Travel, Hospitality, and Entertainment
From 15 Minutes to 2 while saving $750,000 per year: Revolutionizing Urban Air with an AI-Driven Custom POS.
Unleashed Brands partnered with Allata to develop a custom POS system that saved $750,000 annually by eliminating licensing fees, recovered revenue through improved guest experience, and enhanced operational efficiency. By leveraging AI, the project also reduced development costs by 15–20% and introduced QA automation for long-term reliability.
OVERVIEW
Custom POS System Drives Efficiency
Unleashed Brands, operating over 1,000 franchise locations globally, faced a critical need for a custom POS system to replace their vendor’s deprecated platform. The new system integrated seamlessly with their proprietary Command Center, addressing unique ticketing and waiver requirements while eliminating ongoing licensing fees.
Key Outcomes:
- Cost Savings: Eliminated monthly licensing fees for 150+ Urban Air locations, resulting in a savings of $750,000 per annum, with plans to scale across 1,000+ franchises.
- Operational Efficiency: Reduced customer wait times from 15 minutes to 2 minutes through mobile line-busting capabilities.
- Enhanced Security: Resolved critical security vulnerabilities in the previous system.
- AI-Driven Savings: Leveraged AI to reduce development costs by 15–20%.
THE CHALLENGE
Vendor Deprecation and Operational Risks
Unleashed Brands faced a hard deadline: their existing POS provider, Appetize, announced service deprecation by April 2025. This left the company with two options: adopt another off-the-shelf solution or build a custom system.
Their key challenges included:
- Integration Issues: Existing vendor solutions failed to integrate with their proprietary Command Center platform.
- Specialized Needs: Urban Air’s ticketing and waiver requirements were not supported by off-the-shelf systems, leading to liability risks.
- Operational Inefficiencies: The old POS system was disjointed, overly complex, and prone to data inconsistencies on the back end, making it difficult to ensure smooth operations.
- Customer Experience: Long wait times and lack of mobile POS capabilities hindered customer satisfaction.
- Security Concerns: The previous system had vulnerabilities, including exposed certificates on physical devices.
Replacing the outdated system was critical to improving operational efficiency and enhancing the guest experience.
OUR SOLUTION
Agile Development and AI-Driven Efficiencies
Allata delivered a custom POS and kitchen display system through a phased, agile approach. The project began with a three-day workshop to define business outcomes, functional requirements, and technical needs.
Key Steps:
- Workshops and Planning: Conducted in-depth workshops with stakeholders, including franchisee focus groups, to gather requirements.
- Agile Development: A five-person offshore development team, supported by onshore QA and technical leads, iteratively built the solution.
- AI-Assisted Development: Leveraged AI tools to accelerate coding, debugging, and knowledge transfer, saving 15–20% in development costs.
- User-Centric Design: Created clickable prototypes for early feedback, ensuring alignment with franchisee needs.
- Pilot and Rollout: Supported on-site installations, training, and pilot launches, ensuring a smooth transition.
Key Features Delivered:
- Mobile line-busting capabilities to reduce wait times.
- Integration with Command Center for seamless ticketing and waiver management.
- Support for cash payments and physical cash drawers, addressing franchisee concerns.
- Automated regression testing to improve QA efficiency and reduce bugs.
THE RESULT
Measurable Business Impact
The custom POS system delivered immediate and long-term benefits, positioning Unleashed Brands for operational efficiency and cost savings.
The solution reduced customer wait times from 15 minutes to 2 minutes, significantly improving the customer experience. By eliminating third-party licensing fees, the system is projected to achieve ROI within 12 months. Additionally, the project introduced QA automation, enabling more efficient testing across platforms.
Key Results
- Cost Savings: Eliminated monthly licensing fees for 150+ Urban Air locations, resulting in a savings of $750,000 per annum, with plans to scale across 1,000+ franchises.
- Operational Efficiency: Reduced ticketing liabilities and improved franchisee satisfaction.
- Customer Experience: Enabled mobile line-busting, cutting wait times by 87%.
- AI-Driven Productivity: Saved 15–20% in development costs and introduced automated regression testing.
technology
Optimized Technology for Scalability and Efficiency
Allata utilized a suite of cutting-edge tools and platforms to ensure the custom POS system was scalable, efficient, and reliable.
- Front-end: React+Redux, Tailwind, Headless, Azure Static Web Apps
- Back-end: C#, Azure Functions, App Services, Azure SQL, Azure Service Bus, Azure Blob Storage
- CI/CD: Azure DevOps, TeamCity, Git Actions.
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