As digital technology becomes more prevalent and customer expectations rise, digital menu boards have emerged as crucial tools for chain restaurants looking to boost branding and operational efficiency. Nonetheless, several businesses continue to encounter difficulties during the deployment process, such as asynchronous content updates, frequent equipment failures, and insufficient remote maintenance. This limits headquarters' ability to update menu information nationwide, while fan failures and extensive maintenance of standard display systems raise expenses.
Smart solutions for smoother operations
A notable Taiwanese restaurant chain has implemented ASUS IoT's advanced Internet of Retail Things (IoRT) solutions to tackle these operational issues. ASUS IoT Cloud Console (AICC), along with its PE1000S industrial computer, facilitates a dependable, efficient, and intelligent operational transformation throughout the chain's multiple locations in Taiwan.
Given that digital technology has become the foundation for modern chain restaurants, Clark Chang, Sales Manager at ASUS, underscored the importance of maintaining high operational stability, maintenance efficiency, and management effectiveness. ASUS IoT's solutions, which focused on the PE1000S industrial computer, demonstrated exceptional performance in terms of system stability, maintenance simplicity, and hardware-software integration, earning the endorsement of the restaurant chain client and becoming standard equipment in the customer's stores.
Compact, fanless design built for reliability
The ASUS IoT PE1000S industrial computer, tailored for the food and beverage sector, features a compact, fanless design. It is tiny and may be mounted directly behind a digital display, maximizing space while maintaining the store's aesthetic consistency. The fanless heat-dissipation design is an essential feature, effectively averting disruptions caused by dust accumulation or fan failure in traditional equipment. It ensures reliable operation even under harsh conditions, such as high temperatures and oil vapor.
Additionally, ASUS offers a three-year warranty, one year longer than comparable products-helping reduce maintenance costs and extend equipment lifespan. The solution is built on a Windows-based architecture, enabling system integrators to accelerate implementation and shorten deployment time, thereby advancing store digitalization. This architecture also ensures broad compatibility and seamless connectivity.
Intelligent maintenance through centralized control
By integrating its in-house developed AICC management platform and leveraging a robust hardware foundation, ASUS IoT is able to improve e-menu systems, thereby incorporating intelligent maintenance features. The integration of the PE1000S and AICC enables chain restaurant operators to guarantee the sustained operation of front-end equipment while simultaneously monitoring the state of each location in real time.
Chang said that AICC consistently monitors equipment performance and automatically issues notifications if any irregularities occur. IT specialists can remotely access systems to diagnose, reboot, or modify parameters, thereby substantially reducing the need for on-site maintenance and alleviating the workload on personnel. A consolidated cloud backend enables headquarters to centrally oversee equipment throughout Taiwan, decreasing the average maintenance response time from 24 hours to under two hours. The comprehensive solution emphasizes stability, a lightweight construction, and intelligent maintenance, allowing e-menu systems to function dependably for prolonged durations in high-temperature, high-frequency settings.
Proven results and a path toward AI-driven retail
The restaurant chain client has maintained consistent operations across thousands of stores in Taiwan for more than two years since the system's implementation. The incidence of equipment failure has diminished by more than 80% relative to the pre-implementation phase. IT staff can resolve over 90% of software anomalies or system restart requests in real time, decreasing the average repair time from eight hours to 30 minutes, thanks to the centralized monitoring and remote maintenance capabilities of the AICC platform.
This greatly improves operating stability and maintenance efficacy. The headquarters may centrally oversee menu material throughout Taiwan, guaranteeing uniform brand messaging, while empowering store managers to modify individual store menus in real time through a mobile application, thereby adeptly accommodating local promotions or festive occasions. Customer feedback indicates that following enhancements in system stability, promotional activities resulted in an average sales increase of approximately 15%, evidencing a definitive return on investment.
The digital dining technology and its applications have attained a substantial level of maturity, resulting in a saturated market of competing products, according to Chang. The customer ultimately selected the ASUS group, and ASUS IoT in particular, thanks to the quality of its products, with information security and local trust serving as critical factors in their decision-making process.
ASUS, a Taiwanese company, ensures the security and transparency of its entire supply chain by providing dependable hardware, as well as extensive software development and technical support. Moreover, the ASUS IoT technical team is capable of promptly addressing customer needs by providing localized maintenance and support services, thereby bolstering the confidence of businesses in their digital transformation initiatives.
From devices to AI-driven insights
ASUS IoT is advancing retail applications from "device implementation" to a new phase of "AI-driven decision-making," according to Chang. ASUS IoT intends to provide kitchen display systems (KDS), self-checkout (SCO) systems, and AI-driven customer behavior analysis modules to aid businesses in enhancing operations and acquiring insights into consumer behavior. The restaurant chain client has utilized the data analysis capabilities of the ASUS AICC platform to amalgamate interactive data from e-menus with POS sales data. This has been executed to inform operational strategy and product development.
ASUS IoT will also collaborate with system integrators and startup partners to establish a 'co-growth ecosystem' that enables the implementation of smart retail solutions through a standardized interface and open architecture. This ecosystem will evolve from ensuring hardware stability to enabling intelligent operations, serving as a catalyst for the digital transformation of Taiwan's food and beverage retail industry.
Credit: ASUS