The Challenge: A national discount convenience retailer aimed to simplify its network infrastructure and ensure reliable connectivity while minimizing costs through a scalable network solution that supports growth across multiple brands and thousands of sites.
By deploying dual-carrier 4G/LTE technology, they would eliminate dependency on traditional wired circuits to reduce the IT footprint, improve efficiency, and make the network easier to manage. Additionally, the network needed to support low-bandwidth tasks like online point-of-sale transactions and VOIP requirements without sacrificing performance.
They faced significant challenges:
- Performance: Cellular networks are inherently “noisy,” often generating a high volume of irrelevant alerts caused by network behaviors like flapping. This noise risked overwhelming the retailer’s support staff and increasing their IT footprint.
- Customization: Dual-carrier support requires custom integrations focused specifically on cellular monitoring, which can be costly and time-intensive.
- Scalability: The solution needed to be highly scalable to enable a rapid, large-scale rollout to support the retailer’s speed-to-market and revenue goals.
They needed a technology services company that could offer deployment at scale, reliable network monitoring, and Help Desk support for dual-carrier cellular circuits at each location while integrating seamlessly with various devices and ticketing systems.
Our Solution: Leveraging our success playbook, Connext provided a range of services:
- Comprehensive Project Management: Our project management team oversaw the end-to-end rollout, coordinating all moving parts to streamline deployment across multiple locations.
- Provisioning of Alternate SIM/Data Plans: We tailored data plans to meet each location’s unique requirements, ensuring optimal connectivity and cost management.
- Staging & Configuration: All devices were pre-configured and staged to facilitate a smooth rollout, allowing for rapid and effective installation.
- Onsite Installation & Test-and-Turnup: We coordinated deployment and activation across 7,000 sites to ensure consistent connectivity from day one.
- Proactive Monitoring & Management: Our continuous monitoring provided real-time alerting and ticketing, empowering the retailer’s IT team to address connectivity issues promptly.
- Intelligent Cellular Monitoring: Our monitoring platform provides cellular grading designed to manage cellular noise by filtering out common interference sources like flapping. This targeted monitoring significantly reduced alert volume, generating 10x fewer tickets, minimizing the IT footprint, and lowering support costs.
- Day 2 Support: Post-deployment, we co-managed Help Desk support with the retailer's IT team to maintain optimal network performance and reliability.
The Results: Our solution delivered measurable benefits across the retailer’s network, directly contributing to their operational efficiency and cost savings:
- Dual-cellular circuits per Site: Ensured redundancy and high reliability at each location, reducing dependency on wired circuits.
- Increased Speed to Market and Revenue: The rapid deployment across thousands of locations facilitated faster market entry and accelerated revenue generation and New Store Openings (NSOs).
- 99% Reduction in Alerts: Our cellular grading minimized unnecessary alerts, reducing noise and lowering the IT footprint with 10x fewer tickets.
- Seamless Integration for Rapid Expansion: Impressed by our performance, the retailer expanded the deployment to an additional 6,000 sites for its sister brand for a total of 13,000 stores supported.
Our commitment to operational excellence enabled a fast, scalable deployment that significantly enhanced the retailer’s network infrastructure, driving efficiency and reducing costs across thousands of sites.