Robert Morcos, Founder and CEO of Social Mobile |

Mobility options supplier Social Mobile presents providers crucial to eating places and different organizations seeking to deliver to market modern cellular merchandise. The corporate was not too long ago named to the Inc. 5000 record of fastest-growing corporations in America, in addition to one of many quickest rising expertise corporations by the South Florida Enterprise Journal. It was additionally acknowledged by Restaurant Insider as one of many High Restaurant Tech Innovators for its work with DoorDash, which is a spotlight of a latest dialog with Robert Morcos, the Founder and CEO of Social Cell. Morcos additionally shares his insights on the significance of mobility inside restaurant operations and why eating places ought to contemplate {custom}, white-label options as a substitute of off-the-shelf expertise.

Are you able to speak a bit about Social Cell’s capabilities and the way eating places profit?

Social Cell is an enterprise mobility options supplier targeted on serving to organizations seeking to deploy and convey to market modern cellular options for any variety of various use instances. We design, engineer, and manufacture {custom} options constructed on the Android Enterprise platform, whereas additionally offering gadget administration and quite a lot of logistics for a full suite of enterprise mobility providers.

Eating places are more and more embracing mobility to streamline operations and ship world-class customer support. At present, mobility options assist enhance the eating expertise in some ways – digital check-in, digital menus and signage, self-serve kiosks, buyer suggestions surveys, and extra.  Throughout the pandemic, eating places more and more relied on mobility options to implement meals supply, pick-up, contactless ordering, and contactless fee.

Social Cell helps eating places assist all these use instances with large-scale deployments that mix our experience designing {custom} units with gadget administration, and ongoing assist.

What differentiates Social Cell from different main mobility suppliers serving the restaurant sector? What do you view as a few of your organization’s aggressive strengths?

First, our area experience in enterprise mobility and offering {custom} mobility options made particularly for our purchasers. Secondly, we’re one among a handful of product producers which might be Google Cell Providers (GMS) licensed, and the one licensed OEM completely providing {custom} options for enterprise. Third, Social Cell not solely designs {custom} mobility options, we additionally present a full suite of mobility providers starting from staging, kitting, and deployment in addition to restore and substitute.

We even have a spread of expertise serving the meals and beverage business, with purchasers starting from eating places, fast serve operators, and pick-up/supply providers. One of many firm’s purchasers, DoorDash, considerably streamlined its service provider operations by using a custom-designed resolution from Social Cell that saved them 60% on the gadget TCO (whole price of possession).

What classes of eating places are more likely to profit most? Any latest success tales you could possibly share?

Digital transformation and the pandemic have impacted the whole restaurant business, so all eating places will profit from a mobility resolution whatever the class. The strain on eating places to carry out effectively as a enterprise is immense. Staff are scarce. Wages are growing. Clients are opting to dine-out. Eating places should discover efficiencies wherever and all over the place. So, if it’s a fast serve restaurant including self-serve kiosks and digital menus, or a standard dine-in restaurant accepting supply and pick-up orders – the advantages are all over the place.

When DoorDash first approached Social Cell, they shared a number of challenges with the {hardware} units that have been presently deployed; nonetheless, as soon as we dug slightly deeper it was clear that there have been challenges past the {hardware} itself. The administration of the units, making ready them, deploying them to retailers – all that wanted to be reviewed. We really useful a full, end-to-end mobility resolution that enabled DoorDash to higher assist its retailers and scale its operations globally.

The Social Cell staff labored with DoorDash to design a wholly {custom} resolution made particularly for his or her service provider operations. The DoorDash pill is made precisely to their specs. Parts are protected by a moisture-proof coating to face up to the tough kitchen setting. It’s additionally licensed to work in any DoorDash market, which is to say that we enabled all the mandatory mobile bands for each nation, and registered the gadget with regulators just like the FCC, CE, RCM, and extra.

Social Cell phases and kits the units with SIM playing cards, equipment, and DoorDash advertising supplies straight off the manufacturing line, eradicating the time and price spent on third-party logistics. When service SIM playing cards are activated and put in, the SIM is sure to the gadget to  stop it from being utilized in another gadget and keep away from information fraud.

Each pill is enrolled in Mambo, our Android Enterprise accepted enterprise mobility administration (EMM) platform in order that DoorDash can handle their complete fleet anytime and wherever. The DoorDash pill is Google Cell Providers (GMS) licensed, which suggests it has entry to all of the Google apps like Chrome and Maps, in addition to Google’s APIs.

Lastly, DoorDash tablets are Android Zero-touch enabled, which means they’re configured and able to go to work proper out-of-the-box. Retailers don’t must take the time to seek out and set up the DoorDash Order Administration app or configure any of the settings. It’s mechanically pushed to the gadget the moment it connects to the web, together with all IT gadget insurance policies and safety updates.

Social Cell’s resolution helped DoorDash scale back the corporate’s whole price of possession for the gadget by 60%. At present Social Cell helps DoorDash assist a whole lot of hundreds of retailers and tens of  tens of millions of shoppers worldwide.

How necessary is mobility inside restaurant operations? The place are you seeing mobility getting used most – e.g., again workplace, entrance workplace, and so on.? Are you able to present an instance of how mobility is automating restaurant operations?

