In a partnership announced today, Utah-based mobile device management (MDM) startup MokiMobility announced it will help fellow Utah-based company FavoriteEats deploy its iPad-based loyalty rewards system. The partnership shows how MokiMobility is taking advantage of a new and emerging need arising based on the increased use of iPads in retail and restaurant settings.
MokiMobility’s MDM software allows businesses to lock out specific iPad features and functions, making them perfect for use in customer-facing, self-serve kiosk-style applications. That’s exactly what FavoriteEats was looking for, according to founder Glen Womble.
“[One] benefit of MDM is putting our iPads into kiosk mode,” he said in an interview. “It’s important – to us and our restaurant owners – that the iPads are only used for FavoriteEats. With MDM, we can lock the devices down – so that employees or customers can’t surf the internet, check email, download apps, etc. – making them true single-purpose devices.”
That’s not the only thing that MokiMobility’s tech offers companies like FavoriteEats. Womble also pointed out that it gives them a way to deliver instant support, check problems and find out what’s going on with any given terminal in real-time.
“Before employing MokiMobility’s MDM we were basically flying blind,” he said. “Occasionally one of our iPads would lose its WiFi connection or power supply and we would have no idea. With MDM we can see the status of all our iPads in real-time, and know right away if there is a problem. This helps us to provide a more reliable and consistent experience for our restaurants and their customers.”
MokiMobility’s Chief Marketing Office Brad Hintze echoed Womble’s sentiments in a separate interview. “For restaurant owners, especially those with multiple locations, what our software is doing is giving them the remote management of that device, so that they always know what’s going on,” he said. “It’s also locking them in for that one purpose, so that instead of just an iPad mounted on a counter, now it’s a loyalty application mounted on the counter.”
Aside from helping to ensure that iPads in businesses are used for their intended purpose, this also helps lessen customer and employee confusion, and ensure that businesses are really driving the kind of engagement they intend to.
For MokiMobility, the opportunities from here on out should only grow. Many companies are deploying iPads in retail and customer-facing capacities, and for a lot of those businesses, the cost of running localized MDM services is too great. In contrast, MokiMobility works on a subscription-based SaaS model, keeping hardware requirements negligible, and costs down as well. Others, like AirWatch, are also doing MDM for iPads, but this partnership will help MokiMobility score points and gain visibility in the restaurant and retail space, one where iPad-based POS and rewards programs are really taking flight.