News Briefs

Legrand's Vantage Lighting Controls today announced Vantage Voice. Vantage Voice adds voice control capability to the Vantage InFusionTM System controller through Amazon Alexa and is now available in the Design Center 4.8 software update.

"Many homes are already equipped with Alexa devices and enjoy the option of voice control," said Richard Laliberty, Product Marketing Manager, Shading and Residential Controls, Legrand North America. "As we continue our mission to provide lighting designers and integrators with freedom of design, adding voice control is a natural extension of Vantage's capabilities. Voice diversifies Vantage's control possibilities and expands interoperability, joining the already wide possibilities for lighting control through Vantage keypads and touchscreens, as well as apps and third-party control systems and keypads."

With Vantage Voice, customers can enjoy the convenience of using just their voice to control the Vantage InFusion system — a powerful home automation controller and the main brain of a Vantage system — through Amazon Alexa. Vantage Voice can easily control up to 60 Vantage tasks, and features widespread compatibility, working with IC-II, IC-DIN-II, or IC-DIN-II-LITE InFusion Controllers, and with Amazon Echo devices and Alexa iOS or Android apps.

Available in Design Center 4.8 and up, Vantage Voice provides voice execution of a scene. It simulates a button press to trigger and execute a task. Within the Alexa app, integrators can simplify Alexa scene commands by creating a Routine and group together multiple actions, ensuring that each one doesn't need to be requested individually. Other features include the ability to add/remove scenes to a room or device group and customize command prompts.

Domino's Pizza Inc. introduces its new and improved loyalty program. 

Domino's Rewards offers loyalty members even more opportunities to earn and redeem points across its corporate and franchise store locations. Domino's enhanced rewards program allows customers to:

• Earn points for less
  • Loyalty members will now earn 10 points on every order of $5 or more
• Redeem points for even more menu items – and earn free Domino's after just two orders
  • Members can redeem a variety of points for more menu items:
    • 20 points: A free dipping cup, a 16-piece order of Parmesan Bread Bites or a 20 oz. drink
    • 40 points: An order of Bread Twists or Stuffed Cheesy Bread
    • 60 points: A medium, two-topping pizza; pasta; Oven-Baked Sandwich; or a 3-piece order of Chocolate Lava Crunch Cakes
• Earn more rewards
  • Loyalty perks are now even better, as members will have exclusive access to member-only deals, special discounts and opportunities to earn bonus points!

"We are thrilled to give the brand's loyal customers additional ways to earn free Domino's items more often," said Mark Messing, Domino's vice president of digital experience and loyalty. "At a time when most brands are scaling back their loyalty programs and making it more difficult to earn and redeem points, Domino's is doing the opposite. We want to make it easier to reward our customers and give them more options so they can get rewarded faster."

Marketing a LTO 

From now until Oct. 22, 2023, rewards members can take advantage of a limited time offer to redeem 20 points for a free order of Domino's new Pepperoni Stuffed Cheesy Bread, which is normally a 40-point redemption, in celebration of the product's recent launch. 

To help restaurants and hospitality businesses increase productivity and make more informed decisions, Oracle NetSuite announced a new NetSuite Connector for Oracle MICROS Simphony. The integration provides tailored functionality for the restaurant and hospitality industry that will help customers reduce costs, centralize data and increase efficiency.

The NetSuite Connector for MICROS Simphony enables customers to connect Oracle’s industry-leading restaurant point-of-sale (POS) solution with NetSuite’s integrated cloud business suite. The integration enables a daily import of core financial and inventory data from Simphony into NetSuite, helping customers to consolidate financial reporting, streamline cash reconciliation, and eliminate the time spent on manual data integrations. 

•  83% say using data to understand guest preferences and behavior is impacting POS upgrade decisions in 2024, according to HT’s 2024 POS Software Trends Survey

“Restaurant and hospitality businesses need to be agile, but disconnected systems can make it difficult to understand performance and customer demands,” said Evan Goldberg, founder and executive vice president, Oracle NetSuite. “NetSuite Connector for MICROS Simphony helps create a single source of truth with visibility into how sales are driving financial performance. By combining the power of Oracle and NetSuite, we are committed to helping our customers take advantage of end-to-end solutions to support growth.”

