TGI Fridays UK selects Cyntergy to solve service desk woes

Restaurant chain staff were previously wasting time on calls to several different support desks

TGI Fridays UK has consolidated its support desk with Cyntergy in an effort to cut the time restaurant staff spend on the phone to IT support.

The restaurant chain was having support desk issues, with staff unsure as to who to contact over IT support issues, as Debbie Whittle, IT service delivery manager at TGI Fridays explained.

"Our teams had around nine different numbers to call, all going directly to a variety of third-party support desks, depending on the fault. The problem was that nine times out of 10, the team wouldn't know which number to call.

"Once you had logged a call to a third party, they might do a bit of investigating before deciding they couldn't fix it, then pass the issue back for the team to contact another third party," she continued.

The nature of the system was taking staff away from serving customers.

"The whole process could at worse take three to four days, which only led to frustration for our team and taking them away from running our restaurants. Our teams are at the frontline of guest service and the last thing they need is to be distracted by issues."

In order to address the support desk issue, TGI Fridays selected service desk support software provider Cyntergy to provide a single point of contact to enable quicker resolution of IT service-related issues.

As a result, Cyntergy is now responsible for managing TGI Friday's systems, including tills, credit-card terminals, and kitchen and office equipment. Cyntergy has also taken on tasks such as helping with password enquiries, as well as sending out consumable parts, which has enabled the TGI Fridays five-strong IT team to focus on other areas.

Whittle described how this support has reaped benefits for TGI Fridays, with staff able to concentrate on serving customers rather than waiting on the phone in order to solve IT issues.

"Our teams no longer spend hours, sometimes days, bogged down on the phone to various suppliers. They now have time to do what they do best; running the restaurants," she said.

"Cyntergy has offered us a consistent service, thanks to its expertise and always being on hand to resolve or help with any issue."