A Streamlined, Cost-Effective Mobile Device Management Strategy
How does Esper’s approach to device management help restaurant operators streamline operations and reduce IT complexities?
Esper goes beyond traditional mobile device management, offering total control over the device experience—from software deployment to even the OS layer. Restaurant operators can seamlessly manage their mixed fleets of devices under a single pane of glass, reducing complexity. With our custom operating system, Esper Foundation for Android, operators extend the life of their existing hardware yet move to a modern Android solution, helping control and reduce the costs of refresh cycles, maximizing their ROI. Our unique approach also fosters greater agility, allowing restaurant operators to run proof-of-concepts (PoC) quickly and easily scale successful initiatives. Whether deploying self-service kiosks, digital menus, POS systems, kitchen displays (KDS), or line-busting tablets, Esper ensures a streamlined, cost-effective, and future-proof strategy.
With labor shortages and rising costs, how can restaurant brands leverage automation and purpose-built devices to enhance efficiency and improve the guest experience?
Restaurants can leverage automation and purpose-built devices to improve their customers’ experiences amid labor shortages and rising costs. Modern POS and KDS interfaces can help improve employee productivity, while self-ordering kiosks streamline ordering, minimize wait times, and free up employees to focus on other high-value areas. To enhance efficiency, operators can leverage multi-use devices with dynamic reconfiguration so their hardware can be leveraged for different uses, reducing the need to purchase additional equipment. I am most excited about the future of robotics and edge AI, especially agentic. These emerging technologies have the potential further to optimize operations from automated food prep and real-time order tracking to enhancing their customer experience with personalized experiences.
Security is a major concern for restaurants adopting more digital tools. How does Esper ensure secure and seamless deployment of restaurant technology at scale?
Esper ensures secure and seamless deployment of restaurant technology at scale. We have the ability to lock down access to a device, including USB ports, wireless settings, and Kiosk Mode, which controls access to apps to prevent changes in settings. Our platform ensures devices remain up-to-date with the latest security patches and software updates, minimizing vulnerabilities. With desired state management we enable restaurants to manage by exception—automating compliance and ensuring every device functions as intended without manual oversight. In the event of an issue, advanced troubleshooting tools help IT teams quickly diagnose whether it’s a security threat or an operational problem, allowing for faster resolution. By combining robust security measures with intelligent device management, Esper empowers restaurants to confidently scale while protecting sensitive data, reducing IT complexity, and maintaining a seamless experience.
Looking ahead, what emerging trends in restaurant technology do you see shaping the industry, and how is Esper positioning itself to help operators stay ahead?
Everyone is figuring out how to innovate with AI, and most restaurants will find that their AI deployments will happen at the edge, whether that’s for robotics or AI-powered drive-thru ordering experiences. One of our customers, Yum! Brands, announced their AI-powered drive-thru agents, which will run on Esper device infrastructure. Related, enterprise restaurants are finding the right balance between cloud-based and on-premises systems to optimize for cost efficiency, resilience, and speed. We recently announced our Edgebox offering that supports local device management workloads. Finally, to gain more visibility and control over all operations, restaurants will develop digital twins for real-time monitoring and analysis, proactive issue remediation, and to keep stores fully operational. By providing more control over the device experience, we help customers understand the state of their devices, and will continue to innovate this year in terms of getting the logs they want, creating custom reports, and integrating device data with their other systems.
Learn more at https://www.esper.io/