Peng’s Chinese Takeaway (1) – The Digital Transformation Goals

Peng established a Chinese Takeaway business in Newcastle 10 years ago and has since expanded his business to opening seven other branches in different parts of England. His company takes orders via face-to-face, telephone and third-party party platforms. The firm is currently facing challenges with increasing labour and sales.

Peng seeks professional advice to improve his current business process model to meet enhanced customer expectations in an ever-transforming digital age while embedding digital innovation to make the process competitive.

This blog will present the outcome of evaluating the Business Process Model of the takeaway. The process will commence by first identifying the existing Business Process Model (As-Is) and the SWOT analysis of this process. Consequently, we will be able to ascertain the Digital transformation goal required to make Peng's Business compliant with the current digital trends.

Business Process Model

A business process consists of a series of steps followed in a specific order to achieve a particular purpose. (Walch & Schmelzer, 2022). A Business Process Model (BPM) will visually depict process steps to highlight how they flow together. There are several BPM techniques such as Gantt charts, flowcharts, Data Flow Diagrams (DFD), Business Process Modelling Notation (BPMN), functional flow block diagrams (FFBDs), Integrated Definition for Function Modelling (IDEF), Petri nets, and role interaction diagrams. (Walch & Schmelzer, 2022)

The Business Process Modelling Notation (BPMN) will be adopted for this assessment to determine the process flow. Upon completion, we will be able to spot the areas of improvement (digital transformation) and efficient steps in processes that Peng can enhance.

From the diagram, we can observe that the process is relatively complex and involves a lot of manual processes.

SWOT Analysis

SWOT, an acronym for Strength, Weakness, Opportunity, and Threat is a tool for analyzing what makes a company stand out, so management can develop a successful strategy for the future. Furthermore, it can help uncover business issues hindering the success that competitors could exploit if the management does not protect the business. ("SWOT analysis: Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats," n.d.)

Below is a SWOT analysis of Peng's Restaurant.

Peng's customers' Chinese Restaurant's SWOT Analysis table (SevenRooms, 2022)

Digital Transformation

The digital transformation process uses digital technologies to modify business processes, customer experiences and culture to meet the changing business technology needs and requirements in the 21st century. Digital transformation extends beyond the IT department to the customer service, sales, and marketing roles. (Shoaib, 2022)

Digital transformation is divided into three stages: Digitization, Digitalization, and Digital Transformation). Although these terms are used interchangeably, they are entirely different. The following blog will provide more explanation on this. So please watch out for it next week.

We can observe that the processes are at a "digitization stage", which is evident in the albeit limited incorporation of third-party app platforms (UberEats & Deliveroo) to reach more customers who cannot make it physically to the restaurant. The goal is to achieve an all-around digital transformation of the business.

As shown below, more work needs to be done to upgrade Peng's restaurant to being entirely digitally transformed.

Some Digital Transformation Requirements for Peng's Restaurant

• Develop a website and Mobile application to increase audience and make it easy for potential customers to find the business

• Improve the BPM by infusing technology and automation into the process

• Adopting cloud and AI technology improves delivery convenience while maintaining food quality and ensuring customer satisfaction. ("Digital transformation in the restaurant business," 2022)

In the next blog, we will discuss potential business innovations and technologies for Peng's business.

Please leave a comment and share your thoughts. I look forward to hearing from you.

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REFERENCES

Digital transformation in the restaurant business. (2022, June 22). Google Cloud Blog. https://cloud.google.com/blog/transform/digital-transformation-in-the-restaurant-business

SevenRooms. (2022, May 31). SWOT analysis for restaurants: Guide & template. https://sevenrooms.com/en/blog/swot-analysis-for-restaurants-guide-template/

Shoaib. (2022, January 6). Digitization vs digitalization vs digital transformation — Plumlogix Inc. Plumlogix Inc. https://plumlogix.com/digitization-vs-digitalization-vs-digital-transformation/

SWOT analysis: Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats. (n.d.). Management Training and Leadership Training – Online. https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newTMC_05.htm

Walch, K., & Schmelzer, R. (2022, April 27). 9 top business process modelling techniques with examples. SearchCIO. https://www.techtarget.com/searchcio/tip/Top-business-process-modeling-techniques-with-examples