Mobility is extraordinarily necessary for at present’s restaurant operations. Particularly in a post-pandemic world, with the rise in meals supply and pick-up. We’re seeing mobility being utilized in each facet of the restaurant enterprise. For instance, within the entrance of the home, server handheld tablets and digital menus are getting used to ship an impactful buyer expertise. Behind home, kitchen show methods and order ticket printing are being utilized by the workers to effectively handle orders; handheld units are serving to monitor deliveries and stock, Moreover, handheld units, kiosks and POS terminals can streamline ordering, invoice presentment and fee, and seize buyer suggestions by way of surveys.

One instance we will take a look at is the DoorDash person expertise journey. A buyer orders a meal via an app, and as soon as the order is acquired by restaurant, the server can settle for the order and an order time is communicated again to the client. The subsequent step is for the kitchen to obtain the order ticket and proceed to make the order for the client. The Dasher is then notified to go to the restaurant and choose up the order for supply. Lastly, the client will probably be notified that their order is on the way in which and the Dasher drops off the order to the client.

From a expertise deployment perspective, ought to eating places contemplate white-label options or off the shelf expertise?

There are lots of explanation why eating places ought to contemplate {custom}, white-label options as a substitute of off-the-shelf expertise. To start out, off-the-shelf options are usually premium units that embrace extra elements and options than your typical enterprise use case requires. They don’t seem to be as safe, tough to handle, costly to deploy, and product availability isn’t assured year-after-year. A consumer-grade gadget isn’t rugged and doesn’t have the battery life to final with fixed use over a complete shift.

Customized units, alternatively, are purpose-built which means they will incorporate or take away any elements or options that aren’t wanted. This will scale back the price by a mean of 20 to 30% proper off the manufacturing line. With a {custom} resolution, units could be branded for the consumer, with out the necessity to ship them to a third-party to be staged and kitted. As a result of the gadget is made only for that consumer, they is assured availability for a set variety of years – often between 3 to five – so there’s a constant provide of product able to go anytime.

What recommendation are you able to give a restaurant group contemplating a mobility supplier?

My recommendation to restaurant teams is to not simply take into consideration the worth of the {hardware}, however to additionally contemplate the whole price of the whole mobility resolution from manufacturing to kitting, administration, and assist. How a lot would it not price your online business if a excessive share of your units have been failing, wanted repairs, and price you income?

By trying on the complete lifecycle of the gadget and going to a single mobility vendor like Social Cell, eating places can understand vital financial savings for his or her enterprise. Additionally, mobility options could be delivered with a device-as-a-service (DaaS) mannequin, so eating places can reap the benefits of the newest expertise with out the heavy capital expenditure on units.

You’re a acknowledged chief and innovator within the mobility house, having based Social Cell greater than a decade in the past. Are you able to inform us a bit about your profession trajectory?

I’ve been within the mobility house since I used to be 15 years previous, shopping for and refurbishing used cell telephones. I received my begin via a good friend’s father whose enterprise was exporting these telephones to worldwide markets. After school I began Social Cell – in 2011 – but it surely had a barely totally different focus. We nonetheless designed and manufactured {custom} units however for customers, which is a fiercely aggressive market. So we pivoted and determined to focus completely on enterprise purchasers.

At present, Social Cell has about 70 folks unfold throughout 8 totally different nations. We’ve a few of the world’s main consultants in enterprise mobility and Android Enterprise on our staff, and we’re working with a few of the world’s largest manufacturers to ship {custom} mobility options. We did all of that with out taking over any funding or exterior capital, which on reflection has allowed me and the staff to make a pivot like that and be extra agile with our strategic choice making.

What do you do in your job on a day-to-day foundation? What do you want most about your work?

Despite the fact that I’m the founder and CEO of Social Cell, I’ve worn nearly each single hat on the firm. I feel that’s typical for any startup founder, but it surely’s given me the power to grasp nearly each facet of the enterprise. Since we’ve deepened our government staff bench, I spend extra of my time specializing in the way forward for the corporate and exploring totally different strategic initiatives.

I’m additionally very passionate in regards to the CHIPS Act that was handed final 12 months, and advocate for reshoring a number of the downstream manufacturing of cellular units again into the U.S. Producing semiconductors within the U.S. is a crucial and key component for our nation’s sovereignty, however we additionally want to think about that a whole lot of different elements used to make cellular units usually are not produced within the U.S. Additional, meeting can also be completed primarily abroad. Coverage makers must consider the complete provide chain and manufacturing course of with the intention to actually maximize the advantage of the CHIPS Act.

How has the unique imaginative and prescient for Social Cell modified — or not modified — as the corporate has grown over the previous decade?

The imaginative and prescient has at all times been to be the world’s greatest mobility supplier; nonetheless, that imaginative and prescient modified from client to enterprise plenty of years after we received began. That shift allowed us to essentially focus our efforts and differentiate ourselves from our rivals, who within the client house are huge multi-national corporations. At present we’re devoted to constructing the very best, {custom} mobility options for our purchasers. That features the whole lot from the {hardware} to administration and assist – the complete gadget lifecycle.

What would be the major focus areas for Social Cell this 12 months? Any new technology-related initiatives?

2023 will probably be an enormous 12 months. There’s a number of initiatives that we’re engaged on bringing to market. Quickly we’ll have a device-as-a-service (DaaS) provide launching, which can assist purchasers scale back their upfront capital expense relating to mobility options. We’re additionally launching a brand new program for purchasers to model our RHINO units with their title and emblem – referred to as RHINO Customized. And we’re continuously enhancing our personal label choices, increasing to develop new and modern units for our purchasers – the whole lot from wearables to IoT units and extra.