Technology

Top 5 benefits of standardizing network security

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April 5, 2021

Given the amount of technology involved in operating a restaurant today, one of the most important considerations is having a secure network. Restaurant organizations have to manage multiple contacts on a daily basis.

Network security experts Max Cline, senior vice president of sales at Netsurion and Chad Mattix, founder and CEO of Kinettix, offered a thorough overview of the considerations for standardizing network security during a FastCasual webinar. Elliot Maras, editor of Kiosk Marketplace, served as moderator.

At the start of the webinar, Cline conducted a listener poll that found 43% of the respondents had over five to nine contacts across their network.

"Technology has been added," Cline said. "There's mobile ordering, there's delivery, there are other technology solutions (such as security cameras) that kind of rose to the top, and I think they're here to stay." And while these various solutions bring important benefits, they also increase potential security risks such as data breaches, malware and ransomware.

To minimize these risks, a united network architecture is needed.

Segmented network architecture carries the risks of increased security risks, brand reputation damage, loss of revenue, operational inefficiencies and higher costs to both the organization and its franchisees, Cline said. Such an "ad hoc" approach to technology is hard to manage and costly and becomes difficult to control over time.

"Standardizing your network solves a lot of problems," he said.

"It's also changing the type of skill sets that are required to work within those stores," Mattix said. "The availability of internet access is more important for the store today than it would have been even just a few years ago."

"How do you enforce technical standards across multiple locations?" Cline asked. This is where technology partners are helpful.

"Having a vendor of record, you move quicker," he said.

Working with a single security "vendor of record" simplifies vendor management, reduces IT tickets, reduces help desk time, minimizes costs, accelerates onboarding and speed to market, improves cybersecurity.

A single network solution also provides greater visibility of network traffic, which enables faster response to issues.

"Now there's so much interoperability from a mobile app perspective that the store must be 'on,'" Mattix said. Managers must maintain good conditions for IT hardware for both the safety of the equipment and the restaurant's security.

The greatest cybersecurity risk, Cline said in response to a listener question, is employees. "They are always the weakest link in the chain," he said. The employees have to be trained how to spot issues.

To listen to the webinar, click here.