Contact us
Client
Hungry Lion
Location
Johannesburg, South Africa
Type of industry
Quick Service Restaurant
Business Unit
Digital Business
About Pepkor
Pepkor is an investment and holding company that serves discount and value consumer retail and fintech markets. Holding multiple brands, Pepkor has 5 917 stores and employs 47 600 staff in Southern Africa and Brazil
These brands are separated into four operating pillars:
1. Clothing and general merchandise (PEP, Ackermans and other speciality stores)
2. Furniture, appliances and electronics (JD Group, Russells, Incredible Connection and Hi-Fi Corporation)
3. Building materials (BUCO, Tiletoria and Timbercity)
4. FinTech (Flash, Capfin and Tenacity) With these offerings, Pepkor plays a critical role in the towns and communities it serves. Its stores, in addition to providing merchandise at affordable price points, also:
- Support money transfers
- Sell 7 out of every 10 phones in South Africa (the largest cellphone distributor in SA)
- Provide parcel courier services
- Create local jobs and support families
Of the four pillars, 'Clothing and general merchandise' accounts for more than 4 200 stores across South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, Lesotho, and Eswatini, and contributes the most significant portion of the Pepkor Group’s operation profit. And we are the technology partner supporting the in-store end-user computing needs of this crucial business area for Pepkor.
Our service level provided to Pepkor ensures
99.7% trading availability
across all the stores under support
The business challenge
1. With such a varied range of brands and products under its holding, Pepkor needed a dependable, capable partner to provide end-user technology solutions and devices, as well as end-user support and hardware maintenance across the entire installed base.
2. Pepkor needed remote and on-site support to correct any IT challenges and ensure that stores could resume trading as quickly as possible.
3. The group needed IT specialists who could enable Pepkor staff to focus on their core competencies without worrying about troubleshooting technical difficulties.
4. Pepkor could continue providing uptime and exceptional customer service with the correct technical backing. Most importantly,
5. With its cross-border footprint, Pepkor needed a dependable partner with support staff in its geographical areas.
Pepkor needed an IT provider who could scale with it as the group expanded, and that support staff could be at any store anytime with the necessary skills and hardware to keep the store trading.
We're able to navigate South Africa's infrastructural challenges.
The solution
Our support footprint prevents business interruptions.
Our staff of support technicians, already the largest in South Africa, grows to match Pepkor's growth.
From major cities to remote towns, our support staff are strategically located so that they can respond to any situation and rectify the issue. On average, 95% of all support calls are resolved within four hours.
We have the skills and logistics ability to ensure swift problem correction.
As we own the value chain, we can provide a full solution - from supplying employees with the end-user computing devices to do their jobs to environmentally and sustainably recycling or destroying end-of-life hardware. Additionally, we maintain the highest levels of accreditation with leading global original equipment manufacturers.
As South Africa's original technology brand, we've solved technology challenges for almost 60 years. This means we know South Africa, the challenges businesses face, and the local nuances. Most importantly, we can get our technicians to a Pepkor store within the SLA-guaranteed time of four hours.
Supporting uptime and reducing downtime for Pepkor
As part of our preventative maintenance programme, our technicians visit every store at least once yearly, regardless of whether a support call has been logged. During these visits, we thoroughly audit the status of all hardware and pre-emptively repair or replace aging or at-risk technology.
We are also actively involved with every new store opening or revamp, taking responsibility for managing all the technology and end-user devices, from routers to point-of-sale systems. We also manage the installation and testing. Using this approach, we ensure that every new store can transact from the moment its doors open.
The Results
- Pepkor relies on us to manage 158 719 devices countrywide.
- The customer experience Pepkor provides is improved.
- Pepkor stores under our management can return to operations quickly after technical challenges, ensuring maximum trading hours.
- We support and manage the IT requirements of over 4,200 Pepkor stores.
If you have an #epicingenuity challenge
we have the solution.
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