NetSuite Connector for MICROS Simphony helps customers by connecting POS and finance data to:

• Enhance financial reporting: Close the books faster and improve financial visibility by simplifying the management of multi-concept or multi-location restaurants. With NetSuite Connector for MICROS Simphony, each restaurant location can send separate data to NetSuite, with tender data segmented by tender name and carry over amounts included.
• Streamline data reconciliation: Reduce time spent on manual data transfer and reconciliation with automatic updates from Simphony to NetSuite. With NetSuite Connector for MICROS Simphony, data imports are segmented by dayparts and include detailed transactional data such as totals, items sold, service charges, and discounts.
• Improve inventory management: Eliminate manual data entry and reduce errors by automating the data flow between POS and inventory systems. With NetSuite Connector for MICROS Simphony, businesses can accurately track what items have been sold and make more informed decisions about inventory management and demand planning. 

“Restaurant and hospitality businesses are in a state of constant reinvention, and their technology stack should be making their lives easier, not harder,” said Simon de Montfort Walker, senior vice president and general manager, Oracle Food and Beverage. “With NetSuite Connector for MICROS Simphony, our customers now have an integrated system that is tailored to their industry, removing the need for third-party platforms or expensive customizations. By seamlessly connecting financial and sales data, businesses can now access performance information to help them make faster, more informed decisions and better serve their guests.”

The NetSuite Connector for MICROS Simphony will be available in North America in 2024.

To help restaurants and hospitality businesses increase productivity and make more informed decisions, Oracle NetSuite announced a new NetSuite Connector for Oracle MICROS Simphony. The integration provides tailored functionality for the restaurant and hospitality industry that will help customers reduce costs, centralize data, and increase efficiency.

The NetSuite Connector for MICROS Simphony enables customers to connect Oracle’s industry-leading restaurant point-of-sale (POS) solution with NetSuite’s integrated cloud business suite. The integration enables a daily import of core financial and inventory data from Simphony into NetSuite, helping customers to consolidate financial reporting, streamline cash reconciliation, and eliminate the time spent on manual data integrations. 

“Restaurant and hospitality businesses need to be agile, but disconnected systems can make it difficult to understand performance and customer demands,” said Evan Goldberg, founder and executive vice president, Oracle NetSuite. “NetSuite Connector for MICROS Simphony helps create a single source of truth with visibility into how sales are driving financial performance. By combining the power of Oracle and NetSuite, we are committed to helping our customers take advantage of end-to-end solutions to support growth.”

NetSuite Connector for MICROS Simphony helps customers by connecting POS and finance data to:

• Enhance financial reporting: Close the books faster and improve financial visibility by simplifying the management of multi-concept or multi-location restaurants. With NetSuite Connector for MICROS Simphony, each restaurant location can send separate data to NetSuite, with tender data segmented by tender name and carry over amounts included.
• Streamline data reconciliation: Reduce time spent on manual data transfer and reconciliation with automatic updates from Simphony to NetSuite. With NetSuite Connector for MICROS Simphony, data imports are segmented by dayparts and include detailed transactional data such as totals, items sold, service charges, and discounts.
• Improve inventory management: Eliminate manual data entry and reduce errors by automating the data flow between POS and inventory systems. With NetSuite Connector for MICROS Simphony, businesses can accurately track what items have been sold and make more informed decisions about inventory management and demand planning. 

“Restaurant and hospitality businesses are in a state of constant reinvention, and their technology stack should be making their lives easier, not harder,” said Simon de Montfort Walker, senior vice president and general manager, Oracle Food and Beverage. “With NetSuite Connector for MICROS Simphony, our customers now have an integrated system that is tailored to their industry, removing the need for third-party platforms or expensive customizations. By seamlessly connecting financial and sales data, businesses can now access performance information to help them make faster, more informed decisions and better serve their guests.”

