IDC MarketScape

IDC MarketScape: Worldwide Point-of-Sale Software in

Quick-Service Restaurants 2018 Vendor Assessment
Robert Eastman

THIS IDC MARKETSCAPE EXCERPT FEATURES ORACLE

IDC MARKETSCAPE FIGURE

FIGURE 1

IDC MarketScape: Worldwide Point-of-Sale Software in Quick-Service Restaurants

Vendor Assessment

Source: IDC, 2018

Please see the Appendix for detailed methodology, market definition, and scoring criteria.

December 2018, IDC #US42408917e

IN THIS EXCERPT

The content for this excerpt was taken directly from IDC MarketScape: Worldwide Point-of-Sale
Software in Quick-Service Restaurants 2018 Vendor Assessment (Doc # US42408917). All or parts of
the following sections are included in this excerpt: IDC Opinion, IDC MarketScape Vendor Inclusion
Criteria, Essential Guidance, Vendor Summary Profile, Appendix and Learn More. Also included is
Figure 1.

IDC OPINION

This study is the fifth in a series of research addressing the omni-channel dimensions of point-of-sale
(POS) software for retail and follows these previously published IDC MarketScape for POS software
studies:

▪ IDC MarketScape: Worldwide Point-of-Sale Software in Large Enterprise Retail Apparel and
Softlines 2017 Vendor Assessment (IDC #US42709817, December 2017)
▪ IDC MarketScape: Worldwide Point-of-Sale Software in Retail Department Stores 2018
Vendor Assessment (IDC #US43639918, March 2018)
▪ IDC MarketScape: Worldwide Point-of-Sale Software in Small and Midsize Retail Apparel and
Softlines 2018 Vendor Assessment (IDC #US44022018, June 2018)
▪ IDC MarketScape: Worldwide Point-of-Sale Software in Fast-Moving Consumer Goods Retail
2018 Vendor Assessment (IDC #US42709717, October 2018)
Even considering the degree of fragmentation across the POS software landscapes addressed in the
previous four IDC MarketScape studies, the quick-service restaurant (QSR) segment may be both the
most fragmented and the most disrupted compared with the apparel and softlines, department stores,
and FMCG segments. The amount of innovation that is being seen in the POS software products
directed to the QSR segment speaks to the continuing critical role that the POS plays in the customer
experience.

This IDC MarketScape evaluates the POS software vendors with a specific focus on their commitment
to delivering advanced and omni-channel POS services and capabilities; this IDC MarketScape should
be read through this omni-channel lens, rather than as a feature/function comparison of the presented
POS software vendors.

Highlights from our research:

▪ There is considerable POS innovation being introduced into the QSR segment, from a wave of
new and emerging digital-native vendors that are competing with longer established POS
software vendors. At the risk of presenting different types of vendors in one document, the
focus of this research is not so much on the different approaches and business models of the
POS vendors, but on the omni-channel and advanced POS capabilities, they are delivering to
the QSR market.
▪ This research, as in each study in this IDC MarketScape of POS software series, focuses on
the omni-channel dimensions of POS software offerings, assessing vendors in these areas:
technical capabilities, integration, customer record, customer engagement, product data,
transaction management/payment, and order/fulfill anywhere.
▪ Several omni-channel and technical criteria were particularly key differentiators: online
ordering; mobile order ahead; integration to third-party delivery aggregators; customer profiles;

©2018 IDC #US42408917e 2

 tracking customer activity; real-time visibility to promotions, coupons, and rewards; text-based
order and messaging; and voice-enabled ordering, labor scheduling, and analytics and
reporting.

IDC MARKETSCAPE VENDOR INCLUSION CRITERIA

To be included in this study, IDC Retail Insights stipulated that a vendor should meet the following
criteria:

▪ Has an established reputation offering POS software solutions in the quick-service restaurant
segment of the hospitality industry
▪ Offers an enterprise-ready POS software solution offering advanced omni-channel point of
sale functions and capabilities
▪ Is able to demonstrate significant POS software results in the QSR retail sector
The population of POS software vendors serving the QSR market is large and growing, and the subset
of the POS software vendors serving the QSR market fitting our inclusion criteria is a significant
number of vendors.

