Aloha Everybody

We have partnered with NCR and have had a great experience from install to support.

Pros

Ease of use and the ability for our management teams to continue to program easily with out support.

Cons

The software and hardware were outdated in 7 years and cost a good amount of money. It’s understandable that technology advances exponentially however It becomes an annoyance to spend so much money for a limited time frame. NCR should have a trade program to help with the transition.

NCR Aloha is here to stay

Very satisfied with the software programming overall. Very happy with our local account rep and local support. The support they give us is tremendous. We have been with Aloha / NCR for six years, started with 4 locations, and have added 3 more in the last 4 years. We have the same account rep which is terrific. He knows our Brand, our set up, and is able to make valuable suggestions to make us successful.

Pros

Asking the right questions to the right people, NCR can pretty much do anything we request. We use most of your product, including take out and delivery. I like that everything is integrated. We upgraded to command center from secure access to manager our 7 locations, great software. Having terminal access to the locations is great for testing and training. Management loves the Pulse App.

Cons

The way take out and delivery is programmed through AO. The delay between the POS data base and ATO is tedious. The help desk support lately has not been as good since COVID. Most issues need to be escalated to a level 3 tech, and no one can be found when needed. Waiting and waiting for a call back. We have to reach out to our local support in most cases to finish the support call. Very frustrating for our teams in the restaurant.

Aloha to Aloha

Aloha was a leader in the industry, but I don't feel they have kept up with the other, newer and more streamlined systems. I've often felt as though they keep trying to put makeup on the old version and not bring anything new. But the cost associated with this system is astronomical.

Pros

I really like the setup and the presentation of the software. The older versions were always clean and I like that they kept this through the years. The software works well and is user-friendly. The layout is nice and easy to read and find what you are looking for. I mostly liked the ability to pull up the reporting on my phone via the app. It was amazing!

Cons

This program continues to grow and expand but I don't feel it is doing so in a good way. While they focus on what they have always done, other systems provide more and seem to do so in a more streamlined manner. The support is lacking and hard to get through to the right person to help. They use so many people or satellite companies that have limited resources. I used one that said they were large and could handle all we were rolling out, but they could not. They were never there when we needed them.

Review of Aloha

Good - We enjoyed working with the local branch and helping us set up or system.

Pros

The ability to integrate with many other third party software companies was very important to us. We are anticipating scaling in size quickly over the next few years and didn't want to outgrow our system.

Cons

None - we are happy with the software. We would perhaps like more training so that we can fully utilize parts of the software that we may not know exist.

My Review

Overall, it's been a mixed experience. Our local retailer got bought out by NCR and that's been a difficult process because the level of personal support changed for the worse. One of our largest deployments was delayed by six months+ because they couldn't supply us with hardware! Yes, NCR could not supply the stuff they manufacture. But again, that's not a software issue. Specifically software, it's been a good experience.

Pros

Device compatibility across windows workstations. Ease of end user use and ease of basic programming.

Cons

The worst part for us is the lack of the ability to push out changes to terminals without doing a complete system refresh and taking the entire FOH down for > 3 minutes. Often we'll notice a price or an item issue during business hours and have to take the whole FOH down just to update a modifier or something of the like. Also, there's no compatible tablets that work with chip and pin to line bust and run faster drive thru service. That's more of a hardware issue for sure, but it's a real sour note for us. Additionally the IBER process seems to be pretty fragile when using third party services like omnivore and even above store reporting suites. We'll have an IBER crash at least once a week during a busy shift.