Knowland, a provider of data-as-a-service insights on meetings and events for hospitality, and Thynk, provider of the next-generation hospitality commercial platform powered by Salesforce, announced today a strategic partnership to connect the hospitality technology ecosystem better.

The partnership will integrate data from Thynk's hospitality CRM solution with Knowland’s world-class meetings and events database for Knowland and Thynk customers. The collaboration of these two solutions will enable sellers to work smarter and faster while making significant market share gains. By better understanding what meeting and event opportunities to target, hoteliers can optimize the sales process, shorten the sales cycle, and close more deals.

The Knowland and Thynk collaboration will deliver sales efficiency and performance benefits to the hospitality industry in these areas:

• Optimizing data and enhancing quality—When hotels enable the delivery of sales and event data from Thynk directly into the robust Knowland database, the event information is instantly available to supplement market data and enhance account profiles. This, in turn, informs sales teams and improves decision-making outcomes.
• Improving efficiency and sales productivity—By leveraging the combined power of the Thynk/Knowland integration, sales teams will gain seamless access to meeting and event data, ensuring productivity and data consistency for all parties.

Knowland and Thynk will host a joint webinar, “How Collaborative Data Drives New Revenue,” on April 11th  at 11 a.m. ET to showcase the benefits of account-based selling for hotel meetings and events. Register here.

Jeff Bzdawka, CEO, Knowland, said: “Expanding Knowland’s data-driven analytics platform with rich data like Thynk provides is a key pillar for enriching our dataset. As we continue to strengthen our ability to empower hospitality decision-making by delivering actionable account intelligence to fuel growth and profitability, we look forward to improving our clients' efficiency and sales outcomes. The first phase of our partnership will initially integrate data between the Thynk CRM system and Knowland’s world-class meetings and events database.”

Pascal Petit, co-founder and CEO at Thynk, said: “We are very excited to be working with the Knowland team. This partnership represents another important step in our growth journey, including expansion into the U.S. market. Every partnership is unique, and we look forward to combining the power of our next-gen all-in-one hospitality platform with the data leadership from Knowland’s insights to streamline and elevate key sales processes.”

ASSA ABLOY Global Solutions has announced that it is acquiring Nomadix, Inc. and GlobalReach in the USA and UK. With both organizations joining ASSA ABLOY Global Solutions, the combination of technology, resources and expertise is set to provide a single trusted source for the latest in security access, user authentication, Wi-Fi software/hardware and analytics. This also includes satellite authentication and digital engagement for businesses serving the hospitality, multi-dwelling (MDU) and transportation industries.

“ASSA ABLOY Global Solutions is pleased to welcome Nomadix and GlobalReach as the latest additions to our expanding global team. This latest development will expand our core business capabilities and expertise, as well as continue to provide our customers with enhanced value when delivering on demands for custom-tailored solutions,” says Stephanie Ordan, Executive Vice President and Head of ASSA ABLOY Global Solutions.

“Adding the capabilities of Nomadix and GlobalReach to our existing solutions portfolio represents our continued effort to serve as a comprehensive provider of advanced technologies. We look forward to leveraging their expertise to serve customers seeking out solutions capable of delivering enhanced security, efficiency and high-quality experiences,” says Li Wang, Senior Vice President and Head of Hospitality at ASSA ABLOY Global Solutions.

Nomadix and GlobalReach operate as two separate entities under a central top management and ownership, and will be part of Global Solutions’ Hospitality business area.

“We are thrilled to become part of such a prestigious company as ASSA ABLOY Global Solutions. Our strategic objectives of providing secure, personalized authentication and access to venues, properties, and transportation align well with those of ASSA ABLOY Global Solutions. We look forward to working together to help large global brands and venues connect visitors to their world,” says Ted Helvey, CEO & Chairman of Nomadix and GlobalReach.