When Considering Software Interfaces, Remember to Look Under the Hood

Thursday, June 3rd, 2010

A lot of software programs use interfaces to enhance their offering. Interfaces allow users to work with a software solution that offers a variety of additional tools to meet their business needs. The trick is making sure the interfaces you are promised make your job easier.

When it comes to hospitality management software, there are products on the market that claim to offer intuitive or easy to use interfaces, but essentially they are just providing a link that directs the user to another application all together. A true interface allows both programs to automatically communicate with each other, easily sharing necessary data and ultimately enhancing the user experience.

At ReServe, we don’t just interface with anyone. We look for software partners that support their products and are committed to servicing their customers according to similarly high standards. Our goal is to select partners willing to share information and work side-by-side with us so that the interface is fully integrated and seamless.

Our customer base is broad, spanning several market segments with diverse technology requirements, so our software and any interfaces we offer, need to accommodate that range of needs, from the most basic to the most sophisticated platforms. As such, each interface we select fits naturally with our process driven design and simply becomes an extension of our software, running automatically and anticipating our users’ needs. Our interfaces are smart and work for the user, providing accurate and necessary information, presented on screen where you need it and only when you need it, without complicating routine tasks with extra steps or superfluous data.

Once we commit to an interface, we support it and keep it working throughout upgrades to our software’s architecture. That way, the interface is always functional and critical customer data is never lost. We stand behind our interfaces and make sure we understand the architecture of each third-party product, so that we can easily navigate it and troubleshoot user questions. We don’t bounce our users around between software companies and support departments. Instead, we work with the user as a single point of contact, trusting in our interface solutions and the companies that provide them.

We work with several industry partners to develop integrated interfaces, including Element Payment Systems for credit card processing and storage, MeetingMatrix for room diagramming, as well as various POS system software providers, paging system vendors, and food costing system manufacturers.

One example of a very efficient interface from the user’s perspective is our interface with MeetingMatrix. Through our partnership , we’ve developed an interface that seamlessly launches the MeetingMatrix software with the simple click of one button on the ReServe screen, transfers event information between ReServe and MeetingMatrix, and instantly creates custom room diagrams using the unique specifications for the event that have already been configured in ReServe.  With this solution, there is no double entry of information required. All relevant information is automatically shared between ReServe and MeetingMatrix, enabling the user to be very efficient in each program.

The elegance of a software solution should be in its simplicity for the user. Software should be assistive, not prohibitive, taking care of the details, providing the right data only when and where it is needed, and freeing the user to focus on their job. That is what “easy to use” and “intuitive” means. However, “easy to use” does not mean easy to create.  It’s not enough for a company to say its product interfaces with another product. As a user, you’ve got to demand a demonstration of how an interface actually works, because software cannot be a productivity tool that adds real value unless it is elegantly simple in its functionality.  

So, before you decide on a software solution that offers interfaces, make sure you are getting what you’ve been promised and what you’ve paid for. Demand true communication between the products, ease of use, and business enhancing functionality. After all, you have more important things to do than struggle with software solutions that are more trouble than they’re worth.

What’s your unique selling proposition? What makes you different?

Wednesday, May 26th, 2010

There are a lot of event management and dining reservation products on the market today, all claiming to do pretty much the same thing. You’ll see words like ‘efficiency’, ‘productivity’, and ‘money saving’ thrown around like birdseed in Central Park. But how many of those companies can back up those words with real action?

At ReServe, we know that there is no other product on the market that does exactly what our product does. Our technology platform is proprietary and entirely unique with intuitive features like our Event Lifecycle Technology and Smart Reservation Technology. We offer both dynamic catering & event management and dining reservation & table management software modules that were designed to easily integrate with one another to provide a comprehensive tool for users to manage all functions with one product. Not to mention more than 20 add-ons or interfaces that range from room diagramming to no-fee online dining reservation capability.

Most of all, our people help us stand out above the crowd of software providers. We still believe in a good old fashioned handshake, a voice on the other end of the line and customer service that goes above and beyond at a time when it seems to have fallen by the wayside.

We know who we are, what we do and why we do it best. Do you know your unique selling proposition? What makes you rise above the rest?

The Power of the Aha! Moment

Friday, May 21st, 2010

Have you ever been in a situation where things are moving along, the information or experience is just what you expected and then, out of the blue, you hear or see something that makes you stop in your tracks? Have you ever had an Aha! moment? A moment of clarity that changed your perspective, your attitude or the way you do something moving forward?

At ReServe, we want all of our customers to experience that Aha! moment when they are using our software. We want them to be continually blown away with every single click of a button.

We do hundreds of live demos every year with prospective customers and there is always a moment during the demo when we hear someone say “Really? I can do that?” or “Wow! That was so easy.” Today, we know that more than two-thirds of prospective customers who participate in a live demo will purchase our software within 60 days and stick with it for the long haul. Why? Because they’ve seen that our software provides Aha! moments on a regular basis and it has changed the way they do business.

When the CEO of a restaurant company can log in from his hotel room at 1:30 in the morning and see a revenue summary across all 80 of his restaurant sites, as well as comprehensive booking information for the upcoming holiday weekend and details on the restaurant’s latest marketing initiative, the power of the Aha! moment abounds.

Have you experienced your Aha! moment?