-label solutions alternatively of off-the-shelf technology. To start, off-the-shelf solutions are typically premium devices that see much components and features than your emblematic endeavor usage lawsuit requires. They are not arsenic secure, hard to manage, costly to deploy, and merchandise availability is not guaranteed year-after-year. A consumer-grade instrumentality isn’t rugged and doesn’t person the artillery beingness to past with changeless usage implicit an full shift.

Custom devices, connected the different hand, are purpose-built meaning they tin incorporated oregon region immoderate components oregon features that aren’t needed. This tin trim the outgo by an mean of 20 to 30% close disconnected the accumulation line. With a customized solution, devices tin beryllium branded for the client, without the request to nonstop them to a third-party to beryllium staged and kitted. Because the instrumentality is made conscionable for that client, they is guaranteed availability for a acceptable fig of years – usually betwixt 3 to 5 – truthful there’s a accordant proviso of merchandise acceptable to spell anytime.

What proposal tin you springiness a edifice radical considering a mobility provider?

My proposal to edifice groups is to not conscionable deliberation astir the terms of the hardware, but to besides see the full outgo of the full mobility solution from manufacturing to kitting, management, and support. How overmuch would it outgo your concern if a precocious percent of your devices were failing, needed repairs, and outgo you revenue?

By looking astatine the full lifecycle of the instrumentality and going to a azygous mobility vendor similar Social Mobile, restaurants tin recognize important savings for their business. Also, mobility solutions tin beryllium delivered with a device-as-a-service (DaaS) model, truthful restaurants tin instrumentality vantage of the latest exertion without the dense superior expenditure connected devices.

You’re a recognized person and innovator successful the mobility space, having founded Social Mobile much than a decennary ago. Can you archer america a spot astir your vocation trajectory?

I’ve been successful the mobility abstraction since I was 15 years old, buying and refurbishing utilized compartment phones. I got my commencement done a friend’s begetter whose concern was exporting these phones to planetary markets. After assemblage I started Social Mobile – successful 2011 – but it had a somewhat antithetic focus. We inactive designed and manufactured customized devices but for consumers, which is simply a fiercely competitory market. So we pivoted and decided to absorption exclusively connected endeavor clients.

Today, Social Mobile has astir 70 radical dispersed crossed 8 antithetic countries. We person immoderate of the world’s starring experts successful endeavor mobility and Android Enterprise connected our team, and we are moving with immoderate of the world’s biggest brands to present customized mobility solutions. We did each of that without taking connected immoderate concern oregon extracurricular capital, which successful retrospect has allowed maine and the squad to marque a pivot similar that and beryllium much agile with our strategical determination making.

What bash you bash successful your occupation connected a day-to-day basis? What bash you similar astir astir your work?

Even though I americium the laminitis and CEO of Social Mobile, I person worn astir each azygous chapeau astatine the company. I deliberation that’s emblematic for immoderate startup founder, but it’s fixed maine the quality to recognize astir each facet of the business. Since we’ve deepened our enforcement squad bench, I walk much of my clip focusing connected the aboriginal of the institution and exploring antithetic strategical initiatives.

I’m besides precise passionate astir the CHIPS Act that was passed past year, and advocator for reshoring a batch of the downstream accumulation of mobile devices backmost into the U.S. Producing semiconductors successful the U.S. is simply a captious and cardinal constituent for our nation’s sovereignty, but we besides request to see that hundreds of different components utilized to marque mobile devices are not produced successful the U.S. Further, assembly is besides done chiefly overseas. Policy makers request to instrumentality into relationship the afloat proviso concatenation and manufacturing process successful bid to genuinely maximize the payment of the CHIPS Act.

How has the archetypal imaginativeness for Social Mobile changed — oregon not changed — arsenic the institution has grown implicit the past decade?

The imaginativeness has ever been to beryllium the world’s champion mobility provider; however, that imaginativeness changed from user to endeavor a fig of years aft we got started. That displacement allowed america to truly absorption our efforts and differentiate ourselves from our competitors, who successful the user abstraction are monolithic multi-national companies. Today we are dedicated to gathering the best, customized mobility solutions for our clients. That includes everything from the hardware to absorption and enactment – the afloat instrumentality lifecycle.

What volition beryllium the superior absorption areas for Social Mobile this year? Any caller technology-related initiatives?

2023 volition beryllium a large year. There’s a batch of projects that we’re moving connected bringing to market. Soon we’ll person a device-as-a-service (DaaS) connection launching, which volition assistance clients trim their upfront superior disbursal erstwhile it comes to mobility solutions. We’re besides launching a caller programme for clients to marque our RHINO devices with their sanction and logo – called RHINO Custom. And we are perpetually improving our backstage statement offerings, expanding to make caller and innovative devices for our clients – everything from wearables to IoT devices and more.