Raj Rawal: A whopping success for BK

Raj Rawal Burger King CIO

Burger King's Senior Vice President and CIO Raj Rawal is the driving force behind the food chain's success as it ventures into the realm of technological development.

Burger King is the world's second largest fast food hamburger chain with annual revenue of over US$2 billion, more than 11,000 restaurants and 37,000 staff - and that's not even counting those working in the 90 percent of Burger King restaurants that are operated as franchises. Every day almost 12 million people walk through Burger King's doors and consume a million pounds of beef.

Now, Raj Rawal's role in the company's progress is crucial. The former CIO for the Cendant Car Rental Group joined Burger King in 2005 and immediately set about preparing the company for its impending - and eventually successful - IPO.

Standardizing technology within Burger King

But his next task was even more important as he set about standardizing technology within the company that enabled Burger King to develop its global capabilities. Raj Rawal himself uses the example of the firm's point-of-sale (POS) system as indicative of the considerable progress that has been made in recent years - and of how far the company still has to go.

"In many ways the register in the restaurant is the key piece of equipment for us, and yet until January 2006 we had no company-wide standard as to what register or system should be used," Rawal explains.

The POS has allowed Burger King to drive further system and process consistency across the organization.

"Outsourced the data center, the helpdesk and the break/fix support"

Among Rawal's other initiatives included taking some of the key processes out of the organization, "we have outsourced the data center, the helpdesk and the break/fix support; we've also outsourced all the software maintenance and development.

"As a result, the IT team we have here is now primarily focused on project management and business analysis."

All of this is geared towards making Burger King more efficient, subsequently allowing them to engage fully with the most important company asset - the consumer. The future of Burger King lies in serving the customer outside as well as inside the restaurant.

"And I think mobile apps and social networks are going to be the means by which we reach out and touch consumers."

Raj Rawal has proved a great success in his role at Burger King, and his role as CIO will be crucial in ensuring customer continue having their way far into the future.

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