While technology has opened the door to new revenue streams and other capabilities for restaurants, it has also created vulnerabilities that can play out in public. In March, McDonald’s experienced a system failure that left customers in pockets of the world including Australia, Japan and the U.K. unable to order food. Panera went through something similar, with its digital ordering channels down over multiple days in March. These risks require restaurants to have comprehensive, tested crisis management plans outlining the steps that all levels of the organization must take before an emergency (to best prepare for one) and in the aftermath of one (to get the business back on its feet with minimal disruption). This can help ensure that the business is ready with an alternative action plan, knows what information to share with various stakeholders at key points, and has support in place who can guide the business back on track as quickly as possible. Looking at your business, have you considered how you would respond to various tech-related crises, whether that may be a widespread outage or a cyber attack? What support might you line up to help you? The technology you have adopted may be new enough that you haven’t had to manage its failure yet, but having a carefully considered plan in place before you actually need it can help you navigate more smoothly through an emergency if and when one happens.
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As businesses of all stripes have adopted new technology to support operations in the past few years, they have had to tighten their cyber risk management practices. Even insurers who sell cyber insurance are managing their own risk by holding their policyholders to higher standards when it comes to their cyber risk management. Restaurants are no exception – and while the hospitality sector tends to rank lower on the list of attractive cyber targets as compared to other sectors, a cyber attack can still interrupt business, harm a restaurant’s reputation and cause financial damage. As restaurants have adopted new technology for everything from guest payment to inventory management, their shift to digitization has only elevated their cyber risks. Threat actors seek out vulnerability – often in the form of human error. Restaurants, with an ever-shifting employee base, can provide many windows of opportunity for cyber breaches. As your operation adopts new technology, partner with your IT and HR leaders to ensure you limit the number of people with access to sensitive information, that you can readily identify who has access and when, and that those employees receive ongoing training on minimizing risks. Having a non-punitive culture can also help ensure your team feels comfortable bringing a breach or suspicious-looking activity to the attention of a supervisor and, in effect, limits damage to the business. |
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April 2024
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