Client’s Trust In QBCon Sees It Survive Crisis

In 2000, a QBCon client chose an enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution called QBCon Enterprise.  QBCon Enterprise is custom-produced according to customer needs by Centurion-based Quality Business Consultants (QBCon). The client’s decision paid off, with the retailer now operating 25 outlets, ranging from family grocery outlets to supermarkets and massive wholesale trade shops staffed by 250 users.

In September, the client had a catastrophic hardware failure when the disc of its central server crashed.  QBCon Enterprise allowed for uninterrupted trade as the tills automatically began to queue the data it would normally have updated to the central server in real time.  Once the server had been restored, the data simply updated and QBCon Enterprise could once again continue stock and financial management.  The client’s in-store setup lets all tills operate independently and communicate with the central server without any store level server.  This reduces operating and IT costs considerably, while making the system significantly more stable by reducing the number of systems that need management.

With regard to data recovery, QBCon’s foresight also saved the day.  Each till has been set-up to record at least two weeks transactions.  This means that recovery can be up to the last transaction before the crash instead of up to the last backup that is run the evening before.  The client’s MD says that “every business can expect some bumps in the road from time to time. It is how we deal with those bumps that determine if the business grows stronger or folds.  With this bump, I believe we have proven the robustness of not only the IT backbone, but also the business.”

The client’ confidence in QBCon Enterprise justifies the fact that the retailer is looking to expand its network of outlets in all major Namibian cities, including Windhoek, Walvis Bay, Swakopmund and Somerset, by 18 stores in the near future.

The client’s growth is at least partially due to QBCon Enterprise, whose management system for its stock, financial, reporting, point-of-sale, forecasting and purchasing system provides the client with the means to make strategic decisions and seamlessly integrate new stores.  The seamless integration is a result of the same system's stability that saw the client survive the hardware failure.