Peter Wiley grew up working in the restaurant industry, waiting tables at 12 years old in Skyline Chilis his family operated. He has done everything from washing dishes, to being a line cook, to bartending, to being a store manager. He has spent the last 20 years developing brands and marketing materials across a wide variety of platforms including live events, TV, radio, print, web, mobile apps and social media. In 2007, Ray recruited him to help develop the Hot Head Burritos brand where he now serves as the Vice President of Marketing and IT. He also oversees the operation of 10 Hot Head Burritos locations in the Toledo, Youngstown, Akron and Cleveland markets.

Through this article, Wiley lays out a practical model for leading at the intersection of marketing and technology. He argues that success does not come from being the smartest coder or the flashiest marketer, but from understanding how systems, people and ideas connect.

Leading Marketing and IT: Understanding How Systems Connect

The key is having a fundamental working knowledge of both. You don’t need to be an expert developer or the best designer on your team, but you do need to understand how everything works together. You also need to understand what systems and platforms don’t work together so you can take that into account when developing campaigns.

Listen to your team. Acknowledge what they do individually and explain the part they play in creating success for the brand, franchisees, customers and team members.

Customer Experience and Technology: Invisible Operational Wins

All technology impacts the customer experience whether the customer is aware of it or not. For example, one of the reasons we chose our POS (Qu) is because it has the best direct third party delivery integration in the industry. While customers will never see this directly, they see the results. Improved order accuracy, less missed orders and a happier team because they don’t have to deal with the stress of multiple tablets and checking emails to get orders from DoorDash, UberEats and GrubHub.

Which Comes First Always: Innovation vs Reliability

Reliability takes priority over innovation as tech that doesn’t work reliably frustrates customers, our team and franchisees and ultimately hurts sales. We’ve tried to be more thoughtful about where and when to implement tech. I am a tech guy and always have been, but no matter how cool something is, if it doesn’t get used, it’s a waste of money.

Technical and Creative Teams: One Table, Better Outcomes

We always meet together as one can’t exist without the other in my opinion. Not only do we usually come up with the best solution, but it streamlines the execution because everyone is involved and on the same page.

Data in Strategy: Clear, Actionable Insight Only

The challenge with data is often there is so much of it that it becomes overwhelming. The question is what do you do with it all? Our goal is to use data to produce clear and actionable insights, whether that be in marketing, tech, operations or menu design and management.

Wisdom from Experience: Listen, Align, Explain Impact

Listen to your team. Acknowledge what they do individually and explain the part they play in creating success for the brand, franchisees, customers and team members. The more they understand how everything works together, the better solutions the team comes up with and the more they see the value in each other’s roles.