On the Theravada website, we describe ourselves as offering our customers Innovative IT Solutions reinforced by strong values.
As a business and a partner to hospitality, retail, entertainment and healthcare businesses around the world, we look to provide technology innovation that brings peace of mind; our software and services enhance the perception of our partners’ businesses and increase their viability in their given market.
But what does innovation really mean? Isn’t it just a buzzword, overused and wrongly applied?
‘Technology innovation’ isn’t as clear a concept as ‘innovation’. Innovation carries a specific definition. It is:
1: a new idea, method, or device: NOVELTY
2: the introduction of something new
On the other hand, technology – or technological – innovation has a broader meaning and can be surprisingly hard to define. It is frequently used by marketing professionals to describe new products as innovative. But that’s not completely accurate. In fact, for a technology to be innovative is should fill an unaddressed need or solve a recognised challenge. Releasing a new model of oven, or rolling out an upgraded EPoS, with enhanced but not new features, is certainly beneficial, but not innovative.
In 2019, Forbes wrote an article listing the top 30 technology innovations of the last 30 years. The impressive list included the internet, email, GPS systems and barcodes and scanners. If that article was written again, in 2025, you might well find some of the technologies that Theravada offers within the list. Mobile ordering and payment in particular, is on route to change the face of the hospitality industry.
For hundreds of years, hospitality has worked in a similar fashion. The customer walks in, orders food/drink from a member of staff and has that order given to them in exchange for payment – coins, cash or more recently, card. Digital ordering and mobile payments have changed the face of hospitality – particularly over the last 18 months. With digital ordering technology a customer can now walk in and sit, they can order and pay for their food without the need for server interaction (unless they want it) or for a physical exchange as payment. The technology is innovative because it is completely changing the face of the market, not just the way that businesses run, but the way that consumers feel and think about the hospitality experience.
In the retail space, digital cabinets are another excellent example of technological innovation in play at Theravada. How can a cabinet innovative? Because it does far more than enhance the display of a retail product. Its digital screens provide a means for direct, real-time marketing communication between the brand and the end customer. The consumer experience is transformed, the product ‘pops’ and performance is improved.
These are just too technological innovations within Theravada’s extensive product portfolio. We put innovation at the heart of what we do. We don’t take a cookie-cutter approach to our work with partners. Every customer is an individual and we like to introduce new ideas, new methods – and innovation – to every one of our relationships. By doing so we aim to help them push forward and take a strong place at the forefront of their industries.
If you’re a business in the hospitality, retail, entertainment or healthcare industries, why not contact us for a consultation? Or take a look around our website to see a selection of some of the innovative products and services we can offer.
