As a company that has always been committed to standardization to enhance its core competitiveness, how does it solve the problem of personalization of market demand in the era of mobile Internet through the change of information system? What is so special about ZKF's "standardization + personalization" development model? Recently, Zhou Qinglin, Secretary General of Guangdong Chief Information Officer Association, and Wang Mengjie, Vice President of IT Information Center of Zhenkongfu, exchanged views on Internet + traditional catering.
Zhou Qinglin: Please briefly introduce the background and vision of Zhenkongfu's implementation of Internet+.
Wang Mengjie: Since last year, China's catering industry has undergone a very big change, gradually moving online from the previous predominantly offline stores, which is a kind of subversive development of the catering industry, and also the development trend of the whole catering industry. In recent years, a lot of emerging Internet companies have also entered the catering industry, and under the O2O battle of the whole industry, Zenkungfu has started to think about how to meet the challenge and keep pace with the development of the times, which is one of the background reasons for Zenkungfu's implementation of Internet+. Another reason is also based on the needs of the company's development strategy, the development of traditional stores is the basic of the development strategy of Zenkungfu, but with more and more online business, the proportion is growing, more and more need for online and offline this integration of the development of the model, which is not only to comply with the trend, but also the development of our company needs.
Zhenkongfu has done two major things on the Internet, one is to build the entire O2O catering, and the other is to incubate "Kungfu ordering". The O2O we did before was more about connecting offline stores with online, while "Kung Fu Ordering" is actually a brand new concept, which is based on the Internet, rather than simply moving offline to online. We are building an information system with online as the starting goal and the Internet as the cause.
Internet restaurant self-service ordering system
Zhou Qinglin: How does the information system of "Kungfu ordering" work?
Wang Mengjie: Internet dining includes many aspects, the first is the entrance of the user, today we can do is online with the cell phone WeChat interface, from the public number to enter, or from a third-party platform to order food; users can also go to the store self-service ordering or use the traditional cash register. The second is the informationization of the order, no matter which entrance the user enters from, our entire background is one, this integration includes the order, if it is booked from the line to be delivered, then the user can track the status of the order through the cell phone in a timely manner, whether it is in the distribution or delivery of food, the expected arrival time, etc., all of this information can be queried. If the user goes to the store to pick up the meal, you can see their own meals in the meal preparation or pick-up status. In addition, "Kungfu Ordering" also has an important feature is the reservation of meals, that is, not only for a meal, we provide users with a reservation function, users can book in advance for the next few days or even a week of meals, you can order every day or only three meals, including specific delivery time, etc., these reservation functions can be realized, and give a greater discount. All these reservation functions can be realized, and a large discount is given. You can pick up your reservation or have it delivered.
Zhou Qinglin: At present, are the business sections of each system in Zhenkongfu's back office interconnected?
Wang Mengjie: Yes, what Zhenkongfu does is all integrated stuff, like ordering from WeChat or ordering from stores, which all end up going into the same system, as well as the management of orders, call center connections, cashiering, payments, financial statements, marketing tools and so on, all of which are all realized in one system. This is more difficult to realize from the perspective of information systems. Some companies can do WeChat ordering, but its WeChat ordering may be a separate system, and if they want to do online ordering, it may be another separate system, and the internal cashier may be a separate system, and the front office and back office and online are a different system. So to integrate these together and manage them into an integrated system to form a whole, this is really a more complex project.
Zhou Qinglin: What are the specific ways to control the quality of Zhenkongfu's meals, and is there any support at the system level?
Wang Mengjie: Zhenkongfu's integrated production method has always been an advantage for development. There are very detailed and standardized operational processes and manuals from supply chain collection to material distribution to the production process. Zengongfu's supply chain only pre-processes the raw materials, and some of the specific production is standardized and processed in the backstage of the stores to ensure that the quality of the meals that the users eat are all the same. In terms of system support, we have barcode tracking, warehouse management, production planning, and the whole sales matching with pre-production, which is realized in the system. I think the combination of the Internet of Things is a trend in information systems, and in the future, only the Internet of Things associated with all of these, then the product can be automatically embedded into the information system once it comes out.
Zhou Qinglin: In the era of mobile Internet, the market demand is becoming more and more diversified and personalized, while the characteristics of fast-food chains are precisely scale, centralization, and standardization, how can Zhenkongfu do a good job of grinding these two aspects to achieve standardization + personalization?
Wang Mengjie: I think personalization is more of a choice, in the past to buy a set meal in Zengongfu are fixed, the future of personalization is to give me a certain amount of choice, free to mix and match, this in the past is more difficult to achieve, whether from the operation or from the system. Today, because Zenkungfu has created the concept of "standardization + personalization", we have begun to try to analyze the consumption time of the user, and create different products through different time periods. From the self-service ordering system, electronic menus and other colors and functions of the design, as well as the ordering process are more personalized, so that users can more intuitively understand and feel the product, these are the embodiment of the Zhenkongfu to create personalized service.
Zhou Qinglin: Pursuing the ultimate user experience is one of the spirits of the Internet, how does Zhenkongfu conduct user relationship management and realize precise marketing?
