GPS pizza tracking. Autonomous vehicle experiments. Hot spot delivery. Anyware ordering. Conversational AI on phone orders.
At Domino’s, chief digital officer Dennis Maloney is the leader behind the quick-service pizza chain’s most innovative consumer-facing technologies. Favorite devices used by customers to order Domino’s pies include Google Home and Amazon Alexa. Pizza fans can also order by texting or using Facebook Messenger, Slack, and Twitter. Chevy cars equipped with the company’s in-vehicle commerce platform also feature Domino’s ordering.
Maloney, who’s been with the company since the Pizza Turnaround campaign of 2009, said the brand is maniacal about developing new ways for consumers to order pizza within the digital ecosystem.
“That's going to be our strategy for advancing our technology,” Maloney said.
And that’s what makes Domino’s such a formidable brand when it comes to innovation.
Maloney, along with chief technology officer Kelly Garcia, are taking risks to ensure the company is constantly evolving to meet the needs of today’s digitally focused consumer. In August, the brand opened its Domino’s Innovation Garage, or DIG. The hub is a laboratory for the brand to work on projects like GPS pizza tracking, which the company plans to expand to all U.S. units by the end of 2020.
Next up: robots. The company recently dispatched a delivery robot by Nuro. Testing at a store in Houston allows the brand to delivery pizzas using an autonomous vehicle. This kind of digital labor is crucial as the company faces a shortage of drivers, Maloney said.
“All of that changes with an autonomous vehicle. This is the future of our company. This fundamentally changes our business model.”
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