ADVICE FOR TECHNOLOGY BUYERS

From the IDC MarketScape research process, including our vendor briefings, submitted RFI
responses, customer reference calls, and our ongoing research, IDC Retail Insights offers these
insights and recommendations for retailers:

▪ Restaurants wondering where to start when reviewing the landscape of POS software
providers for the QSR sector can accelerate their review by looking at what advanced POS
capabilities they need to offer customers and which POS software vendors are the most
committed to strong, continuing innovation.
▪ If a restaurant's staff would make good use of a customizable POS user interfaces, retailers
need to prioritize this requirement, together with the increasing importance of a POS being
intuitive and requiring minimal training to reach full use.
▪ Restaurant management will want to understand the POS software's capabilities for labor
scheduling, whether and how tightly this is integrated into the POS system.
▪ Managers needing cross-enterprise reporting on their mobile device wherever they are will
want to look closely at the robustness of the mobile reporting capabilities.
▪ Using these considerations, and the key criteria identified in this document, restaurants should
be able to better assess their requirements and initiate a POS software evaluation with a
shorter long list of perhaps 5 to 10 vendors.

©2018 IDC #US42408917e 3

VENDOR SUMMARY PROFILE

This section briefly explains IDC's key observations resulting in a vendor's position in the IDC
MarketScape. While every vendor is evaluated against each of the criteria outlined in the Appendix,
the description here provides a summary of the vendor's strengths and challenges.

Oracle
Oracle is positioned as a Leader in this IDC MarketScape for POS software in the quick-service
restaurant segment for 2018–2019.

Oracle has famously grown by acquisition, having spent over $40 billion on more than 75 acquisitions.
MICROS was, in June 2014, one of Oracle's largest acquisitions. Oracle Food and Beverage emerged
from Oracle Hospitality as a new global business unit in July 2018 intended to give food and beverage
a fresh focus, with Simphony Cloud as the flagship POS solution.

The Food and Beverage Global Business Unit's (FBGBU's) strategy is twofold: to evolve the MICROS
Simphony solution from a POS to a transaction platform — an ecosystem that can deliver greater value
through the partners and network that the POS is integrated to and to focus the platform and
ecosystem on three areas: "make money," "Save money," and "Save time." While the evolution to the
platform is ongoing, Oracle continues to innovate in areas including applying data science to menu
recommendations and optimized forecasting, providing better visibility to operational metrics,
accelerating the payment process, and developing better APIs that drive more value from the partner
network, analytics, and visualization. Quick facts about Oracle:

▪ Founded: 1977
▪ Employees: 136,000
▪ POS solution: Oracle Hospitality Simphony
▪ POS operating system: Microsoft Windows
▪ Industry focus: Food beverage operations, including stadiums and arenas, table service and
quick-service restaurants, coffee shops, hotels, casinos, travel hubs, and theme parks
▪ Customer list (partial): Margaritas, Wagamama, Indian Wells Tennis Garden, HMSHost,
Sticks'n'Sushi, Outback Steakhouse, Andiamo, TGI Fridays, Barclaycard Arena, MoschMosch,
Miami Marlins, and Max Burger
▪ Interesting fact: Recognizing that any platform is only as good as the network effect created,
Oracle welcomes partners, publishes open APIs to Oracle.com and, for example, leverages
more than a dozen partners in the payment space to be able to offer more payment options to
the restaurant's customers.
Strengths
▪ Oracle brings a deep well of retail and hospitality domain knowledge, technology and
architecture expertise, big investments in R&D, and a broad supporting set of offerings and
services.
▪ Oracle is bringing a fresh energy to food and beverage with the new formation of the food and
beverage GBU.
Challenges
▪ Oracle's MICROS Simphony solution has maintained a solid presence in the restaurant and
QSR but has to contend with the market disruption coming from a number of emerging players

©2018 IDC #US42408917e 4

 that are able to innovate with considerable focus and agility; Oracle's new Food and Beverage
GBU needs time to gain full stride and presents a more fully formed POS platform strategy
omni-channel POS product road map.
▪ While Oracle's breadth and depth of offerings, domain expertise, related software portfolio,
and significant R&D resources lead to a strong market position, some smaller enterprises have
been known to prefer to work with a technology provider more commensurate with their size.

APPENDIX

Reading an IDC MarketScape Graph

For the purposes of this analysis, IDC divided potential key measures for success into two primary
categories: capabilities and strategies.

Positioning on the y-axis reflects the vendor's current capabilities and menu of services and how well
aligned the vendor is to customer needs. The capabilities category focuses on the capabilities of the
company and product today, here and now. Under this category, IDC analysts will look at how well a
vendor is building/delivering capabilities that enable it to execute its chosen strategy in the market.

Positioning on the x-axis, or strategies axis, indicates how well the vendor's future strategy aligns with
what customers will require in three to five years. The strategies category focuses on high-level
decisions and underlying assumptions about offerings, customer segments, and business and go-to-
market plans for the next three to five years.

The size of the individual vendor markers in the IDC MarketScape represent the market share of each
individual vendor within the specific market segment being assessed.

