McDonald’s Finds Recipe For Success With Telecom

MEDIA RELEASE

McDonald’s Finds Recipe For Success With Telecom

McDonald’s Restaurants (NZ) Ltd has agreed a deal with Telecom New Zealand that will improve operational efficiency and aid in streamlining the company’s existing IT systems.

The contract, valued at more than $2 million over three years, was won in a four-way tender and includes the roll-out of a national Wide Area Network (WAN) and associated network security system to eventually link all 148 McDonald’s restaurants across New Zealand.

The impact of the new WAN is considerable as it will deliver the ability to link company owned restaurants and, for the first time, franchised outlets - which make up almost two thirds of McDonald’s business in New Zealand.

Delivered on Telecom’s IP based Next Generation Network (NGN), McDonald’s head office will be able to link directly with each of its restaurants to centralise data collection, manage and filter data content and deliver price initiatives and promotions.

The solution also enables McDonald’s to ensure the consistency of its brand using Telecom’s Safecom security infrastructure and tools. Protected by rigorous firewall and intrusion detection systems and monitored by Telecom 24 hours a day, Safecom provides secure internet browsing, file transfer, remote access, virtual private network and secure mail relay including spam and virus protection. Because McDonald’s can control access and authorisation, Safecom can help minimise the opportunities for the McDonald’s brand to be compromised.

Last year Safecom identified and obliterated almost 72,000 new and existing viruses.

McDonald’s Restaurants (NZ) Ltd Project Manager Murray Hall, says: “The new national WAN we’re introducing will act as an enabler for other technology to streamline and co-ordinate our operations. The scope of the agreement allows us to build upon the WAN to introduce further solutions including centralising our restaurant back office, introducing Voice over IP and EFTPOS over IP.

“Initial roll-out will begin in mid August to all company owned restaurants. When coupled with our new Point of Sale system called ’New POS’ we’ll be able to automatically upload promotions, special offers or new product launches, whereas previously we have had to rely on the use of email and restaurant manager intervention to update this information at each individual restaurant.

“As well as long-term time and cost savings, the Telecom deal also gives us security, speed and scalability to connect our company and franchisees’ restaurants in line with on-going business growth. As a further advantage, the fully managed network means Telecom will resolve any network problems directly with our restaurants while we still retain managerial control.”

Telecom Corporate Sales Manager Alistair Macintosh, says: “We have worked closely with McDonald’s to deliver an infrastructure that is secure, robust and flexible and meets their needs in terms of connectivity and expenditure. This is an important and exciting piece of business for Telecom that’s been enabled because of our continued investment in our network.

“Once completed in October, McDonald’s WAN will be one the company can build upon and trust to take its business to a new level.” Macintosh concludes.

McDonald’s currently operates 148 restaurants within New Zealand of which 53 are company owned and the remainder franchised outlets.

ENDS

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