Wang Mengjie: In terms of the membership system, Zenkungfu has its own membership card system, including online virtual cards and offline physical cards, and has now developed tens of millions of members, through which we can track members' consumption habits. From the direction of big data, our data are now integrated together, the next step can be more accurate big data analysis and targeted marketing. At present, we have determined the direction of big data analysis and established a mechanism, and we will continue to improve Zhenkongfu's membership system, so that member collection, member analysis and digital marketing can be done quickly with the system.
Zhou Qinglin: In addition to the precision marketing just mentioned, what are ZhenGongfu's next development plans?
Wang Mengjie: Internet security is also the next development plan of Zenkungfu. After the realization of precision marketing, how to ensure the user's information security, how to ensure that online information is not maliciously attacked, how to ensure that the user's coupons are not wantonly trafficked, etc., all of these need to be considered from the aspect of Internet security. In addition, Zhenkongfu will carry out the informationization of stores next year, including cooperation with third parties to improve members' points consumption, better member services and so on, all of which need to be supported by information systems.
Zhou Qinglin: Internet restaurants are not rare in China, but there are few companies that can really make Internet catering bigger, does this mean that it is difficult to make Internet catering bigger? In your personal opinion, how should traditional restaurants better integrate the Internet and do a good job in Internet dining?
Wang Mengjie: The essence of catering ultimately comes down to users and food. How the user to recognize your brand, how to experience the product, these are through years of offline store operation accumulation paved the way. Most of the users are through the offline store experience, comparison before going to buy online, if there is no store, tight through the online way to build a brand, the chances of success may be smaller. For the catering industry, to create a brand is not just a gimmick, more to ensure product quality, if only want to create a platform for the Internet, there is no internal cultivation, that platform no matter what to do is difficult to succeed. I do not think that the Internet sales itself is the problem, but the whole of a way, the Internet just opened a channel online, but the most fundamental, whether online or offline, and finally have to focus on the production of the product, taste, delivery and so on the level, these are the most fundamental, if these things can not ensure quality, just add a channel, it is still a dead end.
Zhou Qinglin: What is the difference between the foreign Internet dining model and the domestic?
Wang Mengjie: The development of domestic Internet catering is more rapid than abroad, China's big cities are densely populated, the distribution cost is low, this is one aspect of the reason. In foreign countries, few people will use the phone to order food, office workers, families are directly to the restaurant more, online ordering less. High labor costs abroad, living in a more dispersed, food delivery fees are very expensive, so this development is not much in foreign countries.
Zhou Qinglin: to create an Internet restaurant, facing the complexity of the system is a lot, including the consistency of the data between the various systems and the real-time interaction of data, this kind of pressure is great. As a CIO, we will extend some of the traditional industry to the Internet platform, this process should have a lot of experience to share.
Wang Mengjie: just talked about are on the tactical level, from a strategic point of view, I think the domestic enterprises are still not enough investment in information technology, many enterprises are in the form of a project to do, rather than in the form of assets. Most enterprises are looking for a third party to complete an information technology project, in addition to the software generated by the project is delivered to the enterprise, others, including technology, product investment, knowledge, personnel assets and so on, have not formed a good precipitation. Most domestic enterprises do not pay much attention to this part of the asset, do not feel that information technology and its ability to be an asset. The information center of many domestic enterprises basically only a few people, no one thinks that the information asset itself has value, our ability to temporarily go outside to buy, not to form a precipitation, which is actually unreasonable capital investment. In foreign countries, no matter what enterprises, it has a relatively strong information center, whether from the personnel, equipment or system, have a set of their own perfect things, which is not seen in the domestic enterprises. Without these capital deposits, the entire IT management is no way to form a process. Therefore, I think as a CIO, you have to go to build this kind of assets, you have to have matching measures, experience and ability. From the point of view of the specific practical ability of people, foreign IT developers are not higher than our ability, our IT staff lacks the most is precisely the precipitation of this capital.
In addition, just now also said the overall system. Build a system, as a CIO need to consider, whether to build their own or go to buy, or need to go to customization, these are a choice, and what is your core strength, which need to develop their own, which need to go to customization, which you want to carry out the commoditization, how to control and decision-making of these things, which is actually a strategic role, I think this is the CIO need to consider things.
Zhou Qinglin: you said the situation with many of our domestic enterprises CIO background, how to screen the project should be done, many enterprises CIO does not have this kind of knowledge background, which needs to improve the CIO's knowledge in various aspects. You just mentioned the assets precipitation, I think this asset is the business management process precipitated in the management, marketing, personnel and other aspects of knowledge, these precipitation in the system above to bring value, the source code itself is of little value, it reflects the management thinking can create new value. Using these basic principles, the CIO to expand their knowledge, a clear understanding of the software field, what tools can be used, and then stored into their own truly valuable assets, which is the CIO should have the ability.
Wang Mengjie, group vice president of CIO at Guangzhou Zhenkongfu Fast Food Chain Co., Ltd. returned to his home country in 2015 and joined Zhenkongfu, devoting himself to the management of information technology full time. He has more than 20 years of professional development, testing and management experience in IT in the U.S. He has worked for two Fortune 500 U.S. companies for nearly 10 years each.