McDonald’s makes tech push with new dedicated digital group

McDonald’s is creating a dedicated digital unit for customer engagement as it hopes to utilise its technology investments, said numerous media outlets.

According to the memo obtained by CNBC, the new team is part of the company’s strategy to reach more customers and of course, drive sales growth. This comes as McDonald’s sets up more self-order kiosks in its restaurants and making tech-driven pushes such as the acquisition of Dynamic Yield for US$300 million dollars and the establishment of McD Tech Labs, a Silicon Valley-based group that includes tech experts like engineers and data scientists.

According to a memo sent out and seen by the media, the new team will be led by Lucy Brady, who will now helm the role of chief digital customer engagement officer. Brady, who is the head of corporate strategy and business development, and helped the company establish its ties with delivery providers such as Uber Eats. She was also a driver in the company’s  Dynamic Yield acquisition in 2019. McDonald’s was said to utilise Dynamic Yield’s technology to provide an even more personalised customer experience by varying outdoor digital Drive Thru menu displays to show food based on time of day, weather, current restaurant traffic and trending menu items. Using data, the decision technology is also able to instantly suggest and display additional items to a customer’s order based on their current selections.

Meanwhile, under her leadership, the division will spearhead the chain’s global digital efforts including ordering, personalisation, payments, loyalty and delivery.

Bloomberg also reported that the move comes after the company saw increasing pressure from franchisees and Wall Street to show greater results after huge technology investments. Bloomberg also added that McDonald’s also lost some ground in US due to stiff competition from Burger King and Dunkin’ which have now diversified their offerings with plant based substitutes.