McDonald’s South Africa taps IBM to enhance social media facilitating

Johannesburg -- IBM announced that McDonald's South Africa is using IBM social business software to embrace the convergence of social, mobile and cloud facilitating its expansion to new markets and enabling its employees to collaborate more effectively.



McDonald's is working with IBM and its business partner, Knowledge Dimension, to transform the way its almost 200 restaurants and 8000 employees communicate and collaborate, thereby helping the company communicate and operate more effectively. McDonald's will begin transforming into a social enterprise to help geographically dispersed employees to communicate more effectively, sharing ideas that will allow them to deliver exceptional customer service.



“With our intended aggressive expansion plans – growing the number of restaurants by approximately 25 restaurants a year – improved communications is undoubtedly a business imperative,” said Greg Solomon, managing director for McDonald's South Africa. “Equipping our employees with a social network to improve communication is critical in helping us fulfill our brand promise to customers for quality, service, cleanliness, and value.”



McDonald's SA is currently using IBM Connections and IBM Sametime instant messaging software to support internal communication and training requirements across their branch network.



The McDonald's crew (staff at restaurant level) will access the platform via a first-to-market in South Africa mobile solution, supplemented by in-restaurant touch-screen docking stations. This phase is scheduled for completion in first quarter 2013.