The TRCA Difference
We are in the business of building relationships. We treat our clients like business partners, and we strive to provide value added solutions for your organization each and every day. Our product delivery revolves around the concept of collaboration; the more cohesive our organizations are, the more refined and polished a service we can deliver.
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TRCA brings years of multi site specialty to the table in each and every engagement. Our approach is focused on 3 key areas of technology- Service, Infrastructure, and Logistics. Known internally as SILo, this all-encompassing approach assists in identifying areas of weakness before they become management nightmares.
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We encourage you to read through the information below. Even if TRCA isn't your chosen technology partner today, feel free to leverage our expertise in determining what you can do for your own organization.
Service
​​"Store number 236 places a call to your IT support group regarding a new point of sale terminal that is acting up after a recent project upgrade for the brand. The phone is answered as your brand, and initial system issues are relayed. Your IT support group assigns a priority level based on pre-defined SLA, and notates details related to the effected system. Glancing over your knowledge base, the technician begins with some preliminary troubleshooting steps. Given that this is a recent installation, the support technician queries your Configuration Management Database for warranty validation. After basic tier 1 support, the issue appears to be hardware related, but the ticket is escalated to tier 2 for validation.
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Tier 2 looks over the ticket details, and gives store 236 a call back to continue with a few more troubleshooting steps. Tier 2 reaches out to the vendor for additional support, and the vendor confirms the issue is related to hardware. After relaying part information, the vendor moves to stage a new terminal and ship it directly to store 236. Administrative approval is given for on site technical dispatch, and store 236 is informed of the date and time the technician will get to site.
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The technician arrives on time, and locates the new terminal. The technician swaps the effected hardware, and calls back into your support desk to complete configuration of the device. With functionality restored from IT's standpoint, the store contact is asked to run some test transactions to ensure the device is working as usual. Having been satisfied with the repair the store contact signs off on the work order, the technician takes pictures to relay to IT, and the ticket is closed."
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The scenario above is part of day-to-day business processing for those in the multi-site arena. Help desks are staffed, KPI's and SLA's assigned and continually adjusted, and vendors are escalated to for additional support and resolution. Technicians are dispatched to fix on site issues, and CMDB's are continually updated to keep track of assets in the field.
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TRCA can perform all of these functions through our experienced service teams. From staffing a helpdesk, to project rollouts, to on site dispatch and database management, TRCA can provide value in the logistical processes involved in day-to-day support. Our methodology is focused on metrics- what technology is working in store? Where are your most prevalent issues? Which stores tend to have the most issues? Is SLA being met? Which day of the week is your busiest week?
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When it comes to service, TRCA's approach is all-encompassing.
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Infrastructure
​​The day to day tasks of your systems administrator consist of many different things. Application updates, network upgrades, patch management, security compliance, and anything and everything else that connects to your store networks.
How are you backing up your back of house servers? How are you providing adequate and redundant bandwidth to each site? How do you deal with Point of Sale security, and what steps has your organization undergone to ensure PCI DSS standards are met and validated?
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Maintaining your organization's infrastructure is paramount to the success of your brand. Your organization should continually think about refresh cycles, end of life term dates, and technology that enables the brand to better understand their target audiences. A lot of organizations we interact with have been doing things a certain way "because it works." Does function indicate best practice?
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TRCA's internal engineering teams interact with multi-site technology on a daily basis. We are 24x7x365, and work to ensure our customers technology is being maintained and managed in accordance with industry standards and best practices. IT systems today facilitate revenue generation. When maintenance falls behind, issues may impact the organization's ability to serve their customer base and generate revenue.
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We are well versed in dealing with both corporate and franchise relationships. We understand the pressures a franchisor faces each and every day when dealing with franchisees in the thousands, and work to assist you in ensuring that- despite the variance- your stores are secure and functional.
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We utilize state-of-the-art remote management and monitoring tools, maintain industry certification, and make recommendations based on past performance and multi-site compatibility.
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Whether you're looking to migrate systems or bring your technology up to standard, TRCA's infrastructure approach ensures both uptime and store level success.
Logistics
IT has completed their recommendations for new hardware across the brand for the coming year, and it's your job to ensure each store receives the new technology by the end of Q1 next year. Where are you going to source this new list of hardware? How are you going to configure, ship, and install all of these devices? Where are you going to put all of this stuff, and what's your strategy around future service of this hardware in the field? Is this technology as scalable as others have led you to believe?
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Are your stores even ready to handle this new equipment? Are they equipped today with the right amount of ports, wireless coverage, and training required to use everything? What changes need to be made on your firewalls to facilitate proper communication to this new equipment?
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TRCA's Operations team understands what it takes to deploy technology at these magnitudes. From a purchasing standpoint, TRCA's long standing relationships with value-added distributors allow us to get you the best deal possible. Need space? TRCA's 100,000 square foot facility gives you ample room for holding assets prior to deployment. Need inventory reporting? BINs stocked? Min and Max levels defined and managed? We've got you covered.
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Our IT operations team can work hand in hand with project management to ensure devices are configured and staged appropriately for use. Static IP's? Software installation? POS configuration? Network creation? TRCA can do it all behind your own supplied firewall, ensuring your own security standards are being met with each and every staging effort.