casestudies

POS System / IP Credit Card

National Family Dining Concept Implements Proprietary POS System and Reduces Telecom Spend by 2.4 Million Over 3 Years.

Customer Type: National Restaurant Chain
Overview: 300 Locations, 3 production plants, Corporate HQ

The Situation:

Proprietary POS System, IP Credit Card Processing and Limited Budgets. A national restaurant chain needed to move away from dial-up credit card processing to improve customer satisfaction, establish a loyalty program, and take advantage of cost savings associated with consolidated IP credit/debit card processing. The client was developing a proprietary POS back-end solution, but project cost overruns meant that the client needed to free up capital to move the project forward. The Challenge was to implement a cost effective WAN and save enough through telecom cost reductions to offset the cost of the POS deployment.

OCx Solution:

  • Step 1, Audit & Recovery. OCx conducted a telecom audit and assisted in recoveries. A telecom database was then established as a baseline for comparative ROI analyses.
  • Step 2, ROI Analysis. OCx evaluated multiple WAN solutions and ran multiple ROIs to identify the optimal solution, with emphasis on cost reduction and ease of management.
  • Step 3, Negotiation. OCx negotiated local, long distance and WAN contracts, making sure the client was fully protected against business downturn and other critical client-specific situations.
  • Step 4, Implementation. OCx implemented the WAN solution while project managing the POS deployment, coordinating internal staff activities as well as installation teams and 3’rd party vendors.
  • Step 5, Maintenance. OCx provides on-going telecom consulting and expense management, management of moves, adds and service changes, and provides trouble escalation services.

OCx Results: Itemized 3 year savings:

  • Reduced Local Phone line cost– $360,000
  • Recovery of slammed charges – $288,000
  • Removed LD PIC C/Carrier Line Charges - $60,000
  • Removal of subaccount fees - $225,000
  • Long distance cost reductions - $414,000
  • Reduction of phone line count per location - $720,000
  • Unnecessary Dial-up service cancellations - $269,000
  • Negotiated a one-time signing bonus from telecom carrier - $125,000

Total 3 year savings– 2.4 million (hard costs)

The client was able to use savings to implement new IP-VPN network $ 1.3. The network produced further savings of over 1 million in reduced IP credit card transaction charges.

Soft Cost Savings. OCx provided 2 full time staff members, free of charge, to manage the POS, network implementations and provide telecom expense management services. The client was able to redeploy 2 full time staff members on more critical IT objectives.

Client Testimonial:

“OCx has become part of our staff. They provide full time support for our objectives and our people and their attention to detail is phenomenal. I’m always amazed by how they can consistently drive down telecom costs, so much so, that telecom is now our most effectively managed cost center. OCx can be counted on to deliver exactly what they promise, and more. Telecom is complex, and the numbers they project are always accurate. Aside from their expertise, the best part is their business model. They’re our only vendor that never sends us a bill, and that’s a big relief when it comes to hitting our budgets.” –VP of MIS.