Vendor footprint and market impact, represented by the size of the vendor marker bubbles, is based on
IDC Retail Insights' estimates of each vendor's total POS software revenue from restaurant and
hospitality segments.

IDC MarketScape Methodology

IDC MarketScape criteria selection, weightings, and vendor scores represent well-researched IDC
judgment about the market and specific vendors. IDC analysts tailor the range of standard
characteristics by which vendors are measured through structured discussions, surveys, and
interviews with market leaders, participants, and end users. Market weightings are based on user
interviews, buyer surveys and the input of IDC experts in each market. IDC analysts base individual
vendor scores, and ultimately vendor positions on the IDC MarketScape, on detailed surveys and
interviews with the vendors, publicly available information and end-user experiences in an effort to
provide an accurate and consistent assessment of each vendor's characteristics, behavior, and
capability.

Market Definition
This research evaluates the key omni-channel and advanced capabilities that POS software vendors
are developing and delivering to the quick-service restaurant (QSR) segment of the hospitality
industry.

IDC's industry taxonomy recognizes five sectors within the hospitality, dining, and travel vertical: travel;
lodging and event management, food and beverage, recreation, and Entertainment. Within the food

©2018 IDC #US42408917e 5

and beverage sector, QSR is one of six recognized subsectors; the other subsectors within food and
beverage are table service restaurant (TSR), catering service, café, food court, and pub.

QSRs, also known as the fast-food restaurant within the industry, are a specific type of restaurant that
serve fast-food cuisine and has minimal table service. The quick-service restaurant is typically part of a
restaurant chain or franchise operation that provides standardized ingredients or partially prepared
foods and supplies to each restaurant through controlled supply channels; QSRs are the focus of this
research as a subsector that is undergoing a particular amount of disruptive innovation.

LEARN MORE

Related Research
▪ NCR Acquires Payment Processing Company JetPay for $184 Million (IDC
#lcCEMA44441418, November 2018)
▪ IDC FutureScape: Worldwide Hospitality and Travel 2019 Predictions (IDC #US43111618,
October 2018)
▪ Capturing the Next Wave of Customer Engagement Through Mobile Point of Sale (IDC
#AP41449917, August 2018)
▪ IDC's Worldwide Digital Transformation Use Case Taxonomy, 2018: Experiential Hospitality,
Dining, and Travel (IDC #US44100218, July 2018)
▪ Oracle Retail Industry Connect 2018: Modern Retailing in the Cloud (IDC #US43992918, June
2018)
▪ Retail Commerce Platform 2018: Achieving Omni-Channel Profits and Driving Retail
Innovation (IDC #EMEA43792118, May 2018)
▪ Are Retailers Investing in a Retail Omni-Channel Commerce Platform? (IDC
#EMEA43533418, January 2018)
▪ IDC's Worldwide Digital Transformation Use Case Taxonomy, 2017: Hospitality (IDC
#AP43080017, December 2017)
▪ IDC MarketScape: Worldwide Point-of-Sale Software in Large Enterprise Retail Apparel and
Softlines 2017 Vendor Assessment (IDC #US42709817, December 2017)
▪ At NCR Synergy 2017, the Promise of More Synergy to Come (IDC #US43040517, September
2017)
▪ Oracle Industry Connect 2017 — Oracle as Relationship and Innovation Enabler in Retail (IDC
#US42409317, May 2017)
▪ IDC MarketScape: Worldwide Retail Omni-Channel Commerce Platform 2017 Vendor
Assessment (IDC #US41453016, April 2017)

©2018 IDC #US42408917e 6

Synopsis
This IDC study examines the key omni-channel and other advanced capabilities that vendors are
building into the point-of-sale (POS) software solutions for the quick-service restaurant (QSR) segment
and evaluates POS software vendors offering solutions into the QSR segment. The research examines
the omni-channel robustness of the point-of-sale software solutions across seven areas: technical
capabilities, integration, customer record, customer engagement, product data, transaction
management, and order/fulfill anywhere. This IDC MarketScape is the fifth IDC MarketScape in a
series addressing POS software in different retail segments.

"Our research uses a comprehensive set of criteria to evaluate some of the most innovative POS
software vendors delivering to the QSR segment. Given the amount of disruptive innovation available
to the QSR segment, QSRs need to carefully assess what new advanced omni-channel capabilities
they want to deliver to their customers and understand how the POS vendors are innovating to deliver
these capabilities," said Robert Eastman, research manager, IDC Retail Insight's Worldwide Retail
Technology Strategies service.

©2018 IDC #US42408917e 7

About IDC
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